It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon in the IT department when a support ticket popped into our system that caught everyone off guard. The user described a mouse that had suddenly stopped working and was convinced the solution was to “turn it off and on again—underwater.”
Intrigued, I called the user to get more details. They explained that their mouse had begun malfunctioning just as they were trying to catch a rare fish while video conferencing for a virtual fishing club meeting. Apparently, in an inspired moment of troubleshooting, they thought submerging the mouse in water before rebooting it might somehow reset the internal magic that controls clicks and cursor movement.
When I asked if the mouse was currently underwater, the user enthusiastically confirmed it was in the kitchen sink, soaking in a bowl filled with tap water.
I took a deep breath and gently explained that electrical devices and water generally don’t mix well. I suggested drying off the mouse completely and waiting a few hours before trying to use it again—without immersing it in any liquid.
The user thanked me with the hopeful optimism of someone who still expected miracles. When they called back a day later, their mouse was… spat out some corrosion and still didn’t work. However, they were now the proud owner of a brand-new mouse, thanks to the IT budget and a little less aquatic experimentation.
We later sent around a photo of the soggy mouse as a lighthearted reminder to only reboot electronics in dry, air-based environments. The moral here? Not every “turn it off and on again” moment involves water—even if it sounds like it might make you a better angler.