Shockwaves were felt throughout the workforce on Friday, with productivity dropping to record lows (probably) as Google Drive experienced a temporary outage that threatened to divert the entire internet’s attention.
At least, that was the impression that social media users gave when confronted with the situation.
Users first got a sign that things had gone hellishly awry when they tried to click on documents that they had saved on Google Drive – such as spreadsheets and documents – only to discover an alarming notification telling them their file “does not exist,” causing their stomachs to sink to their toes.
Of course, the news was greeted with sheer, unadulterated terror.
While some users experienced the crash when they tried to open files, others could not even load Google Drive at all.
Google described the outage as a “service disruption” and stated it was investigating the issue, which began at about 3 pm.
Some Twitter users took to the native language of the internet – cats – to show their displeasure
Others prepared to curse technology, even though they were powerless to remedy it.
Perhaps most depressing of all, though, is that some users were traumatized enough by the whole situation that they had to resort to even more… insidious measures.
Before anyone could plunge too deep into darkness, though, Google notified the internet that the problem was solved around 5:30 pm.