It’s back in the day and pilot fish is working tech support when he gets a call that a dumb terminal used for data entry is acting up. After taking a look, fish decides it needs replacing, so he unplugs it and puts it on a nearby desk so he can set up a new one.

When he leaves, he forgets all about the dead terminal. A couple of weeks later, he gets a call that another terminal in the same area isn’t working. And sure enough, it’s that dead terminal, sitting on a desk, not plugged in to either power or network, that the user is complaining about.

Somehow fish manages not to do an eye roll when the user tells him, “I don’t know what happened. It was working fine yesterday.”

Sharky can’t make this stuff up. 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 and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.