Was asked to check the sales team server as it was running slow.
Apart from redundant processes and users with too much permissions I found a "Cobol" folder under one of the sales team member's home folder.

If it weren't the sales people I would immediately disregard this as trolling but with them it's quite possible that this is a real attempt to learn programming...
...most likely from the facebook ads with the hooded guys that offer to teach you to code in 10 days for $800.

@enen Obviously I did! Waiting for a mail response as he is on a trip.
I showed that to the IT department, they laughed and looked suspiciously at each other so I suspect some kind of an inside joke.

sales person trying to learn cobol in his spare time? have you looked out the window to check for flying pigs, and got a weather update from hell?

@magicMirror disregarding the fact that it's most likely a joke - it wasn't even Cobol, neither Java, JS or C.

@Noob Just leaving this here for updates.

Everyone, I finally discovered what this magic is!

Me to the sales guy:
So, what is that Cobol folder is all about?

Alex the sales guy:
Oh it's the configuration file.

Me:
It's a dire.. ok.. Go on.

Alex:
I don't know much. Sometimes the server is running slowly so the IT team has to come and fiddle with it.

Me:
You guys asked them about the slowness about a dozen times already, is that right?

Alex:
Yeah man, they alway..

Me:
And at first they said they couldn't do a thing, correct? But then after a number of calls they came by and "fixed" it. While you were watching. Right?

Alex:
Yeah! Yeah! It helps every time!

I did not reveal their secret.

Social engineering > Computer engineering.