As much grief as some of my workmates give me, I also get some good laughs, although that doesn’t always last. There’s a guy who’s been clamouring for a computer for months, though if you ask me, he doesn’t really need one considering the kind of work he does.

The boss must be happy about something because he released funds for the computer. Not a Mac, not even an HP but I’ve never seen Mike so happy. You’d think he had won the lottery! As soon as everything was set up, I knew that the computer world is alien to him. I’m not tech-savvy myself but I at least know the basics and I believe that by the time someone huffs, puffs and throws tantrums over not having a computer, surely they know their way around it. Not our guy and I have to say I’m suffering because of that. See, we’re buddies and I’m the first person he turned to for help, which I didn’t mind at first but do now. He literally calls me every other second to open this document, save another or look for a certain symbol. Like I said, it’s pretty basic stuff and I don’t know why he doesn’t know. Seeing that his constant need for my help was distracting me, not to mention wearing me down since his office is a few doors away from mine, I decided to write down a few tips, shortcuts, references and terms I think he needs to know, and pinned it on his wall. I stressed that he would discover the rest on his own or learn from his other friends since we all learn something from someone. I also mentioned that Google is really helpful. If you can’t figure out how to do something, just search for it, I advised, hoping that this would save me a lot of work. He still wants me to go over and help with the searches! The other mistake I made was recommending YouTube to him. Now he wants me to know everything he has watched. A typical day starts with him bursting into our office with this big smile on his face. "Sophie, you have to see this. It’s Rooney’s Wedding clip…” or "The Beckhams in America...” Because I don’t want to be rude, my signature response is a cool "Oh really?” when all I want to say is, "Dude, I saw those years ago.” He loves his football and I’m okay with that since I’m a fan too but I hate how he makes his whole Internet experience about football. Can’t he check The New Times or BBC websites? Or any other site for that matter? What’s worse is that he reads out loud whatever catches his eye. "Arsène Wenger confident Walcott will stay…” or Guardiola off to Bayern…” Most of us keep tabs on what’s happening and so don’t need to hear it again from him. Besides, he mispronounces people’s names and this leaves me gritting my teeth every time. Fortunately, I have a big pair of headsets and sometimes when I’ve really had it, I pretend I can’t hear him calling me even when I do. Occasionally, I bob my head and hum to an imaginary song and if I’m lucky, somebody else walks in and diverts his attention. Many times though, I’m not as lucky and the guy will walk to my desk and tap me to tell me something I already know. Every time that happens, I wish he had never been gotten the damn computer.To be continued…