Why I 'broke' the computer

I mentioned in my first blog that one of the…hmm…more interesting trials I was going through at that time was that my colleague believed – and still believes – I broke her computer. I think this needs elaboration.

I am the youngest person in my department. Apparently that means I hold the title of Official Computer Guru as well. I don’t know how this rumor started, but it is 100% FALSE. Granted, I know how to do some cool little tricks with a computer but that is only because I run a Web site for my job. Other than that and working with Microsoft Word (the old version, too), I’m clueless.

Again, why I am OCG (Official Computer Guru) is beyond me. But I have one colleague in particular who calls me in her office on a weekly basis (at least) to help her with a computer problem. I’m more than happy to oblige – when I know what’s wrong. Unfortunately, more times than not, I have no idea how to assist her. I’ve always secretly suspected that she thinks that I’m just not willing to help her fix the problem – this assumption does not come without evidence, by the way, but it’s too long to get into right now.

So last week she comes to me with a jump drive and said that the documents would not open on her computer. We tried it on mine, and it worked fine. She was there the entire time, and I mentioned that the computers in our office are a little temperamental, but, maybe because I do so much online work, mine is the best-working one. We returned to her office. After leaning practically upside down to put the jump drive in the back of her computer, I stood up. And waited.

Nothing came up.

Okay, one more point of interest: her computer has been giving her horrible problems for the past six weeks. I seriously can’t believe we haven’t just scrapped the thing and gotten her a new one. It is ridiculous what she’s had to go through with it and the number of times people from tech support have come to help out. So I assumed that she would realize, with all of these recent troubles, that Her Computer Is Fried.

Instead, she looks up at me and said, “I think you broke my computer.”

Honestly, I thought she was joking. I mean, there’s NO WAY on Earth I could have broken her computer in two minutes. I’m just not that talented. So I laughed it off but thought in the back of my mind, “She really believes that…”

The next day I was talking to a friend of mine, and I was telling her about helping our colleague. I casually mentioned what she said at the end. My friend looked at me and said, “Oh, she really believes that.”

I blinked. “What?” I gasped.

“She came in here yesterday after you left and said that you broke her computer and gave reasons why.” A giggle came out of my friend’s lips.

And I started laughing, too. How could I not? True, I could have gotten mad about the situation, after all I’ve done to help her with her computer problems then and in the past, but what would that have accomplished? Plus, the whole idea is just so absurd that I just couldn’t help it.

“Well, good!” I replied. “Maybe she’ll start coming to you with her computer problems!”

I think my days as OCG are officially over. Hallelujah!