Tuesday Afternoon, 3:00 PM
Chris was just about to take his first coffee break of the day when his phone lit up with a call from Bob in sales—again.
“Chris, the Wi-Fi is acting up. It’s super slow, and I’ve got a major presentation due in an hour. Can you fix it now?”
Chris checked the network status. Everything looked stable. No reported outages, no unusual activity. Just as he was about to brush it off as yet another “user error,” his eye caught the weather alert blinking on his screen: a major thunderstorm was moving in fast, and the company’s backup server was at risk.
“Bob, there’s a storm coming,” Chris explained. “The network might get spotty because we’re set up with an external antenna. Just give it a minute—it should hold steady unless the weather gets bad.”
“External antenna? Are we still in 1999?” Bob snarked.
Chris stifled a sigh. It’s like Bob has a vendetta against technology. But before he could respond, his phone started buzzing with new notifications: more messages about Wi-Fi issues. A quick glance outside showed ominous clouds gathering, and a flash of lightning crackled in the distance. Chris realized the storm was arriving sooner than expected.
The Backup Antenna Mission
Chris’s training kicked in, and he immediately opened the server control panel to assess the situation. Thompson & Co. hadn’t upgraded their network infrastructure in years, and the building relied on an external antenna as a backup connection—a relic of IT from Jack’s era, apparently left in place because “it usually worked.”
Now, with the storm pounding on the windows and rain hammering the roof, Chris knew the backup antenna was a ticking time bomb.
“Alright, Bob, I need you to stay calm. I’m going to check the backup antenna and see if I can boost the main network from here. But if you lose connection for a while, that’s the storm.”
Bob mumbled something about being “the only one who gets things done,” and Chris ignored it, heading straight to the server room. He opened the panel and checked the connections—only to find the antenna cable precariously loose, hanging on by just a few threads of wire.
“Great,” he muttered, scrambling for a toolkit. “Not only is this thing ancient, it’s hanging on by a thread.”
As he tightened the connection, the lights flickered, and he braced himself as a huge boom of thunder shook the building. He’d have to reinforce the antenna outside if it was going to hold. Grabbing an umbrella and some tools, he dashed outside into the storm.
With rain pouring down and thunder rumbling ominously, Chris secured the antenna’s wiring, adjusting its position slightly to improve signal strength. He hurried back inside, soaked but triumphant, and checked the network status. Signal strength was back, and the network appeared stable.
Returning to his desk, he shot a quick message to Bob. “Network is back up. You’re good to go.”
After a pause, Bob replied, “Thanks, man. You really came through.”
Chris smirked, satisfied. Maybe the storm had passed, but he knew one thing for sure: if it came down to rain or Wi-Fi problems, he’d take the thunderstorm any day.