"Their problems are always minor enough that I can dial in and fix them remotely," fish says. "This call seemed to be just as simple: They wanted to restore a file from backup, but they didn't know which tape to use."

Fish dials in and has the on-site IT guy watch the monitor as fish starts up the backup program, selects the file to restore and starts the restore job.

"Sure enough, a window popped up asking for the correct tape. I'm thinking: Problem solved, just find the tape and stick it in," says fish.

"Their IT guy tells me he got that far already, but he doesn't know which tape to use."

I've got a minimum on-site service charge, fish reminds IT guy. But if you want, I can drive over and help you find the tape.