In Rob's last job, he worked in IT (well, he basically was IT) and what he could not abide were people resistant to change. Whenever he needed to do an upgrade to a person's computer, that change was met with fear and panic. God forbid he switch their email client because they only knew where the send button was in Outlook. God forbid he install Firefox because without "that little blue e" on the desktop, how would they get to the internet? God forbid he suggest they change their passwords because....well, CHANGE IS BAD.

One day he told me about a lady whose computer he had been troubleshooting. She did data entry using an online interface and the interface had recently changed due to a software upgrade. Rob had nothing to do with this change, but the moment he walked into her office she began pouring her heart out to him about it. "I was just starting to get comfortable with this job," she told him (she'd been working there for YEARS), "and now they've gone and changed it all." She was holding back tears. "I just...I just don't know if I can do this job anymore. I don't know where to find anything with these new menus! Everything is different." Rob of course acted sympathetic with her, but telling me about it later he was incredulous that anyone could be so upset about a few interface adjustments (improvements, no less!), so afraid of technology, so incapable of learning new tricks. So resistant to change.

He has referred to that woman many times since. "Well, this person isn't as bad as Data Entry Lady, at least. That woman was ridiculous! Three things change and she can no longer do her job!"

So yesterday Rob got a new cell phone at work. I was the one who set up his old one with his ring tone and contacts and all of that. You know, because it's fun. (I'm easily amused. Shut up.) So he came home last evening, announced he'd gotten a new phone, and then asked, "Will you set it up for me?" (Surely he asked me this because he knew the joy it would bring me. Surely it wasn't because he couldn't figure it out himself. He's the geek-genius, after all. Ahem.)

"Sure!" I responded. (Because I'm easily amused, like I said.)

"Can you do it this evening? Because I can't go another day with it like it is. Seriously, it keeps ringing and I don't even realize it's MY phone ringing because it's not my ring tone! I mean, how am I supposed to recognize my phone without MY ring tone?!"

"Yeah, that's easy to change. What else do you want?"

"My icons aren't showing up on the main screen! My old phone had icons that were always there, but this one just has a blank screen and I can't find anything."

"Okay. What icons do you want?"

"It's gotta be Contacts, Messages, and Calendar - in that order. I really wish I still had my old phone so you could set this one up exactly like that one." He seemed almost agitated.

"Oh, and another thing! On this phone, Recent Calls is the button on the right, but on my old phone it was the button on the left. Can you make it the left button on this one? I don't understand why they would change that on me. I mean, I guess I could get used to it being the button on the right, but it would be much better if it was the one on the left."

Yeah, I think he owes Data Entry Lady an apology.