This pilot fish doesn’t have a traditional tech background. He was the photographer for his university department, and when the World Wide Web came along he volunteered to run the department’s in-house web server. A few years after that, they’re running Filemaker databases online, and there’s some glitch that causes Filemaker to freeze.

Fish’s research leads him to think that a little knowledge of Unix would be helpful. So he heads to a discount bookstore, where he asks the guy behind the counter, “Do you have anything on Unix?” The clerk promptly replies, “I don’t think so, but try the social science section.”

Fish starts off in the direction the finger is pointing, pondering why books on Unix books would be categorized as social science. And stops after just a few steps when it hits him: eunuchs, not Unix.

Sharky can’t get what he needs out of a book. I need you to send me your true tales of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You can also subscribe to the Daily Shark Newsletter.