i'm not a boomer, but in the "old days" you had "guys", which were people that actually had some useful skill you needed.

I don't mean a friend, a "guy" is more like a small business person who provides a good or service. Which I guess these days is like your local weed dealer or something.

I have a car guy. He runs his entire shop out of a van, I call him, he pulls up, fixes a CV join or whatever, and I give him $40 and a beer.

I have a car guy, a watch guy, a medical guy who drops my medical costs to pennies, even a shoe polishing guy, but I didn't know if this was a thing any more.

These days you call it a social network, but it seems much drier and more corporate now.