It was a quiet morning on the helpdesk. Being a Monday, we had done our fair share of password resets and reminded those who had fried their brains over the weekend how to switch on a PC and where the printers were.

Then the call came in to save the day:

“I need help. I think I’ve broken the Internet.”

Slightly dumbfounded, and remembering my training regarding “Checking understanding,” my remark was a little weak:

“You’ve broken the Internet?”

“Yes, I was looking at the latest models on the BMW Web site, and a screen popped up, asking if I needed to enlarge my penis!”

By this time, we were on speakerphone.

The unspoken thought ran around the room; the general consensus was that he probably did. We were a little concerned that the pop-up blocker was failing in its duties, although it has been noticed that online advertisers are finding more and more ways to get around the blockers.

“So what can I do?”

“We’ll look into it. Don’t worry, I don’t think you’ve broken the Internet. We’ll just re-configure the proxy server and the firewall to stop this stuff getting in.”

“Oh, don’t bother, this computer isn’t on the network, it’s one we have on the desk here for Web browsing. It isn’t a company one.”