Support Tech Caught By 'Technician Aura': The Bug That Only Hides When You're Watching
The Register, Friday, April 17th, 2026
All that kit, and the fix was simply stepping aside
Life is filled with random events, but The Register tries to make readers' lives just a little more predictable by always using Friday morning to bring you a new instalment of On Call - the reader-contributed column that shares your tech support stories.
This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as 'Benny' who in the 1990s worked for a large Australian telco and was sent to fix a recurring problem at a gardening shop - the sort of big box store that sells plants by the acre, and tools by the wheelbarrow-load.
This shop's point of sale card reading terminals were failing several times a day and Benny was sent to investigate.