The Lurking IT Men
I would have named them IT people, but it seems all our IT employees are men.They are lurking around the office place, taking turns meddling with all the computers, bobbing in and out of cubes. They come up behind you, ask you to close all windows, quit all your programs, and move away from your computer. I've been shaken by fright several times when they have walked up behind me and I have seven windows of clothing websites open on my desktop.
You are never given a time frame- it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour to do whatever it is they do, on what you regard as your personal office space. I was constantly afraid they knew of my gmail notifier and were conspiring to remove it, or do something bad to my personal folders.
From what I can tell, they merely update your system, but then why all the secrecy? They never tell you what they are doing. Maybe its all part of their IT mystique- they give too much away and they will not be revered as technical, computer whizzes- continuing to make the rest of us think we can't operate without them.
On my floor, we have given them code names to alert each other as to when they are about to ambush. There is "the ostrich," named for his trademark head movement, "silent talker," who barely gets out the words at an audible level so you end up reading lips, and "low-rider," who adjusts your chair so low that you can't tell if he is in your cube. I have often wondered what their real names are, but that would just give too much of their personality away. I'm all about keeping them at a distant level. I have not fully differentiated if they are friend or foe.
Since receiving Windows XP after a visit from low-rider, I have come to respect the IT men. I am no longer fearful or paranoid, but rather intrigued as to what they will do. However, if I ever return to my cube to find my computer missing some programs or my collection of web photos mysteriously moved to another folder, I will become weary once more.
posted by kari @ 12:45 PM
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