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  • The Twit

    This one is too strange not to be reposted. Get some snacks; it's long.

    I met this girl my sophomore year in college, we seemed to hit it off pretty well. She tweaked me off at times, but it was explained away as untreated ADHD (since thie following I have surmised she has other issues as well).

    The next year, she caused a few hundred $ worth of damage to my laptop (my only computer at the time which I used in class to take notes, so it needed to function). What she did was whip a beanbag toy at me while I was on the computer (overhand throw from less than 2 feet away). It hit the keyboard (that was fubarred) right over the processor (that was also knocked silly along with the hard drive), bounced up and would have shattered the screen had I not caught it. Things didn't start going south until later that day when I needed to finish a paper.

    (I don't care if you think you're being "cute", you never ever throw something at a computer. And moreso not at me when I'm working Say something if you want to get my attention)

    I approached her with what happened, and she agreed to pay 1/2 of the parts cost (new HDD, keyboard and cooling fan) and I would be nice and waive my labor charge (highly generous on my part given the hours I put into getting the thing working again).

    Never saw a dime of that money; I was pissed but chalked it up to her never having to pay for anything herself (and hence being unaware of the necessity to pay for things herself) and resolved to ramp up selling on ebay to recoup most of the loss.

    A year later, she comes to me in the library (I was IT workstudy at this point) neeping about a Zip drive she purchased for photo storage (wtf, get space on Photobucket) "It's not workiiiiiing!" Of course, she has only the manual. I tell her to bring me all the hardware and I would see what I could do (thinking she meant it wasn't working on her Mac, I planned to do a local install on one of the same models in the lab and write down the correct steps for her to duplicate on her own time).

    None of the school computers detect Zip drives automatically; the manufacturer drivers had to be installed on each computer the device was to be used on.

    Wrong thing to say. She wants me to do an unauthorized network install (even if I did have the capacity to do this, it would be denied as she's the only one who uses one of those drives).

    Eventually we get around to "where is the USB cable the manufacturer gave you in the box". She didn't think it was important and threw it out (along with, apparently, the driver disc as well) I tell her there's nothing I can do and she'll have to contact Iomega for new accessories, she storms out in a huff (probably furious about the fact she would have to pay for her stupidity).

    A few weeks after that, I do some emergency network repairs for her. As is the usual, any work done outside of my workstudy hours I charge for (no complaints from any of the other people I did support for). Before I touch anything, I make sure she understands that once I lay hands on the modem, my diagnostic fee goes into effect ($20; damn cheap for onsite support). She says OK, I start working, Would have been a simple fix except she tried to fix it herself from the computer and made things worse. So, it took two hours total but I said I would only charge her for 1.5 hours ($30).

    I get woken up at 4 AM the following day "What is the meaning of this 'bill'?" in the snottiest tone you can imagine. Yell, scream, bitch, rant, rave, I get hung up on when I start to say I'm willing to discuss things with her if she's upset about it.

    Then I get an email calling me "completely untrustworthy", that I was off the list of people she could trust, etc

    That was April of 2006 and I haven't spoken to her since (good riddance).
    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

  • #2
    wow, you are far more patient than I would have been. After the notebook incident, I would have told her to take a flying leap off the roof.

    One of the fun things of doing personal tech support for fees, you get to pick and choose who you want to help.
    I AM the evil bastard!
    A+ Certified IT Technician

    Comment


    • #3
      Dunno, I guess I was just too trusting with her....stupid me, believing she'd pay up. Happy-shiny went out the window however when I started workstudy (from newbie student tech to borderline BOFH in two short months).

      Jordan and parents get support for free, everyone else pays. If the person honestly cannot afford my full fee in cash, I'm willing to negotiate..."I don't think I should have to" does not count however.
      "I am quite confident that I do exist."
      "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth Dreamstalker
        Jordan and parents get support for free, everyone else pays. If the person honestly cannot afford my full fee in cash, I'm willing to negotiate..."I don't think I should have to" does not count however.
        I'm a big fan of bartering in the right conditions. I'd never try it at a store, but if I'm dealing with someone working off the clock or for themself, I will always ask to trade services.

        Get your minds out of the gutter, people! I wasn't talking about those kind of services

        I think I got in the bartering habit because I would never consider asking a friend to do work related things for free and most of my friends won't take cash from me. If we were friends, our convo would have gone something like this:

        S: OMG, I screwed up my computer again. Can you come and fix it?
        D: What did you do this time?
        S: Ummmmm, I dunno. Can you come over Saturday morning? Didn't you say your car needed an oil change? Pull up in the carport, I'll feed you breakfast and then change your oil, check your fluids and give everything a good look over. By the time I'm done, you should have an idea as to what its going to cost to fix my screwup.

        Later:

        D: I was so full from breakfast that you didn't really need to feed me lunch. Your computer is fixed and I'll start watching that head gasket for leaks.

        Oh, and on those occasions that I throw things at people, I aim for them because they are safest that way. If I had broken your laptop, my first reaction would be to ask what it was going to cost ME to fix it and if it took more money than I had at the moment, I would have given you what I had and then paid you the rest as soon as possible.

        Comment


        • #5
          I'm willing to barter as well...however if you start screaming at me all bets are off (do not abuse the tech). The learning center secretary used to pay me in homemade tamales...that much less that I had to spend on food, so all was good
          Quoth Slave to the Phone
          If I had broken your laptop, my first reaction would be to ask what it was going to cost ME to fix it and if it took more money than I had at the moment, I would have given you what I had and then paid you the rest as soon as possible.
          That's what a normal person would have done...apparently her family is one of the richest in a particular city, she drops $400 on a single pair of pants but can't come up with half that to fix something she broke? (Jordan and I surmised that the refusal to pay was because she got nothing out of it)
          "I am quite confident that I do exist."
          "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth Dreamstalker
            I'm willing to barter as well...however if you start screaming at me all bets are off (do not abuse the tech).
            I don't do things for people who scream at me, either. However, I can see how I might scream at you:

            D (after spending less than 5 minutes to fix computer): Here you go, its working and I'm done.

            S: OMG!!! YOU REALLY FIXED IT THAT FAST?!?!?! I LOVE YOU MORE THAN MY CATS!!! Lets check out the CS forum before I start going through withdrawal and stuff. Here's some food and beer, enjoy while I finish your car.


            The learning center secretary used to pay me in homemade tamales...that much less that I had to spend on food, so all was good
            I just loves me some homemade tamales...does she need her oil changed?

            apparently her family is one of the richest in a particular city, she drops $400 on a single pair of pants but can't come up with half that to fix something she broke? (Jordan and I surmised that the refusal to pay was because she got nothing out of it)
            While I hate to argue with such a nice person as you, I disagree with this. I feel that she didn't pay because she is an entitlement queen and you should have been happy, HAPPY I say, to spend your off time servicing her. She is Princess Special, after all.

            Her family is new rich, right?

            Comment


            • #7
              Pretty sure they're new money, yeah. She was adopted and never worked a day in her life (one summer she was going to get a job at a coffee shop...she didn't take the job and when I asked why said something along the lines of "it was too hard"...I think she just didn't want to learn how to operate the machines and deal with customers although that may have taken Little Miss Entitled down a few pegs).

              Well, OK, I should have edited that to read "scream at me in a bad way and all bets are off"
              "I am quite confident that I do exist."
              "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

              Comment


              • #8
                Is this what I've got to look forward to as a computer tech? (am currently studying for A+ as most know... already got the core hardware part now working on the Operating systems part) When I get back to school I'm supposed to be getting a work based learning (like work study i guess) job at a place called Sikes..... Pretty much phone tech support........ *hopes not all customers are really bad* luckily I've had SOME experiance with customer/tech support before!

                Thank you guy soooo much for warning me!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Some people just dont get it, your "friend" sounds like one of them. Everything revolves around them, they cant actually comprehend that other people have a life outside of their own. Pathetic really

                  I wiped a friend last year, me and her were best friends for around 5 years and good friends for another 6

                  during our early teens we were insperable, I even made her lunch for school sometimes on days she was going to be late (despite her living NEXT DOOR) to the school

                  after highschool and especially during uni she changed alot, we would make plans and she wouldnt show, or would cancel AT the time we had arranged to meet, over and over again. Despite working full time for 2 years in a good paying job she saved nothing and was always short of money and expected ME (a full time student working 15 hours a week) to pay for her if she needed money. One time she got huffy because we had arranged to go out and the $1.20 bus fare was going to cut into the $8 she had for lunch and she bitched at me for the entire outing that she couldnt buy what she wanted because I wouldnt walk, I HAD to catch the bus (I had a class I had to get back for, I didnt have time to walk.... she did)

                  My last year of uni I invited her to my birthday dinner in September, she never came, 12 times we arranged to hang out between then and November, and 12 times she cancelled usually on the day. The final straw was my leaving party, She had known about the date and time for 5 weeks and the week before when I confirmed she was coming she had been invited to a 21st of a coworker she didnt even know very well that was starting at 9pm (mine was a sit down dinner at 6pm) so she needed that time to get ready....she actually said "your a better friend than her so if you force me to come to your party I will".... yeah thats a GREAT way to have guests over, force them. Never mind the fact Im going to LIVE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

                  and apprently she wonders why I dont want to know her anymore
                  I wasnt put on this earth to make you feel like a man ~ Mary Bertone

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth ComputerTechGirl
                    I'm supposed to be getting a work based learning (like work study i guess) job at a place called Sikes.....
                    If you mispelled that place name, I would run away as fast as you can.

                    Replace your "i" with a "y" and you get one nasty company to work for. Their head-quarters is in Tampa. And I can tell you horror stories about their managers. Some of the dumbest people I've ever met.
                    I've lost my mind ages ago. If you find it, please hide it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Dreamstalker
                      Pretty sure they're new money, yeah.
                      I know I shouldn't generalize, but it seems to me that newly rich people are the worst to deal with and I don't understand why.

                      Well, OK, I should have edited that to read "scream at me in a bad way and all bets are off"
                      hehehe I knew what you meant, I was just teasing you.

                      But seriously, how hard is it for people to understand that abusing someone is not a good way to ask for favors?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth LostMyMind
                        If you mispelled that place name, I would run away as fast as you can.

                        Replace your "i" with a "y" and you get one nasty company to work for. Their head-quarters is in Tampa. And I can tell you horror stories about their managers. Some of the dumbest people I've ever met.

                        I don't know if it's with an "i" or a "y" I can't remember.... But it's just for experiance.... I'd be working afternoon/nights on phone detail and it's almost a guaranteed job. I have to save $1000 before I can leave the center since I'm going to relocate...... but anyway are they really that bad? And is working the tech support really horrible?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Working the call center probably not, I thought you were going to work for their IT department. That's where I spent a few horrifying months, working as a programmer there.

                          The manager was an "I read this in a book so it must be true" and an "I know everything" idiot. The company bought out the old company I was working for. I had written a very complex database/client program. Speed was of highest priority so using standard store bought database servers was out of the question. He had a issue with the database server for not being Microsoft SQL query server. This was the big wig manager of the programming department too. I took pleasure in the fact that all my coding was soo far above their heads that when I left. They had to start completely over (which was nearly 8 years of coding in my style). Last I heard is they told all the customers that they weren't going to support them anymore unless they bought a new version (which wasn't done yet probably still isn't). My ex-coworkers had told me that it takes them 4 to 10 times longer to get anything done. What I did in 5 mins, takes them 3 to 6 days.
                          I've lost my mind ages ago. If you find it, please hide it.

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