Spare a tear for IT support

Everywhere, at least in India, IT has become synonymous with success and youth power. If you are twenty-something and appear well dressed, you must be working in IT. My apartment neighbors can’t hide their smirk when I say that "unfortunately I am not an IT consultant, but a management consultant :-(". But all said and done, one segment of this glorious industry has been left behind - and those are the IT support staff.

Yes, may my worst enemy be spared from having the life of an IT support guy- a thankless life spent clicking on Install, Uninstall and Restart. Every time he has to clean up our mess (systems) after our previous night's excesses without having ever heard those two words "Thank you". He is supposed to know it all and we laugh in his face at the slightest hint that he is having some difficulty understanding our IT related problem. His private life is worth peanuts and we are allowed to call him up anytime and thrash him for any self created emergency. He is often a contract employee and always outnumbered by the mainstream employees-so he can never say "Enough is enough". And 24/7, hundreds of geeky nerds, who are much smarter than him, are creating new viruses and spywares to add to his misery.

Only once the IT support guy has some chance to redeem his prestige and that is when a new person joins in the middle or lower ranks. Then it is all like a tribal ritual. First, our IT support guy gets a special one hour session with the new joinee explaining why he is not allowing him any IT privileges (128Mb RAM, net access etc.). And then within a day or two when the new joinee has complained to his boss about limited access, our IT guy is thrashed and humiliated again. Now the new joinee too joins up the Reducule-IT-support-gang.

Let’s observe a moment of silence for these people- who have been bypassed by the IT revolution. Friends, don’t love an IT support guy but please don't hate him- allow him that only moment of glamour when you join new- that is the only twig he is holding on to in his miserable and lonely life.

P.S. : Given the times we are living in, this may be a taken as a satire on IT support. But really, I do feel for them.