Fingerprint File

Long before I worked for a real company, I toiled in the fields of NEC’s AFIS Division. Looking back with some perspective, I can now say it really was pretty disfunctional, but they had (at least while I was there) a great group of loyal customers known as the “AFIS Internet Users Group.” Interestingly, they named themselves well before Al Gore worked his magic with IP, and they still to this day use a (now very cheesey) logo created by yours truly in…uhhhh 1993?

The NEC AFIS politics were sickening, and as some great philosopher once said, “the fish rots from the head.” The head in this case was an evil, old Japanese man known to most as “HH.” He came from a world where it was okay to hand out paper bags of money to one group of prospective customers while telling another about his exploits killing American pilots in the Pacific during the “big one.” Yeah, he was a real piece of work. One year he pulled a long, stretch limo up to the state capitol in Arkansas for an audience with members of the legislature. That arrogant behavior was not well received in the deep South, and we ended up losing the deal. For that, everyone involved with it took a hit on their next merit raise. Also included in his list of absurd ego-stroking needs included: traveling with a “nurse,” and requiring an entourage to ensure doorways were cleared and elevators always open.

Hey, speaking of stroking, those Japanese think of everything!