This business owner was told years ago that a Microsoft Exchange server was too expensive to maintain for a network his size, reports a pilot fish who now has the business as a client.

"So even in 2018 they were still on POP email, with a copy of each message going to their cell phones," fish says.

"Client had internalized 'Exchange bad,' so there was no real discussion on this topic, even while experiencing really horrible customer service from their current email provider.

"Client received an email on Christmas Eve stating that the provider was shutting down the email server in one week, so my client needed to migrate over to the new server. This involved changing all the settings on both the phones and the PCs, as well as the MX records.

"Logically, since they were being forced into making all those changes, this would be the perfect time to switch providers or go to hosted Exchange. The latter option was definitely out.

"But switch providers? No, the owner said, we need to get through this migration and then we can talk about finding a different hosting company.

"Translation: As soon as we put this fire out, we will move on to other fires and never look back."

Sharky's looking forward to seeing your own true tale of IT life. Send it to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You can also comment on today's tale at Sharky's Google+ community, and read thousands of great old tales in the Sharkives.

Get Sharky's outtakes from the IT Theater of the Absurd delivered directly to your Inbox. Subscribe now to the Daily Shark Newsletter.