"...But I don't know what I'm doing"

[Bright_Star]

So I tried to help my brother with the old laptop that I gave him & basically he just snarled at me the last time I tried so I don't bother him anymore. I was at his house today & noticed he was defragging it. I could have told him he could set it to defrag on a regular basis automatically "But I don't know what I'm doing"

He bought a CD to update the drivers & I so much wanted to tell him he could have done that online "But I don't know what I'm doing"

He went on Facebook & registered BUT hasn't done anything on it cause according to him "there's nothing to do there!!" I'd guide him "But I don't know what I'm doing".

He wanted to update from Windows XP to Windows 7 & I tried telling him it only has 256 MB of memory & updating the OS isn't an option BUT he got some PC magazines that said the same thing that I was telling him & he believes them before believing me cause.."I don't know what I'm doing"

Yeah, I've been working with computers since 1984 in one form or the other BUT "I don't know what I'm doing"

[Akasa]

I get the same thing from my family. They'd rather go to the college student who has messed up several computers as opposed to the person who builds them for fun and has been working in the computer industry since early 90's.
Then when things go wrong and I tell them what is wrong they don't listen. And they keep sending me damned chain letters in email and crap that is obviously false. I spend some time each week going to snopes and linking the snopes "This is false" page to their email and replying.

[MaggieTheCat]

Haha, that reminds me of my sister in law and my niece recently. My niece wanted to get her ears pierced so my sister in law took her to a Claire's to get it done...against my very strong advisory not to. I've had my ears pierced MANY times (I have 9 holes total between my ears) and I've done a ton of research on it. But my SIL was convinced that the Claire's "professionals" knew best. Now my niece's ears are infected and my SIL called me for advice last night. Hopefully she'll actually listen to me this time!

Anyway, sorry your brother is such a douche. I'd just stop offering him advice and if he ever asks, tell him you "don't know what you're doing" so you can't answer his question.

[Talon]

Agree with Maggie, don't bother giving him advice anymore. He's not going to listen, let it be his problem when he fucks something up.

[Bright_Star]

Agree with Maggie, don't bother giving him advice anymore. He's not going to listen, let it be his problem when he fucks something up.

I'm waiting for the day he calls me up to tell me that his laptop is so full of viruses that he can't use it. That's when I tell him..."Oh, I thought you said I don't know what I'm doing?"....lol.

[Dreamstalker]

Yeah, I've been working with computers since 1984 in one form or the other BUT "I don't know what I'm doing"

I have a relative who has a small home-based business. When my dad and I were there she was complaining to us about her primary desktop being slow, and that she thought "the local computer guy" had put in some bad RAM. He had also told her that the computer could only handle 3GB (I've not seen a recent motherboard where the max is an odd number). After some further research, I prove a few things:

a) While the board only has two physical slots, it maxes out at 4GB.
b) The sticks in there are 2GB and 1GB, different manufacturers, batches and (way different) timings.
c) The larger stick is totally pooched. In effect, she only has 1GB (maybe less, something was going on with the other stick as well) and is trying to run Quickbooks, Dreamweaver and a few other resource-intensive programs simultaneously.

Even after showing her this proof on the screen..."I've had too many bad experiences with computer people who say they know what they're doing but end up making things worse." Implied--not so subtly--was that I don't know what I'm doing at all. She believes that replacing the RAM will cause her entire business to grind to a halt. Nevermind the fact that I've done it myself too many times to count. Even my dad's done it with me talking him through the process over the phone.

I really need to start carrying my A+ card, and maybe get a wallet-sized copy of my diploma as well.

That's when I tell him..."Oh, I thought you said I don't know what I'm doing?"....lol.

I've used that to good effect many times...even been able to add a hefty id10t tax once or twice to those I felt deserved it

[protege]

People like that are *exactly* why I no longer support relatives...unless they pay me. Be it either in food, wine, or model kits Sorry, but I'm not working for free, especially on my own time. I'm also not doing it to get screamed at.

And yes, I *do* know what I'm doing. Sure, it might take a bit to figure out what's screwed up, but it's what I do for a living. And no, I'm not certified--most of what I know, was picked up at work. Seriously, you replace one hard drive...and then you get put in charge of a dozen computers, plus a server, and occasionally get called by the other offices.

I've literally built and re-built more machines than I can count. Not just the ones at work, but my own, and few of my relatives' machines as well. When a computer is getting 'retired,' I usually get it for parts. If I can fix it, I'll either use it myself...or give it away to charity. What I can't fix, gets scrapped, and the parts used in more deserving causes.

Enough of that. What I find interesting about all that, is I'm no expert. Other than a few web-design classes, I have no certifications at all. Yet, I get called in to work on something...that the "expert" has fucked-up in one way or another. I'm sure that takes that so-called "expert" down several notches

Just recently, my boss hinted that I "didn't know what I was doing," and insisted I call our 3rd party tech. Didn't have a choice in the matter. But, when the guy showed up, he was like "why didn't you just let Protege fix it? He could have had you up and running hours ago." Not too surprising, since I know the system pretty well--hell, I *designed* most of it!

Now that just made my day.