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Sharky

Shark Tank

Because with users, pretty much nothing is impossible

47 comments

TAGS:mouse, shutdown
IT TOPICS:Hardware, Management

User calls support pilot fish with an improbable story: She says she dropped her mouse and her PC shut down.

Fish makes the trip to her desk. No question, her computer is off. And when fish punches the PC's power switch to restart it, nothing happens.

"I asked her where she dropped her mouse," says fish. "She replied, 'Behind the desk.'

"Sure enough, she had managed to hit the on/off switch on the power strip.

"I told her, 'Good shot.'"

Sharky runs on true tales of IT life. Send me yours at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll score a sharp Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.

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"Off"icer Mode

Submitted by Tom on October 31, 2009 - 11:30 A.M.

Some of you have probably heard this before: While serving in the military as an electronics tech on more than one occasion I was called to repair a problem on a radar console. The problem being that it wouldn't operate in Officer Mode - you know: Off. That's what they get paid the big bucks for.

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This reminds me of...

Submitted by ballVRock on October 26, 2009 - 3:10 P.M.

This reminds me of a lady that would call our help desk from time to time. She was an older lady and was always cold. One day her supervisor called and said her PC wouldn't turn on. We went by her cube only to be blasted by a wave of hot air. We looked under her desk to find two heaters pulled into the power strip and another heater plugged into the outlet under her desk. We told her of the policy about having devices plugged into the power strip, she decided to remove two of the heaters. We reset the power strip and restarted her PC.

Two months later, she ended up burning out the plugs in her cube area when she decided to help reward the team by making waffles and brought 4 waffle irons, a two syrup warmers and plugged them in to the same power strip and wall plugs in her area. Needless to say, she moved out of her cube for a few weeks while they repaired the plugs and they updated the policy to no none company devices are to be plugged into the outlets or power strips.

Every year like clock work, we would have to stop by her desk around christmas time and ask her to take down her lights.

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Along those same lines, have

Submitted by clubpenguin on October 26, 2009 - 8:09 P.M.

Along those same lines, have you ever seen what happens to a small UPS when a 1200 watt space heater is plugged into the battery powered side? Lets just say the area warms up very quickly when flames begin shooting from it.

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"...have you ever seen what happens..."

Submitted by The Arch Demon on October 26, 2009 - 9:36 P.M.

...when a good ol' boy or good ol' girl lights up the Christmas lights and takes down a substation?

Ever heard the power company try to explain such a situation?

An' they claim The Arch Demon is a Yankee!

CAPTCHA: pardons KOENIGSBERGER -- JTB on the parole board??

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In a prior life...

Submitted by Trapper John on October 26, 2009 - 3:15 P.M.

...I was an electrician before making a switch to It as a career. Yep, office heaters caused all kinds of havoc. But the waffle irons? Now THAT's a great tale!

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not bad for a beginner!

Submitted by Abdullah on October 26, 2009 - 10:36 A.M.

That beats setting all the screen colors to black and clicking OK in Windows NT; a trick that the users used to play on me until I disabled the Control panel applet... :-))

Thanks Sharky and Fish!

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nt4 & users

Submitted by Anonymous on October 26, 2009 - 1:29 P.M.

I had users who knew a little about computers. They would set their screen to an impossible resolution and they restart. (Don't know how they restarted.)
I had to change the resolution by rote and told their boss to emphasize the lost work time because I was located a couple of miles away.

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If a mouse falls on a power

Submitted by Old Philosopher on October 26, 2009 - 10:25 A.M.

If a mouse falls on a power strip, does it move the cursor?

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On again off again...

Submitted by John in Missouri on October 26, 2009 - 9:31 A.M.

Actually, this is a pretty humorous little anecdote. It shows that Murphy is alive and well, and actually prospering in IT shops, and that he has a subtle but profound sense of humor. It also shows that the submitter shares that sense of humor, that is, if he delivered his parting comments with a wry grin adorning his face and a twinkle in his eyes.

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