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Know Your Colors

· 3 min read

It was a dark, quiet night in the Pacific Northwest, and the 24/ hr restaurant chain I worked for was humming with the usual midnight rush. Somewhere in the back room, the network decided it was time for a dramatic exit, and the manager on the shift dialed the IT hotline at 2 am, hoping the hero would swoop in with a wrench or a spreadsheet.

Manager: “Our network is down, I can’t run credit cards.”
Me: “Ah, I see your WatchGuard is down.”
Manager: “Should I know what that is?”
Me: “It’s the device that keeps you connected to the web. Might just need a reboot. Simple fix.”
Manager: “I don’t know what’s what here!”
Me: “It’s a red box on the shelf right above where you sit.”
Manager: “I don’t get it.”
Me: “RED box. You don’t get it?”
Manager: “I’m a manager at a restaurant, not a tech guy.”
Me: “Can I talk to the dishwasher?”

The manager, feeling like a contestant on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, passed the phone to the dishwasher, who, after a moment of hesitation, was promptly convinced that the red box was the next great snack.

Dishwasher: “Yeah?”
Me: “Can you reboot the WatchGuard, it’s a red box on the shelf…”
Dishwasher: “Done.”

Three minutes later, the lights flickered back to life, the credit card reader sang its familiar jingle, and the manager was left to wonder why the IT guy had to mention #FF0000 in his explanation. Turns out the WatchGuard was literally a bright, blood‑red box that looked like it could double as a warning light for a nuclear launch. The moral of the story? Never underestimate the power of a single color, especially when you’re a manager who thinks “network” means “the internet for the entire town.”

TL;DR​

The IT guy explained that the network’s red “WatchGuard” box was down. The manager was clueless. The dishwasher rebooted it, and all was well. Lesson: a bright red box can mean a lot more than a “watchful guard.”

Comments​

  • Colorblind reporting (moderate deuteromatdeutan). After googling this box, can confirm. Very red.
  • I was imagining a deep muted red, like most tech stuff. Then I googled it. That is the reddest thing physically possible.
  • Holy shit it's very red.
  • Likewise google… Oh wow, my parents TV when I was growing up couldn’t show a red that red.
  • Holy crap! OP wasn’t kidding when they described it as #FF0000!