Technology requires proper care and understanding.

This man installed a small network of Mac SE computers for a school district in 1988.

But he repeatedly got an “emergency” call from this client.

Turns out, one of the employees kept removing and throwing away a critical network terminator.

So he thought of a clever and funny way to give her a warning.

Read the full story below for all the details.

Thin Ethernet

I installed a small network of Mac SE computers in a small school district office.

This was back around 1988 or so.

The network cables were thin Ethernet.

This man got an emergency call from the school district office.

A few weeks went by and I got an emergency call to go and fix the network.

It was a 4-hour drive from my current client to this one.

I got there, and after a little looking around, I found one computer without the terminator.

Her desk didn’t face a wall, so people could walk past the “back” of her desk.

He learned that the computer user threw the terminator away.

When I asked her, she said that the “thing” didn’t have a cable.

So she just took it (the terminator) off and threw it away.

Not having any spares with me, I went to Radio Shack and bought the terminator and a BNC plug.

I made one on the spot. Problem fixed!

I told her to never remove that part and left.

He received another emergency call from them again.

A week later, I got another emergency call from the same location.

Sure enough, there was no terminator on her Mac. Again.

This time, I had spares in my car!

As I replaced it, I asked her, “Do you feel okay?”

Customer: “Yes, I feel fine.”

This time, he told her not to touch the wires or she would pass out.

Me: “Not lightheaded or anything?”

Customer: “No, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

Me: “Well, it’s called Ethernet. They use Ether to insulate the wires.

I don’t want you to inhale too much and pass out!”

She never touched the terminator again!

Lol. Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Here’s a valid point from this one.

This one talks about audio ping.

Sometimes, you need to weaponize stupidity, says this one.

Finally, short and simple.

Sometimes, a little humor can save you time and sanity.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.