It was a slow Tuesday morning when the helpdesk phone rang with a call that immediately made us question our understanding of technology. The caller sounded genuinely distressed and explained that their mouse was “running out of battery” — but not in the way you’d expect. He wasn’t talking about the wireless mouse on his desk. No, this was a literal mouse. A small, furry, real-life mouse that had somehow taken up residence near his workstation.
The story unfolded in the most bizarre way. Apparently, this office employee had noticed a tiny mouse darting around his cubicle and had become strangely attached to it. He named the mouse “Clicker” because it was, in his words, “sort of like a living mouse for my computer.” Over the past few days, he’d been feeding Clicker tiny crumbs of his lunch and even setting up little obstacles to encourage the mouse to exercise.
This morning, however, he noticed that Clicker was moving slower than usual. Enter panic mode. Convinced the mouse’s tiny legs were running out of battery power — like a device running low on charge — he decided to call IT. The caller wanted advice on how to “recharge” Clicker or if there was a way to swap out the mouse’s battery because, without the mouse moving fast enough, how was he supposed to get any work done?
The helpdesk technician tried to contain their laughter while carefully explaining that real mice don’t run on batteries and that Clicker might just need a nap or a snack. They recommended he contact animal control or a local vet to make sure the mouse was healthy, and suggested that maybe it was better to keep Clicker as a guest outside the office building rather than a “live mouse” powering his day’s productivity.
After some polite coaching, the caller thanked the technician and promised to treat Clicker like the wild animal he was—and leave the actual working mouse to the IT department. That day, we learned that not all mice need a USB connection, but all mice, real or not, require a little care—just not from IT.