Pilot fish is summoned by a nontechnical boss to clear up an email problem for a company executive.

It seems the exec has sent an email message to hundreds of recipients and now wants to recall it. But that’s not possible, fish explains, because all the recipients are external to the company’s email system.

The exec understands that nothing can be done on the technical end, and he’s receptive to fish’s alternative resolution: Fish and the exec draft a new email to the external recipients, apologizing for the mail message sent in error. When fish leaves, the exec seems satisfied.

But later that day, nontechnical boss runs into the exec and asks if his email problem was resolved. Exec replies, “No, I was told that no technical solution existed.”

Enraged, nontechnical boss storms into the pilot fish’s cube and shouts, “Next time you lack a technical solution for a problem, I want to know about it!”

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