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The original was posted on /r/talesfromtechsupport by /u/OinkyConfidence on 2025-06-25 15:35:32+00:00.

Many years ago, in 2003, I was volunteering at a small school where I provided IT help and support. Ordinarily things like setting up PCs and so on. One night I was working late in the computer labs upgrading their already-ancient PCs to Windows XP, but I didn’t think anything of it being the middle of the night, I just wanted to get it done, and things were moving slowly.

Similar to some of my previous posts, this school was also in a rural area of the US. The town’s police department had a good relationship with the school and their officers would routinely drive by during their shifts just to keep a caring eye on the building, grounds, and campus.

It must have been pretty unusual for them to see a truck parked under the awning at the main entrance late at night, so an officer got out and began looking around, walking the building’s exterior and shining his flashlight in various windows. He must have thought someone broke in and was preparing to loot the place.

Imagine my shock when he makes his way to the computer lab windows, shines his light, sees me, and taps on the glass, gun drawn! I jumped about ten feet in the air before hands-up waving at him, saying “I’m just the computer guy! Don’t shoot!”

I ran outside. The cop was good natured, and once I showed him my keys (and verified they actually opened the building) he and I both chuckled and I spent the next hour completely pumped on adrenaline from the scare! I did finish the upgrade though.