[wpietri]

My favorite was originally about the DEC minicomputer Field Services organization, known as "field circuses":

  Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer
     with a flat tire?
  A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one
     is flat.

  Q: How can you recognize a field circus engineer
     who is out of gas?
  A: He's changing one tire at a time to see which one
     is flat.

  Q: How can you tell it's *your* field circus engineer?
  A: The spare is flat, too. [1]

That particular organization may be long gone, but you can definitely spot the behavior. E.g., when calling front-line tech support and being asked to reboot and reinstall things that clearly don't matter.

[1] The Jargon File is full of little gems like this. http://zvon.org/comp/r/ref-Jargon_file.html#Terms~field_circ...