My boyfriend is a computer expert. Apart from spending all of his time on them since he was 10, he also has 5½ years of education in computers. And not just programming, but all the hardware stuff as well, which is where he excels.
He can solve almost any problem, build awesome computers from scratch, and computers are just his field of expertise.
So I almost freaked out when my dad asked him for help, knowing that my dad was more likely to trust his friends and neighbours, even though not a single one of them are educated about computers at all.
My dad wanted a powerful gaming computer for my little brother. He informed my boyfriend of his wishes, and they agreed on a budget. My boyfriend spent a week ordering parts, assembling, installing and testing if everything was in order. The computer was perfect, and my dad came to pick it up.
When my dad arrived home, something was wrong. He called my boyfriend back, and described the problem. My boyfriend said that it sounded like the graphics card had died on the trip home. Sometimes hardware just stops working for no reason at all, and it's covered by the warranty, so he explained to my dad what he needed to do to get the card replaced by the manufacturer, and how to put the new card into the machine when he got it.
And what did my dad do? He implied that my boyfriend had built a crap computer that didn't work. I was SO angry, my boyfriend knows perfectly well what he's doing, and I know how my dad drives, it's not unlikely that the graphics card was damaged on the trip home, since it was just sitting in the back seat. It's likely to have tipped over at home point.
I got extremely upset with my dad. We've always had a rocky relationship, and I was furious that he'd treat my boyfriend like he was some inexperienced teenager (My boyfriend is 28!)
My dad finally shut up, got the card replaced, and voilà, the computer worked perfectly and has ever since. My dad never apologised, and he's now blacklisted as one of the people in the family who will never receive any help from us regarding computers. He did once admit he was impressed though, my boyfriend had made sure that it was well-protected against spyware, and gave my brother instructions on how to keep it that way. So after a year, my dad had to admit he was impressed, since all the other computer he's had was replaced after they got messed up beyond repair due to vira, spyware, adware and so on.
My dad sucks sometimes.
(On a more positive note: My computer-ignorant aunt got a laptop recently, and made a huge effort trying to actually LEARN what it could do. She also gets very excited and PAYS my boyfriend whenever he offers to help her with something that troubles her. Why the hell can't more people be grateful?
)
He can solve almost any problem, build awesome computers from scratch, and computers are just his field of expertise.
So I almost freaked out when my dad asked him for help, knowing that my dad was more likely to trust his friends and neighbours, even though not a single one of them are educated about computers at all.
My dad wanted a powerful gaming computer for my little brother. He informed my boyfriend of his wishes, and they agreed on a budget. My boyfriend spent a week ordering parts, assembling, installing and testing if everything was in order. The computer was perfect, and my dad came to pick it up.
When my dad arrived home, something was wrong. He called my boyfriend back, and described the problem. My boyfriend said that it sounded like the graphics card had died on the trip home. Sometimes hardware just stops working for no reason at all, and it's covered by the warranty, so he explained to my dad what he needed to do to get the card replaced by the manufacturer, and how to put the new card into the machine when he got it.
And what did my dad do? He implied that my boyfriend had built a crap computer that didn't work. I was SO angry, my boyfriend knows perfectly well what he's doing, and I know how my dad drives, it's not unlikely that the graphics card was damaged on the trip home, since it was just sitting in the back seat. It's likely to have tipped over at home point.
I got extremely upset with my dad. We've always had a rocky relationship, and I was furious that he'd treat my boyfriend like he was some inexperienced teenager (My boyfriend is 28!)
My dad finally shut up, got the card replaced, and voilà, the computer worked perfectly and has ever since. My dad never apologised, and he's now blacklisted as one of the people in the family who will never receive any help from us regarding computers. He did once admit he was impressed though, my boyfriend had made sure that it was well-protected against spyware, and gave my brother instructions on how to keep it that way. So after a year, my dad had to admit he was impressed, since all the other computer he's had was replaced after they got messed up beyond repair due to vira, spyware, adware and so on.
My dad sucks sometimes.
(On a more positive note: My computer-ignorant aunt got a laptop recently, and made a huge effort trying to actually LEARN what it could do. She also gets very excited and PAYS my boyfriend whenever he offers to help her with something that troubles her. Why the hell can't more people be grateful?
)



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