On-call pilot fish working for this casino's IT department is awakened early one morning and drives in for what turns out to be a minor problem -- one that fish quickly clears up.
But it turns out he's not done. "After I finished dealing with the problem, I smelled smoke in the server room," says fish. "I called security and soon everyone was running around looking for the fire.
"Then the power went out.
"I called my boss and told him I was in the process of shutting everything down as fast as I could and that he needed to get out here now. My boss thought I was joking and that I woke him up because I had been called out on this minor issue.
"He hung up -- and then got calls from the casino's general manager, assistant GM, and slot director.
"By the time he drove out, I had shut everything down and was outside waiting for the fire department. It turned out that a piece of metal conduit had fallen onto the switch that controlled the power from the generator and external power, destroying not only the switch but several other electrical items.
"The casino was without power for three days while replacement parts were delivered, and everyone except IT got three paid days off. IT was required to monitor the shutdown servers. In the dark. Without power."
Sharky's betting you have a true tale of IT life to tell. Send it to me at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll score a sharp Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.
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