But I'm your friend!

[mjr]

Speaking of computer troubles, I know quite a bit myself and when my mum came to visit recently she said 'you can fix my computer and put another antivirus on it because it's running so slow.'

Something similar happened to me a few years back...three stories, actually...keep in mind my mother is not very computer literate.

Story the first...

My mother was getting the "non system Disk or Disk Error" message. Easy to diagnose, right?

Well, I was out and about when she called, and didn't call her back for a few hours. She then proceeds to yell at me that I "owe <her> a new computer!!"

Why? Because she didn't know what "non system disk..." meant, and formatted her HD some how or another, if I recall correctly. And somehow or another, since she was impatient, it was my fault that her computer was now not working, and therefore I owed her a new one.

Story the second...

I was back in my hometown for a football (American) game. My mother wanted to meet up after the game to have some post-game food.

So we meet at a burger place and eat. As my wife and I are walking back to my car, my mother calls me over to her car, and opens the trunk.

Inside is a computer.

She had supposedly promised some lady she worked with that I would reinstall her Windows OS. She didn't consult with me at all on this. Just a last minute thing.

My wife jumped in quickly and said we really didn't have a power outlet and the room to plug it in somewhere. So that didn't get done.

A few days later, I jokingly told my wife we should have taken the computer and installed Ubuntu Linux on it. My wife was like, "Well, that would have caused you more issues than it would have been worth."

Story the third...

Mom had a small network set up at her house once. And by "small network" I mean she had two computers connected to a router, connected to a modem.

Her (now ex) husband at the time would do various "things" to make it where mom couldn't get online.

So I told her on numerous occasions to "label the cables". Did she? Nope.

[Dreamstalker]

Random strangers will come up to me at a show, see a quilt that they like, and then ask "Well, is there a friends and family discount?"

I blame companies that will call some coupons "friends and family" discounts. We're not "family", I'm just on your email list.

[TruthHurts]

My best friend's loopy roommate tried to tell her friends that I would give them a "sick discount" at my hotel. I am a front desk clerk not the owner and therefore not allowed to just give out discounts

She got very petulant when I told her there was no way that was going to happen.

[Racket_Man]

During my time at the pizza place we USED to (ended years ago with other small bennies as the company started to cry "poor") have an small employee discount for use off the clock. It could be used ONLY by immediate family (such as spouse, children, immediate Parents, etc.) and the store personnel had to KNOW said relative/family or the actual employee had to verify who these people were.

There were and still are enough "customers" who want us to "hook them up" with our supposed "employee discount".

NOPE NOT GONNA HAPPEN as in
1. I do NOT know you
2. I DO NOT get a discount in any shape or form so therefore I can YES give you my 0% employee discount
3. there are SOOOOOOO many specials and deals available either on TV or through the website that you do not NEED to use any other discount. If you are nice I might give you a special that I know about. PUSH it into douchebag territory and you can either find the deals yourself or ignorantly pay full price.

[protege]

Yet somehow, while he complains that you know nothing and that your touching his computer are the cause of his problems, your three year old computer runs faster and better than his top-of-the-line machine.

There's a reason "top-of-the-line" had quotes around it. Trust me

When his last computer was failing, he kept pestering my brother and I as to what he should get. We tried to get him to make a list of what he wanted it to do. For example, would he be playing games, watching movies, doing spreadsheets, typing letters, etc. Other than Hearts, he doesn't play games. We tried to have him get something a couple of steps above what he eventually bought. Something that wouldn't have locked up when you wanted to watch a flick. He wanted none of that, because it was "too expensive."

So he bought the cheapest piece of crap that he could find at Best Buy. Before setting it up, he asked again, if it would handle word processing and spreadsheets. Didn't think about it until later...when he flipped out. We told him not to buy that piece of shit...so I can't understand how it's our fault.

[Strathclyde]

I blame companies that will call some coupons "friends and family" discounts. We're not "family", I'm just on your email list.

The company I work for does that... The coupons employees get (that can actually be given to friends and family) are still better and occur more often, though!