I laughed and told them that when I was in high school, it was a big deal that one of the girl's got her father's secretary to type her paper on an IBM Selectric using the script ball.
My first fulltime job (back in 1971) was for a law firm in which I was given the responsibility for ordering office supplies. They were just going through the process of changing over their typewriters from the old electric ones to the new IBM Selectrics. I had never even seen one before, so as luck would have it one of the secretaries called me and told me she needed a "ribbon" for her machine. I went down to her desk and looked to see which ribbon she was using and was astounded when I saw there were no "keys" in the machine. I told her I thought her typewriter was broken. She called the Office Manager who then called me into her office to see what was going on. I laughed and told her I was joking (I wasn't) and quickly called my supplier for help (who told me which "ribbon", or more accurately, "cassette", I needed).
How about carbon paper? Does anyone use that anymore?
