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@adam payne

Yeah, in the dim and distant past (before I embarked on a career as a bit-bender), I had one of those. Her shiny new, just delivered, computer wouldn’t turn on. Lifeless. Nothing. And it had worked perfectly in our lab, before delivery, when I set it up for her. I went through the usual questions, including ‘did the packaging seem damaged in any way’ before a tiny nugget of suspicion caused me to query whether she’d plugged it in. I mean, it did seem odd that the monitor wouldn’t power up either.

She hit the bloody roof. How dare I patronise her! Didn’t I realise how much she spent on a support contract? I’d better get over there now and fix it. My boss, the spineless wimp, agreed - despite the significant problem that I was in Birmingham and she was in Bridgwater, and that all the other support guys were either out on a job, sick, or skiving.

So I drove to Bridgwater and discovered that she was quite right. She had plugged the computer in. And the monitor. And the printer. All plugged in to a multiway extension cable. Which was also plugged in. To itself. I left. Cursing. And embarked on a career as a programmer - which is mostly more satisfying, and keeps me away from the lusers. Oh, and I can happily code while drunk (although not when pissed out of my skull). Which is a bonus.