Nice one Simon,

In a little story there can be so many Truths.

A Class Act, Simon. Encore. Encore

Is it just me or is this one a little... darker.... than normal? (Pardon the pun).

Excellent! Simon seems to have completely recovered from Xmas indulging!

Maybe we could have "BOFH Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Rack" or "BOFH Potter and the Server Hallows"...

Yes, mine´s the one with old cinema tickets overflowing from the pockets...

It is darker than normal, but that makes it all the more funny.

Is BOFH going soft in his old age?

I am sure the BOFH of old would have used a combination of cattle prod, shovel and roll of carpet to solve this problem. And, in the mean time, prepare for the blackout that would occur if, for instance, a roll of carpet containing a recently deceased Network Manager soaked in water happened to short out the nearest substation. Knowing that, if this unlikely even were to occur, the UPS that was recently serviced would keep all the servers running, unless of course it had not been serviced, and had been meddled with by, say, an electrician working in colusion with a Network Manager, in which case a new UPS would be ordered post-haste.

I must accept that the approach he took in this episode would instill more fear in his victim, probably ensuring his cooperation for some time to come, but it is still a nancy-boy approach.

Shame on you not-as-much-of-a-bastard-as-you-were-opperator-from-purgatory (NAMOABAYWOFP)! Maybe you are just nicer after a holiday, like you took last week, leaving me without my fix of bastardleyness? I hope to see you back on form next week.

**WARNING!** The author of this post composed the above with tongue, tonsils, and entire oesophagus in cheek, and is currently in the process of retrieving his outdoor garments and contacting his prefered private hire company for transport.

Best BOFH in a long time. Knock frivolous call center computer upgrades *and* reference Roald Dahl? I think I fell in love all over again!

Used to work for the council. One of their community centres had their own network, which they "set-up" themselves but had to be supported centrally. Their servers were plugged in the a 4-bar extention lead. Unfortunatly they also had a 2.5kW electric fire plugged in to it as well. Appart from the massive currect draw of the fire (I=P/V I=2500/230 I=10.9A) about every tenth time the thermostat turned the fire on the server would restart. It was averagign about 10 reboots a day.

We suggested moving the fire, but they didn't. In the end we failed the extention lead during a PAT test and replaced it with an approved 3 socket one!

I have to say I REALLY enjoyed the sheer simplicity and clever nature of this one and even took time out to say nice one!! I would have loved the story to have continued to then show the complete failure of the whole server room after a surge takes the lot down and then subsequently the manager gets a right dressing down/sacking from the top! True smugness is always better! ;)

Excellent reading! A+

Exceptional this week :)

That was quite the scariest BOFH I've read ... and the "happy" ending was great! Nice one Simon.

All I can do is echo everyone else's accolades, I kept looking round for the Chianti bottle

I don't! All that matters is whatever I decide to do on any given day at MS!

Sometimes a little well-phrased menace in a story makes it all the more enjoyable to read.

Good episode!

Excellent!

The building which houses my servers is scheduled for a 2 hour power cut this weekend. Sure hope the UPS is up to the task as we had a battery fault last week that mysteriously went away.... Where is that flashlight anyway?

I was looking for the Fava beans and the nice Chianti.

..because OUR budget for replacement UPS batteries got taken off us and used for the boss's son's personal expenses :(

the BOFH can't win *every* time, shoorly? Or am I simply not as devious and underhand? bah, I need to get some salesmen sacked to make me feel better - where's me Knoppix disk and some dodgy pr0n?

Utter lack of a Paris Hilton angle in these stories.

Loved the style of the story!

Great work, Simon.

LARTing the unworthy and then burying them in an unmarked grave is good.

However, striking fear into the hearts of the unworthy and _then_ LARTing and burying them in an unmarked grave has much more style.

Nice one Simon! Keep it up!

The Roald Dahl touch was superb. Once again, Simon confirms his status as one of the top reasons I'm proud to be a K1W1.

Sombre, chilling, a dash of feverish shivers and words cut out by razor-blades from the 5th ring of hell: a Classic!

Kewl Simon. I for one nominate you for the Poolitzer prize...sic.

I think I'm beginning to *like* the BOFH

Paris likes everybody :)

I'm starting to think Simon has a ever so slightly psycho side to him...which is absolutely brilliant.

A revenge a dish best served cold and in the dark.....

I was getting just a little bit bored of the old cattle-rod routine, something a bit darker and more atmospheric is a nice change!

Sheer brilliance.

Roald Dahl touch - incredible.

----

Some things money can't buy

(like the pleasure I got from this story)

For everything else ...... the BOFH has a way of getting it.

What do you mean "ever so slightly"?

Check out the original BOFH episodes; he's actually mellowed somewhat in recent years.

http://bofh.ntk.net/

I'd make sure that the batteries were tested extensively by running an unannounced power cycle on the main circuit to the server room.

Hey, just wondering.... You wouldn't be of Hawera stock would you?

If you are and are wondering who I am, well, I'm David of the Chords - formerly from The Burnt Place :)

Arguably the best story I've read in a long while.

PH because she's the best at some things too.

Regrettably, I only started reading BOFH about a year or so ago, so I'm unfamiliar with some of the exploits....thanks for the link, I'll read through them when & if I have the damn time.

I'm just finishing off a report comparing running a major overhaul of our UPS vs. replacing it entirely - but one of my colleagues suggested running half the server-rack power supply off the dirty mains to save power!

(black helicopter, 'cos someone's been reading my f&p server docs)