(humorous flash story)

Mike had always dreamed of being a superhero. Instead, he worked in tech support, where his daily routine was basically the same. Day in and day out, his ‘superpower’ asked, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?” It happens fifty times a day…

One particularly mundane Tuesday, he received a call from an elderly lady who was convinced her computer was possessed by demons. “It keeps showing me pictures of cats,” she whispered dramatically. “I never asked for cats!”

“Ma’am, those are advertisements,” Mike explained patiently. “They’re based on your browsing history.”

“But I’ve never looked up cats! I’m more of a dog person,” she protested.

After some investigation, Mike discovered that the grandson of the senior lady had been using her computer to watch cat videos. When he explained this, the lady gasped, “That little traitor! And here I was planning to leave him my precious collection of garden gnomes!”

As Mike guided her through clearing the browser history, she kept him entertained with stories about her garden gnome army – all 237 of them, each with their own name and backstory. His favorite was Giuseppe, the gnome who allegedly scared away burglars by “looking particularly judgmental.”

By the end of the call, not only had Mike solved the “demon cat” problem, but he’d also been invited to her famous Sunday gnome-viewing tea parties. He declined politely, citing his busy schedule of saving other computer users from digital disasters.

That night, as Mike updated his job description on LinkedIn, he added “Digital Exorcist” to his skills. After all, saving elderly ladies from demonic cat advertisements was probably the closest he’d ever get to being a superhero.

And he was perfectly fine with that.