VP for this manufacturing company has two large TV screens in his office that display real-time metrics and machine details for the manufacturing floor in the production facility. The info is fed to the TVs by a laptop that sits on the VP’s desk. One day the VP contacts the support team to report that this laptop has died; nothing is being displayed on the two screens, and he needs a replacement computer ASAP.

Pilot fish heads to the VP’s office, where he finds that the TVs are powered off. He turns them on and the dashboards appear. But the laptop’s screen was blank, too, protests the VP. Yes, explains fish; it always will be blank when it’s projecting to external screens — even if those screens are turned off.

Fish doesn’t know whether that explanation went over the VP’s head, but so far he’s remained quiet.

Sharky would love to see all of his screens filled with your true tales of IT. Send them to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You can also subscribe to the Daily Shark Newsletter and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.