If I have to pay for it, you're not getting it for free.

[Acolyte]

Here's a thread dedicated to all those SC's trying to get all the freebies they can.

1) When I was still working on the helpdesk, I always had people asking me to waive the setup fees for internet accounts, especially on the ADSL accounts. Granted, I can see why-the setup fee is $110-but nothing you do is going to get rid of it.
Not going to sign up? Whatever, we were doing fine before.
Going to be all buddy-buddy? Tough. Still not going to pull favours for someone I only know as a voice on a phone.
Going to get pissed off and talk to the manager? I'll tranfer you over to him, since he's allowed to call you a dumba**.

2) People trying to get free stuff for their computers. If you paid for something, that's what we order and that's what I put in. I'm not putting in anything you don't pay for.
Same goes for getting legit Windows versions. We don't let a computer leave without a legit version. Yes, I COULD get you a pirated version. No, I won't, because it's my a**.

And what's worse is that a lot of them don't go away-they go above and beyond the 'Ooh, it didn't scan? Must be free!' people. They get pushy and make up excuses-'I'm on EI, cut me a break!' 'I've gotta pay for my medicine and my car and blah blah blah.', ect. Some of them even get pissed off-'I'm paying $75 an hour for this, I should get something out of it!' You are-a freakin' working computer! If you can't afford to fix it, don't break it!

I will cut people some sympathy on Act of God errors-they get a faulty part out of the box, or get something fried by one of the frequent power outages up here. If that's the case, I'll cut down my time on it-that's the unspoken rule in the shop. But for someone who owns a computer with more trojans then an orgy porno, or who files down his AGP cards to fit in PCI slots, no.

But, enough of me. I'm sure you've all got stories to share, too.

[theredbaron47]

Personally, I hardly have any stories. The people in my town actually seem to have a pretty decent handle on that. But whenever I see and overhear people talking to my managers (who are also the owners), what they ask for disgusts me more often than not.

Example: A random Joe Schmoe comes in and, because one of the managers helped him find a certain type of fertilizer three years ago, walks right to the service counter (me) and asks to speak to that manager. The managers, since they are the owners, are always very busy, and never have time for these entitled, buddy-buddy jerks. It's so funny to see a manager come down, watch the guy start going on about "hey, it's me, remember me?? How ya been, how's the family??" and blah blah blah, only to get a "who the hell are you?" look from the manager. The guy eventually gets to his point, he wants to be "helped out" by said manager (i.e. free stuff), and the manager pretty much blows him off (normally "ask soandso in the garden department, they order that stuff").

That's all I have in the department of those types of scammers.

[RichS]

Same goes for getting legit Windows versions. We don't let a computer leave without a legit version. Yes, I COULD get you a pirated version. No, I won't, because it's my a**.

I know exactly what you mean. Our local high school sold their old Dell OptiPlex computers for $50 each. Unfortunatly, they were installed with Windows 2000 but weren't sold with the CD's.

If I had a nickel for every time I was asked to burn a copy, I'd be rich. I instead told everyone to complain to Microsoft - the last I heard, if there was a Microsoft OS installed on a computer, it had to be sold with the CD and the Product Key.