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Friends' computer troubles
StoreTags: jfgi, geek squad synd
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People who enjoyed reading this: Roshi, hecanjog, monty, yghartsyrt, delete, Zanf, crabster, Ochre, daswesen, BadWolf, zfigz, RRine, ignatius, EsromCole, breakscience, ejectorset, hardvoltnine, deltasleep, infradead, DerryGodo
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Seems like as soon as I meet someone and they find out I'm a "computer whiz" they suddenly get a look like a dog to a fire hydrant. It's not long before they start describing some stupid problem they're having because they're to lazy, ignorant, and stupid to use google or RTFM. Seriously, if these were interesting problems I wouldn't mind but they almost always involve an inkjet printer, a Linksys WRT54G, or Outlook. Fortunately I know nothing about Outlook.
Sometimes I wish I had a spine. I would just tell them to fuck off, to wipe their own asses. Every nerd I've ever known was self-taught. Maybe I just shouldn't tell people what my area of expertise is. Hard to avoid it when I'm at work, and that's fine cos it's on company time. But chrissakes, just cos I'm a PHP monkey doesn't mean I'm the volunteer geek squad.
I want to just start telling them I charge 50 bucks an hour, minus the number of the first google hit with the answer (25 minimum). What do you do? | |
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05/03/08
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ignatius
family and friends are two different things. if your mom calls you and says "how do i get my pictures off my camera on to my computer soi can email them?" well.. obviously.. you're gonna help her out.
but, if as zanf said, you're getting so many phone calls from friends who have computer issues that you stop answering your phone.. well then that's another story that requires a different solution.
05/03/08
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dach
Mention your price as soon as possible. When mentioning what you work with, don't forget to include "it's pretty neat knowing stuff about computers, I get to help my neighbours fix their printer for 50 bucks an hour!" You can see them hesitate a minute and the "hey, maybe you could take a look at.." phrase doesn't seem to get past their lips. If it does, say "sure, I'd love to help, and that is 50 bucks per started hour, just to be clear".
There is nothing wrong with getting paid for your work, and the sooner you set your price the easier it will be. Set it stupidly high if you don't want to help. It's a lot worse to say 'aaah, but I'm terribly busy at the moment..' and have them call you, and call you.
If you are just getting annoyed when they start explaining their problems to you, interrupt them and say "Wait a minute, this would be so much easier if I was sitting on front of the machine. Here's my card, give me a call on saturday, I have a free slot"
05/03/08
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prugelknaben
i am a singer. people invite me to weddings.
05/03/08
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my3BIKaHT
so i like have this problem
05/03/08
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sweettrip
luckily the only people that take me for their personal tech support are my mom and her sister (and i don't mind helping them because they always feed me hella good just for stopping by), and my best friend and his brothers, which i don't mind because i get to drink all the beer i want for free, and with my best friend i always end up jamming with his V-Drums.
actually i take that back: i work for an audio visual department at a hotel, and since they do not have an in-house IT department, and the engineering department people are assholes who just ignore guest requests, ultimately i'm the one who gets called to people's rooms/suites/etc. to help them connect to the net, help them turn on their wireless card, help them transfer files from one computer to another, help them configure their webcams for business meetings, help them enable their computer to print in color, etc.... sucks ass!
true story: one time i had an old lady who wanted to send an email to her grand daughter. she sits on the computer at the lobby and just stares at the screen. i get called to help the lady (!!). i tell the lady to type the url she needs to go to. she does. i tell her to move the mouse one the screen to the empty box where it says 'usename', and type her username. i look away for a few seconds because i noticed a hot lady pass by, and while i'm checking her out the old lady tells me that nothing happens when she moves the mouse. i look over the lady and she's holding the mouse against the computer screen, moving it and tapping the screen with...!!! anyway, in order to not waste my time with her, i volunteered to type her email for her, and that was that. she gave me a $20 tip... nice...
05/03/08
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breakscience
nothing worse than working 8 hours a day on the phone with frustrated people with real issues...brain = very tired...then come home to a call from someone who cant install an app by themselves.
05/03/08
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ejectorset
i feel you! its been that way for me since like 1996. the worst is when some old person that understands nothing technical first meets you and immediately says "OH GOOD" and proceeds to try to describe in the most vague terms ever some problem they have been having with a computer that isn't where you are, that everyone else they know including free and paid tech people "couldn't figure out either".
05/03/08
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PYVND
It depends on the people asking. If they're a bunch of self-absorbed assholes, then don't help. But if they're nice people and it doesn't take too long, help them out. I remember helping to set up computers for friends and stuff when I was younger. If it doesn't feel satisfying, then you know the people you're helping are not cool. You can sort of just feel it out and see.
05/04/08
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elronhubbard
lol. that blog pic rocks.
05/04/08
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hardvoltnine
Does anyone relate this to working on cars?
05/04/08
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elronhubbard
i wonder if porn stars get asked for help by guys who cant get laid.
05/04/08
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deltasleep
I learned the hard way that I should never let anybody else know this at work. I'm a teacher, and the very INSTANT it got out that I might have half a clue, combined with the fact that I apparently LOOK a lot like a computer tech, I started getting these frantic all caps emails.
"MR. C, MY COMPUTER IS NOT PRINTING NOTHING. COULD YOU PLS HELP? THANKS, RM 400."
My new rule is, I will fix anything but your printer/scanner/copier. I also want nothing to do with FUCKING NOVELL LOGONS.
I use logmein.com to fix my parents computer. they are always doing dumb shit like their little lapdog hitting a random hot key and rotating the display 90 degrees. They're the kind of computer users who have an emachine with the store stickers still on it.
05/04/08
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Roshi
elronhubbard said: "i wonder if porn stars get asked for help by guys who cant get laid."
LOL!
05/04/08
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Zanf
elronhubbard said: "i wonder if porn stars get asked for help by guys who cant get laid."
from this moment forth, I am a gynęcologist.
05/04/08
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breakscience
Zanf - I don't think you want that...
"I was wondering if you could take a look at my festering, disease ridden vagina for me? I have talked to a few people and they couldn't fix it."
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