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When you work in IT, you have to quickly learn that it is often the simplest things that cause the biggest problems.

What would you do if you were working in an entry-level IT support position during a major outage, and you suggested that maybe someone unplugged the server, but your managers said that it was a dumb idea?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, but later it was discovered that someone had indeed unplugged the server. Sadly, the managers never came back and apologized for not listening.

Even if they didn’t acknowledge that he was right, they knew. Read through the full story below and see what you think of what happened.

Sometimes, the solution can be so simple…

So, this post has gotten removed from other places for being fake, as this obviously would never happen in real life, it has literally gotten me banned from a sub for ‘creating an unbelievable story’.

In the world of  IT, you never know what will happen.

So, I hope it fits here and that there are actually people who will believe me. I have posted a Q&A at the end with the most common questions I got asked before the post was removed in the other subs.

I have also translated this from another language using Google Translate (I know, terrible), I did check it but if there is anything I missed, sorry.

Entry-level IT support can be quite repetitive.

This all happened about 10 years ago, but I’m still in contact with the people from the company and I hear that, unfortunately, things haven’t improved, not even in 10 years.

This story takes place during my first month as a trainee at the company, working in IT, mainly providing first-level support, but the easy stuff, like telling people how to turn on the computer and where to plug in the USB-Stick.

Major outages are very stressful.

Wednesday, 11:55 a.m., just before lunch. Back then, I was still a trainee with very little knowledge, but when suddenly 50 tickets from 10 countries landed in the ticketing system basically at once, all with the same message, “SAP is down,” I knew we had a huge problem.

The troubleshooting began, and after almost 20 minutes, we hadn’t made any progress. We had tried practically everything we could.

That isn’t the time to joke around, but honestly, that could be the issue.

The mood was terrible, everyone was hungry, everyone was frustrated, but the problem had to be solved now, production was at a standstill in 10 countries. In my youthful innocence, I joked, “Maybe someone just pulled the plug.”

Man, if looks could have killed. I got yelled at, “If I have nothing productive to contribute, then shut up.” Intimidated, I sat in the corner and watched while the others frantically tried to find a solution.

Wait, there were people in the server room?

The phone kept ringing, new tickets kept coming in. All I could do was answer the phone and say, “We’re aware of the situation” and respond to tickets in the same way.

At 12:45, one of my colleagues returned from his lunch break; he had left at 11:45. He came in and saw how everything was going wrong. He asked what was going on. We explained. He just looked worried and asked basically to himself “Could this have something to do with the Telecom guys I left in the server room before my lunch break?”

Someone better go check on those guys.

Silence, dead silence. Everyone just stared at him. “You did what,” someone managed to ask, while two others had already started sprinting towards the server room. “They were supposed to be here, we knew they were coming,”

“Yeah, at 2:30 PM. You can’t just leave strangers unattended in the server room and then go on your lunch break!” “Okay, sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Wow, they should know never to unplug something in a server room.

Suddenly, the connection to SAP is re-established. Relief. The two colleagues return from the server room. They both look down at the floor. The boss asks, “So, guys, what was the problem?”

“Well, he had to plug in a device for work and unplugged it. He said he didn’t think it was important because all the other plugs were labeled, only that one wasn’t.”

They really should be thanking him for coming up with the right solution, even if they didn’t listen.

Dead silence again. No one looks at me. After what felt like 10 minutes, but was probably only a few seconds, the boss simply said, “How about I order pizza for everyone? You all worked through your lunch break.”

People nodded and walked back to their desks. I was still sitting at the trainee desk in the corner, the worst possible spot. The boss came over and asked what kind of pizza I wanted. I answered, and he kept walking. No one spoke to me for a good hour. I just kept working, processing the tickets related to the incident and eating my pizza.

It is sad that management never apologized.

In the five years I was with the company, the incident was never mentioned again.

However, every time there was another major incident at the company (and there were far too many, they were so awful), I was taken seriously and given a chance to speak before being yelled at.

It is awful when management can’t recognize when they were wrong. That makes for a bad work environment.

Honestly, this guy should have gotten an apology and a thank you.

This is exactly the type of thing that happens.

Most people don’t have a good understanding of troubleshooting.

This is exactly right.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a helicopter inspector who grounds a flight after the pilot is rude to him.

Here is a very common saying in IT.

This person has seen things like that.

This type of story is not just believable; it is downright common. All IT people know to check the simplest or dumbest things first because that is usually what causes the problems.

Unfortunately, the managers in this story didn’t handle the situation very well at all.