This pilot fish's IT department faces a chronic problem -- what to do when the server goes down and some department or other keeps calling to ask when it will be back up -- and eventually manages to find a solution.
"This was back in the 1990s, when it took a while to get the server running again," says fish.
"The first department to call would be requested to send their manager up to the computer room to watch us.
"The manager got to see us troubleshoot, maybe have to call support, or even get a new part. Once the computer was back up, the manager was allowed to leave.
"That department never called us again asking for a status, but would just wait for the announcement that the server was up.
"Eventually, all the departments got the understanding of what we went through to get the server back up -- and left us alone to do our work."
Sharky does it one story at a time -- but don't leave me alone! Send me your true tale of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll snag a snazzy Shark shirt if I use it. Comment on today's tale at Sharky's Google+ community, and read thousands of great old tales in the Sharkives.
Get your daily dose of out-takes from the IT Theater of the Absurd delivered directly to your Inbox. Subscribe now to the Daily Shark Newsletter.