field circus: n.

[a derogatory pun on ‘field service’] The field service organization of any hardware manufacturer, but originally DEC. There is an entire genre of jokes about field circus engineers:


Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer
withaflattire?
A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat.

Q:Howcanyourecognizeafieldcircusengineer
whoisoutofgas?
A:He'schangingonetireatatimetoseewhichoneisflat.

Q:Howcanyoutellit'syourfieldcircusengineer?
A:Thespareisflat,too.

[See Easter egging for additional insight on these jokes.]

There is also the ‘Field Circus Cheer’ (from the old plan file for DEC on MIT-AI):


Maynard!Maynard!
Don'tmesswithus!
We'remeanandwe'retough!
Ifyougetusconfused
We'llscrewupyourstuff.

(DEC's service HQ, still extant under the HP regime, is located in Maynard, Massachusetts.)