Saturday, December 15, 2007

Separation Anxiety

A guy from my shul wanted me to take a look at his computer. First, he wanted me to come to his house and look at it there, not gonna happen. Then we had a discussion about when he can come over and bring the computer. I suggested Sunday afternoon, he asked about Saturday night, I agreed.

The guy calls me Saturday evening, says he'll come in around an hour. Now have in mind that he knows I have a 2 year old son. He comes in 2 hours, calls me on my house phone even though I gave him my cell and specifically told him not to call my house phone. So at around 8:30PM this genius rings my doorbell, did I mention I have a 2 year old kid and incidentally, he has kids too so he should know better.

Now here's the kicker, he wants me to look at the computer right now, at 8:30PM while he stands and watches. I tell him, no way, not gonna happen and that he should leave the computer and come back Sunday. His repose is that he'll take the computer because he doesn't want to leave it and will come back Sunday afternoon. He knows me, I know him, for more than year, he doesn't want to leave it in my house. I tell him that I would have to run rootkit, malware and antivirus scans and that it would take up to 3 hours or more and that I will not be sitting there with him for those 3 hours no matter when he brings the computer. To demonstrate his great knowledge of computers he tells me that adaware takes 15 minutes to run. Yeah, sure, the minimal surface scan, good job. The meeting ends with me telling him that if he will not leave the computer today or tomorrow and will insist on sitting there and watching me, like I got nothing better to do, he can take the computer and not come back today or tomorrow.

Honestly, some people have no idea what a business is or how it's run. Sure, I can come to your house and sit there and fix your computer and then I'll give you bill for a couple hundred dollars. And where have you ever heard of a computer repair center that would let you sit there and watch over the tech's shoulder as he's working. On the other hand, maybe I should have told him that I'll come to his house, really hate house calls, and how much he's gonna have to pay me. Though the way he was acting, let him go to geek squad, he mentioned them in our conversation by the way, have them destroy his computer and charge him 3 times more. Maybe that'll be a learning experience for him, maybe not.

9 comments:

  1. I like to tell Users like your acquaintance that very unfortunately I'm not an expert in the kind of problem that they are having and suggest they go to someone else.
    How did your story end?

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  2. Yeah, not an expert in the kind of mental problem that they are having.
    As I said in the post, I told him to leave and not come back and that's what he did.
    Now here's the fun part. He called another guy in shul about his computer and that guy told me, after reading my post, that he had Windows 98!!!
    The guy is not poor and can afford to buy a new computer.

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  3. btw, the other guy, told him that nobody is gonna fix 98 and to just go and buy a new computer already.
    I wonder who else he's gonna call.

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  4. don't you love our shul! I get pple calling me in the middle of the night for Really Crucially Important legal consultations, which should've taken place about 6 months prior in order to actually have had any utility. I tell them, See me at the office (& Get Billed).

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  5. Ah, I wasn't sure if he ' rescheduled' his appointment or left for good. Glad to hear it's the later.
    Perhaps he should keep his computer with windows 98 for another couple of years and then peddle it on ebay?

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  6. just did a search on ebay for "windows 98"
    no way
    "hp pavilion 4440 * windows 98" $100 (6 bids)
    "600 Mhz Windows 98" $120 (1 bid)
    "New 500 Mhz Windows 98" $125 (1 bid)
    and add $30 shipping each.
    Unbelievable how stupid people are.
    TigerDirect is selling refurbished and off-lease pentium 4s, 2+Ghz for $200, with xp pro preinstalled and these idiots are bidding on museum pieces.

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  7. Maybe that computer has a sentimental value?

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  8. A hard drive can have sentimental value and hard drives are transferable, or in worst case the data. But no, it's not the computer, it's the guy.

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  9. i was being sarcastic and actually thinking of an old joke.

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