A ticket comes in from one of the sales managers. Subject line: "Computer extremely slow, cannot work, URGENT."

I finish my coffee, grab my bag, and head over.

She is sitting at her desk with her arms crossed looking at the monitor like it personally offended her family. The screen is on. There is a Windows login prompt sitting there completely idle.

Me: "Okay so what's it doing?"

Her: "Nothing. It's just sitting there. It's been like this since yesterday."

Me: "Have you tried logging in?"

Her: "It wont let me. I click and nothing happens."

I look at the mouse. It is a wireless mouse. The little light on the bottom that indicates it is on is not on. I flip it over. The batteries are held in by a piece of tape and one of them has corroded slightly and is sitting at a small angle.

Me: "When did you last change the batteries?"

Her: "Batteries?"

Long pause.

Her: "I didnt know it had batteries."

She had been with the company for six years. She had used this mouse for at minimum four of those years. She had at some point taped the battery compartment shut, presumably because it kept falling open, and then completely forgotten that batteries were a concept that applied to her mouse.

I replaced the batteries. The mouse worked. She logged in instantly.

Her: "Oh wow it's so much faster now."

The computer speed had not changed. The computer had been fine the entire time.

I went back to my desk and sat quietly for a few minutes.