At one of my previous jobs we (the engineering team) recieved a project order to create a new POS system for a gaming and entertainment complex in Rhode Island. The catch for this particular project was that the client did not want to replace or update their POS system, they instead wanted us to provide a new “front end” for it to allow customers to purchase game-time via credit cards.
So it was proposed by the client that there would be a dummy terminal in a back room somewhere on the grounds and our front-end would control a robotic arm (I imagined it would be something like the arm from Terminator 2) to manually enter the payment information into the clients’ POS system.
No. I am not kidding you. To this very day (about 3 years later) this story still brings uproarious laughter from myself and my fellow co-workers and is deemed one of the most “Borked Projects” I have ever been a part of.
