Sometimes electricity is your friend. Sometimes, not so much:

Every cable that was connected to the laptop, Ethernet, Firewire, Power, and USB, was forcibly shot out of each portal, and each portal covered with the black soot. Metal bits and electronic debris from the power cable hub and other cables was scattered around the room and some wires had split apart into copper shreds. Molten silver metal flecks are still lodged in the windowsill.

Of course, since this is the cable company we're talking about here, this person is now in tech support hell trying to get them to replace all the gear. Now that's what I call a class-A screwup!