Source: Pexels/Reddit

For many IT professionals, the expectations of the job often look like the same thing- different day. But for those who are employed in a less developed area? Your guess is as good as theirs.

How would you handle fixing a server that went completely and mysteriously missing? One guy recently shared an insane story like this with Reddit. Here’s what he said.

Network security breach – but not as you know it

I’m in the Johannesburg area of South Africa, where I have been doing network and IT support for a variety of clients, some of which are located in a bad part of town.

And in Jo’burg terms, ‘bad’ is, indeed, pretty bad.

Recently I got a distress call from one of them.

Well that CERTAINLY can’t be good.

After the break the boss had arrived at the office early, and was unable to log into the network server.

His office is on the ground floor.

So I drove down there as usualy, with all car doors locked, my head on swivel and the local private security response guys on speed dial.

A fair enough response.

Fortunately, there was no mishap this time.

I made my way to the server room on the second floor.

Where the cause of the problem became immediately apparent: some person or persons unknown had gotten in through the roof and grabbed what they could.

That’s going to take more than a Geek Squad to fix.

The server wasn’t down, it was gone.

Welcome to Johannesburg, where the biggest network security risk is not theft of just data, but theft of your network infrastructure itself!

Fortunately the boss firmly believed in the ‘spare wheel’ approach and had kept their previous server in his junk room at home.

And that’s why he’s the boss.

One hurried trip there later I found myself trying to dust off and revive an ancient Compaq Proliant of 1998 vintage- the sort of kit that has its plastic front bezel and panels discoloured to a bright shade of yellow.

With the aid of some compressed air to blow out the cobwebs, two ancient hard drives that I keep in my on junkbox and a lot of grunt I managed to get it going in time before work the next morning.

It was so slow it needed a tow rope, seeing as a few old 100baseT hubs was the best we could do on such short notice, but it did get them going until proper kit could be sourced from the insurance claim.

All’s well that ends well supposedly…

I shudder to think what their premium must be like now, in that part of town.

IT support in downtown Jo’burg… Never a dull moment!

Stories like that definitely put first world work problems into perspective.

Let’s see what the good people of Reddit had to say about this one.

The comments immediately jumped to help.

Others noted the gravity of the situation.

One person dropped some helpful knowledge.

Another was somewhat passive aggressive.

But ultimately, shocked feelings ruled the day.

If it ain’t broke- it could be stolen.