VeeshanVault

February 29, 2008
Aren't you glad you chose a classy career in IT?


PC tech pilot fish is working at a remote manufacturing facility when he gets a request for help from a user. "She stated the computer would not power on and was 'very smelly,'" fish reports.

Fish ignores the "smelly" description (after all, who knows what users mean by stuff like that?) and heads for the user's desk in a far corner of the plant.

But when he gets there, he realizes the user is exactly right. The PC won't power up — and it smells like a sewer.

He opens the case and looks in while trying to control his gagging. "Apparently, a rodent of some type had managed to crawl in through the space left by a missing dust shield," says fish.

"The system board was completely covered with about a quarter-inch of rodent droppings, and the power supply had baked everything, leaving a pungent odor."

Fortunately, the rodent isn't around. Unfortunately, fish knows the state of the hardware budget — and what he has to do next.

He hauls the PC to his lab, carefully disassembles it and removes everything. Then he cleans the case thoroughly, deals with the electronics as best he can, replaces the missing dust shield and puts it all back together.

"Once this was done, the PC began working again," fish says.

"I put a work ticket in, stating the computer had been full of poop. The ticket was promptly printed out by my co-workers and placed on the bulletin board."