>IT folks are not anti-social - go to any social event that attracts >eclectic folks and you will find IT folks out and about and getting >along just fine with other IT folks, artists, artisans, musicians, >alternative lifestyle folks, etc. Many IT folks are these things >outside of work.
I don't see it as being anti-social. I see it as not being interested in what the other people are doing -- not American Idol -- but accounting, member service, newsletters, mass mailings, etc. They don't actually look at the computers they are managing and don't notice when they are working crappy. They don't make suggestions or look for ways to make the organization's work go better. When I go on site I am often mobbed by computer users. They don't want to talk about sports or trivia, they very much want to talk to me about computers. They are thrilled that just a few minutes of attention can whipe away painful, time-wasting problems. They actually get more interested in computers when they see things can work right. Recently, I solved a problem and showed the computer user how something she did caused the problem. I took the time to show them exactly what happened and demonstrated the fix. The rest of the day as I did my rounds I heard the story retold over and over again. The office grapevine quickly got the word out. The staff was actively interested and individuals took the initiative to correct their own computers. Meanwhile I recently visited an organization with an autocratic IT manager. One group had managed to get their tiny monitors replaced with 19-inch widescreens. Then they discovered that the drivers on their PCs could not drive these screens. They asked IT take care of it. After a long wait one of the staff downloaded the drivers from the manufacturer's website (Dell) and everyone upgraded their drivers. Suddenly IT was paying attention with a brouhaha over "users" modifying their computers. I would fire the IT manager. ************************************************************************ * ==> QUICK LIST-COMMAND REFERENCE - Put the following commands in <== * ==> the body of an email & send 'em to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <== * Join the list: SUBSCRIBE COMPUTERGUYS-L Your Name * Too much mail? Try Daily Digests command: SET COMPUTERGUYS-L DIGEST * Tired of the List? Unsubscribe command: SIGNOFF COMPUTERGUYS-L * New address? From OLD address send: CHANGE COMPUTERGUYS-L YourNewAddress * Need more help? Send mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************************ * List archive at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/ * RSS at www.mail-archive.com/computerguys-l@listserv.aol.com/maillist.xml * Messages bearing the header "X-No-Archive: yes" will not be archived ************************************************************************
