I Guess I’m the Shadow IT Department Now

“That nice boy who knows so much about computers.”

That’s me!

If one of our residents has a problem with their phone, a TV remote, their computer, or anything else involving tech, I’m the guy they are usually (unofficially and informally!) directed to see.

This is made hilariously more difficult by the fact that everyone involved are octogenarians who can’t seem to remember my name.

A few weeks ago I heard people asking around as to where “Eric, that guy who knows computers” could be found.

“Did you mean me?” I asked.

They did. Gloria in 102 was having a problem. “She doesn’t know how to disconnect her computer from the wall.”

Odd request, but okay, let’s check it out.

Gloria’s laptop was on the fritz so she was going to take it to a repair shop. She had put it into a cloth bag for transport. But she had also slid her cable modem into the same bag, with power cords and the cable wiring still connected.

“Oh, you don’t need to take the modem in, they don’t need that,” I told her. The modem was still on inside the bag, restricting airflow to the device and making it dangerously hot, so I pulled that out and set it aside.

She was ecstatic that she didn’t need to lug all that extra bulky equipment around and thanked me profusely.

Yesterday I heard people in the lobby asking around for “Pete, the computer guy,” so I asked—again—if maybe I was the object of their search.

“Pete! There you are!” Gloria said as she found me.

She said that she had a batch of cookies ready to go into the oven as a thank you gift for my help, but didn’t know to which apartment it was to be delivered.

“That sounds lovely, thank you,” I said, writing down my name and apartment number so she wouldn’t forget.

“Oh, ‘Rick,’ I see, I had the wrong name,” she apologized.

Several hours later I got a delivery of two dozen chocolate chip cookies (my favorite!) fresh off the cooling rack.

“Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.” —Ecclesiastes 11:1