From road to computer rage

Personal computers arrived and evolved so quickly (and the making of their software and hardware involve so many different people and talents), it seems, that they never got to be user-friendly. Thus we've added "computer rage" to the lexicon of modern society. And to roaming tech-support techies' lists of headaches (though, on the upside, they are becoming the knights in shining armor of the Digital Age). Their employers, however, probably aren't too upset about computer rage. "The phenomenon is transforming the nature of technology service, an industry long infamous for being impersonal," the Washington Post reports. "Business is booming for companies with names like Rent-a-Geek, Geeks on Call, and Geek Squad that make house calls to fix computers." The savior-techies of one such company "do triage. The challenge is to recognize which of the five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance - a given customer is in, and respond accordingly." If this sounds entirely too familiar and your family is in need a little computer-related humor therapy, do not miss BackupTrauma.com, starring John Cleese.