New-fangled till was totally on the button

BRIAN SYLVESTER shared the advice given to him by a manufacturer’s helpline when his computer failed (Letters). A bent paperclip inserted into a tiny hole in the back of his router solved the issue. In a DIY shop where I worked, we had been using a basic till for 25 years. When the business moved from a quiet village to bigger premises in a market town, my boss decided it was time to invest in more up-to-date equipment. out went our well-used, outdated piece of machinery; in came a classy-looking upgrade with a built-in camera and large computer-style screen. Barcodes on products could be zapped for prices, electronic stock control would

be a doddle and detailed receipts would be printed out crisp and clean. This impressive machine, the result of years of technological research, tests and trials, was primed to control much of the business. A PhD in computer literacy might have been useful when the salesman began his ‘how to use’ demonstration, during which we discovered that the easiest part was turning it on — by pressing a green button. After trying to get to grips with the numerous operating guidelines, we came to the part concerning protection of the machine. High-tech tills mean there is high-tech security; without the insertion of a password it couldn’t be opened. But in an emergency, we were shown how the security system could be bypassed. This involved the uncomplicated method of manually moving a small lever in the base of the till! Brawn won over brains here...

Elizabeth Wright, Eastbourne, E. Sussex.