Your doctor and your lawyer may know
a lot about you. But in a time when we are using computers to socialize, keep
track of finances, do work and store family photos, your IT person probably
knows more.
So when computers go down, it can cause intense feelings of frustration.
Some psychologists have even coined the term "computer rage" to
describe these outbursts.
When you're feeling that way, you can pick up a hammer or you can call an IT
guy at a firm like Mann Consulting in downtown San Francisco. This is command
central for customers in the midst of a crisis.
Co-founder Harold Mann says his office can be like a hospital emergency
room. "We have the same challenges where we have to counsel people and
comfort them during stressful times while also practicing our craft, which is
getting their machines to work," he says.
Mann has a staff of 16, who never
treat clients with disdain or give incoherent technical explanations. "There's no question that pure
engineering talents does not make for a great IT person," he says. "When
we hire people we focus on people who are kind, not just brilliant."
Fred Goldberg, a retired advertising
executive, has been working with Mann for two decades. Goldberg says he often
gets comfort from Mann. When Mann or his people finish their work, Goldberg
says, he's like a starving person who just got fed for the first time in
months. "Thank you! Thank you for fixing this," he'll tell them.
"Thank you for relieving me of this horrible mess that I was in."
Goldberg says when your whole life
is on a computer, you need more comfort from your IT person than you need from
your doctor.
Another Mann client, Pat Belding,
who runs a small marketing firm, talks about his 25-year relationship with Mann
almost like a marriage.
"Over these years we've had our
times where we've just bumped heads," Belding says. "He knows what
will push me and I know what'll push him, and then you just kind of let things
rest, and he'll come back and I'll come back to him."
As we all get even more dependent on
our computers, many of us hope we too can have a happy marriage with someone
who will fix them.
edited from NPR
