LOL! That's what they were like everywhere it seems...........never saw them do anything. They just stayed inside their 'room' all day and came out (you couldn't go in!) for coffee and lunch!..................
I assumed that they mounted my tapes (sounded icky then, too) when my job came up in the queue. Somebody did ... I was never around to watch. Program all day, hang tapes, submit job, go home. Look for output in the morning.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
VAX was much more fun. So were PCs and Workstations when I got to them.