Incident #0001: The Ethernet Cable That Wasn’t Plugged In

Every IT person has one.

That ticket.

That moment.

That thing you spent way too long troubleshooting before realizing the answer was painfully obvious.

Mine?

The Ethernet cable.

The one that wasn’t plugged in.

Now before anyone laughs… yes, I know. 😂

But here’s the thing people don’t understand about IT: when someone tells you “the network is down,” your brain doesn’t immediately go to “check if the cable is connected.”

You start thinking:

Is the switch port down?
Is DHCP failing?
Is there a VLAN issue?
Did someone change a configuration?
Did an update break something?

Your brain goes into full detective mode.

And then eventually…

You look.

The cable isn’t connected.

The lesson?

Always check the basics.

Not because you don’t know better.

Because sometimes the simplest answer hides behind the most complicated assumptions.

And yes, I documented it.

Because someday another IT person is going to spend 30 minutes troubleshooting the same thing, and I want them to know they’re not alone. 😉