My Y2K story

Y2K+25! Can it have been a quarter century? There was such a fraught public build-up to that fateful night of December 31, 1999, and now it’s remembered—if at all—as a mere blip.

To refresh memories, the issue was that from time immemorial (the 1950s), computer programmers had encoded dates with a two-digit year, thusly, e.g.: 76-07-04 for July 4, 1976. The problem that eventually had to be faced was that by the time the turn of the century arrived, computers would need to distinguish between, say, 2001 and 1901. A two-digit year made that impossible. It was a serious problem and threatened havoc in many areas of life and work, basically anywhere dates needed to be recorded and compared by computer systems.

The problem was widely recognized and started being addressed and tackled by governments, businesses, and the tech industry in the mid-1990s. Lots of resources and manpower were allocated with a serious sense of urgency, and the efforts were overwhelmingly successful. But by far most of that work happened outside of the public eye.

Mrs. Random was working in a local multi-branch credit union as their main IT person, and it was her responsibility to certify that all systems were “Y2K compliant”—that all dates had four-digit years and that all files and data and programs would gracefully transition into the year 2000 without hiccups. Therefore, because of her position and the memos and magazines she read, she had a good perspective on how seriously the banking industry and tech industry were taking the “Y2K Bug.” To her it was obvious that everybody was busy solving the problem in plenty of time, and that there would be no disaster, no apocalypse, and that all critical systems would survive and continue to function properly.

But of course, because all of this work was largely hidden from the public and not easily explained to the layperson, the Y2K issue became very ripe for media exploitation and sensationalization. The world wide web was still young and exciting, and naturally it helped spread fear, uncertainy, and doubt—along with the tradional news media and tabloid press. (Surprise, surprise!) Not a few people became public prophets of doom and advocated an extreme prepper stance in the face of the looming deadline.

I was working at a natural foods store with a large bulk foods department. Many people ordered mass quantities, stockpiling huge amounts of canned goods, dried beans, flour, nuts, etc. etc. I know one family who moved to a very rural area with their guns and food and supplies, fairly certain that society was about to fall apart.

Personally, I was uncertain. Since I was on the internet constantly (tying up our phone line with our 56K modem lol), I thought it might be possible that there could be big problems, but I didn’t see the use in moving out into the country. I felt that neighbors would pull together and help each other, and my basic faith in human nature wouldn’t let me think that there would be any serious threats of violence in the city. Mrs. R was somewhat amused at my lack of faith in the system, I think. But we did buy extra chocolate and wine, and we made sure we had some basic redundancy in food staples, and I think we stored a couple gallons of water under the stairs. But that’s stuff you’d want in any “natural” disaster, so it wasn’t really extreme.

Of course, December 31 came and went, with only the expected big 2000 fanfare of round-the-world celebrations, covered nicely on TV and various websites. That’s not to say there weren’t any Y2K problems, but they were very minor in the worldwide scheme of things.

We stayed overnight at the credit union—well at least until 1 a.m.—because Mrs. R’s bosses wanted her to be there on hand to verify all systems remained operational into the new year. While she did her normal month-end and year-end jobs, and then conducted after-midnight Y2K-related tests, I was logged into Internet Relay Chat (IRC) talking with Australians, who were hours already into January 1 on the other side of the International Dateline. “We’re fine here, mate!” was the general consensus.

Basically, long story short: Y2K happened and everything was fine and everybody forgot about it within a year.

At the grocery store, we let people bring back their hoarded foodstuffs and graciously gave them their money back. I was a little appalled at that, but in retrospect I see it was good business and a good neighbor attitude. We did not shame them; we wanted their continued business :)

So that’s my Y2K story! Happy New Year! I am ready for 2025 and whatever lurks beyond the odometer flip.