Imagine arriving at work, booting up your computer, and discovering that the internet is down. If your job is dependent on internet access, that would basically mean you can’t work!

In this story, one paralegal is in this exact situation. She tried to troubleshoot and call the IT department for help, but it’s still quite awhile before the internet is up and running.

Keep reading to find out what happened.

Wait, I’m getting overtime for this?

I get to work this morning at my usual 6am, open the law office, turn on my computer and prepare to clock in so I can get cracking on work. I like the 2 hours before my Partner-in-Crime gets in, as it’s quiet an I can focus on a lot of stuff (when PiC gets in, there’s usually a lot of laughter, and oftentimes, potential HR violations from our loud swearing).

We’re a small, satellite law office, only the three of us: NewBoss, Partner-in-Crime (a paralegal) and myself (another paralegal). The main office for our firm is located in the PacNW. OldBoss has moved on, but still is closing out some cases, so he can remote in.

After I log onto my computer, I load the website to clock in and… …

wait….

there’s no internet.

She tried to troubleshoot.

What?

Thinking it might be something with my computer, I try to log into PiC’s box, but it won’t let me (usually we can do multiple profiles on the computers). So I text both NewBoss & OldBoss:

Me: Hey, can you log in?

OldBoss: No, ‘cuz I’m LA and ‘cuz it’s 6:30 in the morning…

Me: Okay, go back to bed.

Time to call for backup, er, the IT department.

NewBoss: Crap, I can’t login, must be the main office in the PacNW.

Out of curiosity, I text one of my former compatriots in one of the bigger satellite offices to see if they’re down as well, turns out they aren’t. So…, not the main office.

I call the off-hours IT Help line, and thankfully, my favorite ITGod answers the phone.

Me: ITGod, we’re down. What’s going on?

They did more troubleshooting.

ITGod: Yeah, I can see that, what did you do? Did you get fired, again?

No, I didn’t get fired again…

ITGod goes through the process of having me first reboot our firewall (doesn’t do anything), then I reboot the server (still nothing), and then reboot the modem.

Me: Well, this is the funniest looking modem I’ve ever seen…

The ITGod asked for more details.

ITGod: What’s funny looking about it?

Me: Well, it just doesn’t look like the standard modem, standing on its end, and such.

ITGod: If it has a Coax cable going into it, it’s the modem.

It did, so I rebooted it.

Nothing.

But then OP noticed something else odd.

ITGod is communicating all of this to ITNetworkGod via chat, who then asks for the MAC address on the modem.

I turn the modem over, and there’s 4 MAC addresses. As I’m reading them off to ITGod, I see under the serial# a model# that reads DVRModel XYZ123

Me: Wait… this says DVR…? What the SethBalls?

ITGod: Crap, that’s the DVR for the security camera that watches the front door.

we have a security camera?

But this is an even better question…

ITGod: So… where’s the modem?

Me: Hell if I know.

Mind you, this is a small office. Everything that I’ve been playing with is right in front of my desk. There’s no “server closet,” let alone a proper rack, because someone, somewhere in the past decided we were too small to need one.

I go into NewBoss’s office to see if (for some odd reason) the modem is in his office, but it’s not there. There’s no other space, just NewBoss’s office, and the front office where PiC & I sit. Nowhere for a modem to hide.

OP found the modems in the craziest place.

And then it hit me.

All the ethernet cables (none of them yellow, sorry boys) coming out of the firewall & server box were all bundled together and going into a hole in the wall that was behind a huge, steel plate.

I grabbed a staple remover to use a screw driver and remove the screws on the steel plate. As I pull the steel plate off the wall, what falls out of the hole in the wall?

Two modems.

ITGod wondered why there were two.

Me: Found the modems.

ITGod: Wait… MoDEMS??

Me: Yeah, there’s two of them.

ITGod: mumbles swears Okay, disconnect them both, I wonder if one of them is for your phone.

OP isn’t going to be able to get any work done for awhile.

After some shuffling of trying to keep either, or both of the modems from falling from the (very shallow) hole in the wall, I figured out which one went to the phone and which one went to the internet

. After rebooting the internet modem, still no connection.

ITGod: Okay, I’m still waiting for ITNetworkGod to get back to me, is there something… maybe… you can do to keep yourself occupied?

Me: Well, this is why I always carry a book with me.

ITGod: Go read a book, this is going to be a while.

It turns out the problem started with billing.

Time passes, I immerse myself in a romance (because I don’t have any in my life anymore), and a couple of hours later, ITGod calls me back to let me know that ITNetworkGod is on a plane down from the PacNW to fix the internet.

Me: Wha…?

Turns out last August there was some kind of mix up with our accounting department and the internet bill was paid late, because of that, the internet was turned off for a day. Even though the bill was paid and the connection turned back on, the local ISP released our office’s static ip address, and didn’t reassign it to us once we were back up and running.

And last night, it got reassigned to Bob’s Taco House & Transmission Shop (or, something like that, I dunno).

Here’s why the ITNetworkGod had to actually visit the office in person…

Since the local ISP couldn’t just give us back our old IP address, they assigned us a new one, and since we’re a law office that deals with sensitive data, any old person can’t have admin access to reconfigure the modem, it has to be someone from IT, and since we’re an itty bitty office and considered the red-headed step-child of the company, there’s no local IT person for us.

Since 99% of our IT problems can be handled with remote access that isn’t a problem, but this couldn’t be done remotely, it had to be done in person.

Down poor ITNetworkGod had to fly.

It was pretty easy overtime.

As for me, I got to go home for a couple of hours (by this time it was 11:30), went for a bike ride, got myself some lunch, read my romance a bit more, and then went back to the office to meet ITNetworkGod by 3pm.

Joked around with him for an hour while he got us all reconfigured (and he took pictures of our network setup to show the ITRemoteOfficeGod to set off his OCD, because it’s Just That Ugly), and then called NewBoss to let him know we were up & running (and yes, I tested it to make sure).

ITNetworkGod got to fly back tonight (cheap jerks couldn’t get him a hotel for the night), NewBoss did my timecard from 6am this morning until 4:20 this afternoon (when I called him to say it was all done), and I got overtime for mostly sitting around reading a book.

That sounds like a frustrating day, but for OP, not a terribly bad day either.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

It doesn’t sound like this was thought out very well.

Another person shares their nightmare situation.

This person can relate to OP’s job and hobby.

Another person is disappointed.

Some work days don’t go the way you expected.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.