Here's some winners for you
Trying to troubleshoot a system over the phone half way around the world. The user complained that the system just started beeping and then shut down and wouldn't turn back on. Went through all the usual stuff, lights on the UPS, plugged in, etc. Couldn't figure it out so made arrangements to fly there and get this critical system fixed. When I arrived they took me into the building where the system was located, but it was not in the same facility I had installed it in the year before so I asked why it was in there and who moved it. They told me they had moved it themselves and when they hooked it back up everything was working fine until the beeping started. Upon entering the building I noticed there were no lights on, but there was enough ambient light that it really didn't register. Once they got me to the systems I noticed two things. The first was that the system indeed wouldn't turn on. I asked them to turn on the light so I could check the cabling in the back and was informed that the building didn't have power yet and wasn't supposed to have any for another month. That explained the beeping, everything worked fine until the UPS drained and it shut down. Secondly I noticed that the laptop that controlled all the other components was missing. When I asked about where it was I was told that since the rest of the system wasn't working they had reformatted it and given it to their boss to use for his personal laptop!
Here is another winner... I went on an annual inspection of remote systems. At one location I discovered that they said it hadn't worked properly in months, that it would just turn itself off and they didn't know what it was for anyway they only knew it was supposed to be on. I turned the system on and inspected it and everything appeared to be fine except for the fact that I had no reception from the satellite. I followed the cable to make sure it was hadn't been cut only to discover there was no antenna on the other end. When I asked they said that they had given it away because someone else needed it an they didn't know why it was there anyway. I ordered a replacement antenna and the power down symptom reappeared. I sat there for hours watching it and it wouldn't shut down then someone from the neighboring office came by and asked me what I was doing there so I explained and they said that "I never see anybody using that thing anyway and it just makes it hotter in my office so I come by every day and turn it off. Nobody has ever complained to me about it". Problem solved. Since they didn't know what it was for and hadn't been using it I asked for permission to relocate it someone who was waiting for one. I got permission and showed up to remove it when someone finally asked me "Not that we will miss it but what is that thing for?" I told them what it did and that it was being given to another organization and an immediate look of panic showed up in his face. Next thing his boss was there telling me that we couldn't move it because they desperately needed it and had placed an urgent order for one months ago!
