“Why Did You Become an IT Guy?”

The first time I worked for Andy, I swore, “I will never work for Andy again.”

The second time I worked for Andy, I swore, “I will never work for Andy again.”

The third time I worked for Andy…

I was expecting a call from Jay Leno, about a motorcycle. When the phone rang, I picked it up. It was Andy. “Glenn got shot? By his mother-in-law? Who’s Glenn? Oh.” Andy’s favorite production artist. As opposed to me, his least favorite. But I was available. So I went.

Glenn recovered and came back to work. The first thing he said to me was “Andy prefers if you do it this way.” No wonder he got shot.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And I was still there, praying for salvation. The phone rang. It was Jay Leno, calling about the motorcycle. I took the call, while continuing to work, because I was on the clock. As I spoke to Jay about the motorcycle, I started dragging files into the Mac trash can. One file. Two files. The CLIENT files. I emptied the trash.

When I realized what I had done, I got off the phone with Jay and stood behind Andy, who was busy drawing at his desk. “Hey Andy,” I interrupted. I’m really sorry, but I accidentally deleted the CLIENTS folder.” I thought he’d blow his top, but he just calmly said “eff you.”

I brought in a tech guy, but by then it was too late. We didn’t have a backup. Luckily, Glenn had already copied all the CLIENT files to DVDs, right before his mother-in-law shot him. “Wow, we really dodged a bullet.” Long pause. “Some of us.”

But we hadn’t dodged a bullet. Andy moved his studio up the road seventy miles, and that’s the last I ever heard from him. I never heard from Jay Leno again, either. Maybe he found another motorcycle. I had to find another job.

As an IT guy. Because everybody needs a backup.