This IT pilot fish at a law firm gets a call from a user who’s in a hotel somewhere trying to connect to the VPN, and he simply cannot use his external mouse.

“It was driving him crazy,” reports fish. “Every time he moved the mouse it would bounce around, he would lose control, and so on. I talked him through trying the finger pad on the laptop, and it worked, but he wasn’t much of a traveler so his ability to use it was limited.

“After about 20 minutes of this, I had him check the bottom of the mouse. Everything seemed fine, red light was shining. It was then I asked him what he was using for a mousepad.”

It’s a table, with a clear glass top.

Fish has to stifle his laughter as he instructs the user to get something flat and opaque — a piece of paper will do — and use that as a mousepad.

“Sure enough, it worked great.”

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