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Sharky

Shark Tank

Because it's always IT's fault, right?

User's monitor has burned out, so support pilot fish draws the task of installing a replacement.

"I removed the dead one, plugged in the new one, powered everything on and tested," says fish. "It was working fine. I even adjusted the frequency setting to make sure it would provide the best picture with the least amount of flicker.

"The user said it looked great and thanked me, and I left, taking the old monitor with me."

But fish has barely returned to his desk when his phone rings. It's the user. Her new monitor has just died.

Fish heads back to her cubicle, where she stares at him with suspicion and says, "What did you do?"

Hmm, says fish, careful to avoid sounding defensive. Can you show me exactly what happened, and what you were doing when the monitor died?

"I wanted to adjust the location just a little," user explains, "so I took hold of the sides of the monitor like this and slid it forward a few inches."

Fish reaches around to feel the back of the monitor. "Sure enough, the power cord had come out when she pulled it forward," he says. "As soon as I re-connected it, the picture came back on.

"I explained what happened, she smiled and apologized, and there were no problems after that."

Tell Sharky what you did. Send me your true tale of IT life 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.

The Best of Shark Tank includes more than 70 tales of IT woe submitted by you, our readers, since 1999. Which all goes to prove, conclusively, that hapless users and idiotic bosses are indeed worldwide phenomena. Free registration is all that's needed to download The Best of Shark Tank (PDF).

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