Everyone makes mistakes, but some are sillier than others.

In this case, a tech support employee shares how he solved an issue in about 3 seconds.

Let’s read the whole story.

A user discovered how to create an infinitely recursive, self-powering monitor

So, I get a ticket this morning.

“New second monitor won’t display.” Standard stuff.

The user, let’s call her Brenda from Marketing, is super nice but famously tech-averse. I give her a call and go through the usual checklist.

Me: “Hey Brenda, you sure the power cable is plugged in firmly?”
Brenda: “Yes! The little light is on. It’s blue.”
Me: “Okay, good. And the video cable, is it plugged into the monitor and the docking station?”
Brenda: “Yes, I plugged it in just like the other one. It’s in there real tight.”

It sounds like a complicated issue.

I try the usual remote tricks, nothing. Fine.

Time for the ceremonial walk over to the Marketing department.

I get to her desk and it looks fine at a glance.

Two identical monitors. One is showing her desktop, the other is blue.

She’s right, the cable is plugged in securely. So I follow the cable from the back of the non-working monitor… and I see it.

He was shocked by what he saw.

It’s an HDMI cable. One end is plugged into the HDMI-Out port of the monitor.

The other end is plugged… directly into the HDMI-In port of the same exact monitor.

She had created a perfect, useless loop.

I just paused for a second.

Me: “Brenda… you’ve… you’ve plugged the monitor into itself.”

She seemed shocked herself.

The look of dawning horror on her face was priceless.

I just unplugged one end, plugged it into the dock, and her desktop instantly popped up.

She just stared at it. “Wow. Okay. I’m going to go get more coffee.”

Me too, Brenda. Me too.

At least she didn’t somehow blame him for the issue.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this.

It happens.

A good trick!

She’s a genius!

Yup!

Another reader shares their experience.

Someone shares a similar story.

Let the one who never made a silly mistake like this throw the first coffee bean!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.