This Weeks Rant!

Darkelf · Post by **Darkelf** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:51 am

I am sick to death of so called friends/acquaintences/work colleagues/business associates f**king people over!

Now I am a reasonable sort of person and I help my friends if I can, utilising my skill set with things that they need help with. This usually involves computers or computer knowledge. I believe it is good karma to help people and we all need help with things from time to time.

However, last week when I was off work sick I went out of my way to fix a so called friends PC for her daughter. It cost me a little but mostly I had the spare bits lieing around. I also gave up part of my Sunday with my daughter to meet this person so that they could get it home. (They live on the central coast.)

Now the PC was working fine when it left me. I warned them it may not work with some of their components, keyboard etc.(It was after all an older machine.) When I call later to find out how things were I get attitude, aggressiveness and the phone hung up on me because the computer didn't work with their bits.

Now my point is (after all that) is where the hell do people like that get off on all this! And this isn't the only instance. Lets look at some of the great "ungreatfuls" that have been on here in the past. 4G63, Greekoslav, GOGTO and others.

Knowledgeable people on here have tried to help others in the past and they get no thanks or attitude for it. Well I for one am sick of it!!!

People, if someone helps you then be grateful. If they have skills in areas different to you then accept this and when the opportunity arises to help them, do so. Above all try a little less attitude and a bit more humility!

And I am now going for a lie down. Grrrrrrr! :x

ProZac · Post by **ProZac** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:00 pm

Amen, this is especially accurate in the computer industry, as you say. People seem to get very frustrated with things they dont understand, then take it out on the person trying to help them. I dont know a hell of alot in the computer field anymore, but i know enough to keep my machine clean and running sweet. Im not going to fix another persons computer ever again however, its just not worth the hassel. I'm ordering a t-shit that has "NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER" printed on the front :)

those other t-shirt says "There's no place like 127.0.0.1", now THATS geeky.

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:35 pm

I must say, I don't have that problem. I have 3 rules
1. Bill EVERYONE by the hour... I even charge my own mother!
2. Don't ever fix a computer if they haven't also supplied everything (keyboard, mouse, monitor, case, printer, speakers, and scanners etc etc)... USB hubs are my personal pet hate
3. Confirm the state of the machine when you receive it (in the presence of the owner) and the state of the machine when you return it (in the presence of the owner)

There's other things to deal with... such as parasite programs, viruses, trojans and what we refer to as "weapons grade stupidity"... meaning they're some dumb they can hurt someone with it.

decoy · Post by **decoy** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 2:49 pm

ProZac wrote: I'm ordering a t-shit that has "NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER" printed on the front :)

Get me one too! i fix it, then they screw it up again, then guess who they ask back to fix it :S

ProZac wrote:those other t-shirt says "There's no place like 127.0.0.1", now THATS geeky.

rofl

thats why when people ask me why the website isn't finished yet, i say cos they aint paid me yet :D but it will get done! just gotta find the time :(

Darkelf · Post by **Darkelf** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 5:34 pm

I find that the most common problem is an ID 10 T problem! :)

But that wasn't the case this time just plain arsiness! Ah well. Put it down to a learning experience! Another one! :(

Steve E · Post by **Steve E** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 6:03 pm

I will say this very very slowley, so listen , are you all listening, thank you, thank you & thank you. :D :D :D

ps i know what you mean. :beer

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 6:12 pm

ProZac wrote: I'm ordering a t-shit that has "NO, I WILL NOT FIX YOUR COMPUTER" printed on the front :)

I have that

StarionChef · Post by **StarionChef** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:41 pm

Id like a tshirt that says " no I dont want to cook your BBQ, I want to get drunk!"

dokbob · Post by **dokbob** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 9:59 pm

have you seen the sticker on some utes says
"YES I OWN A UTE AND NO I WILL NOT HELP YOU MOVE HOUSE" :pimp

Darkelf · Post by **Darkelf** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:03 pm

Cheffy, as I recall you didn't offer to BBQ you just tried to get drunk!!! :)

hoongirl · Post by **hoongirl** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:06 pm

Whaddya mean tried?? LOL

gav · Post by **gav** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 10:59 pm

hey kim, can i bring my computer over for you to fix?

fr335tyl3r · Post by **fr335tyl3r** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:42 am

I work part time at a computer store as a pc techie so i get this sort of crap all the time...like i assemble a machien perfectly and its all working great...customer comes back the next week complaining that it doesnt work, so i book it in, fix it up (turns out to be a whole lot of crap spyware and viruses they have gotten from p2p programs and the like) so i fix it up and its working great again.

Next weekend they are back again yelling and screaming that they have had to bring it back 10 times or some crap like that (which is just bs cause i work there 4 days a week and am hanging around the rest of the time doign unpaid work) and i look at it and its the same thing again. i explained to them when they bought it and when i fixed it the firs ttime that they had to be careful downloading stuff from p2p programs, then they go off at me like its my fault...where to ppl like that get off?! its under warranty so it doesnt cost them nething to make me fix it either...gah!

had like 16 customers like this on the past wknd, and one of them threatened they would take our company to the fair trading place or something like that because we didnt provide proper service...i kindly told her that she had a virus on her computer, different to the other 3 that she pbrought the pc into be fixed for, and she yelled at me infront of other customers saying i had a fkn attitude problem and stormed out...

not the best thing to inspire u into PR or human relations type work when ure 18 and get this sort of treatment from ure customers.

</rant> wow that felt good.

Post by **Alspos** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:10 pm

fr335tyl3r wrote:...i kindly told her that she had a virus on her computer, different to the other 3 that she pbrought the pc into be fixed for, and she yelled at me infront of other customers saying i had a fkn attitude problem and stormed out....

Maybe you should get an attitude problem and give her something to really yell about

Guru · Post by **Guru** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 2:39 pm

fr335tyl3r,

I'd tend to agree with your customer even though they're wrong. What this demonstrates is a possible need to review the business's policy and procedures. Off the top of my head...
- Provide an "as is" limited warranty and make sure they understand it
- Provide an alternative to the "as is" limited warranty, such as an extended return to base warranty... which they pay extra for.
- Always suggest reading materials and offer training (either through the business or a third party)
- Build a recovery solution into the cost of the PC (such as ghosting the hard drive to a DVD-R)
- Install the latest and greater antivirus, don't ask... just do it and add it to the cost of the PC
- Setup their internet connection for them (including enabling their firewall and adjusting the IE Advanced options to limit parasite and spy-ware intrusions onto the PC). And get them to sign a waiver if they insist of doing it themselves.

This way your ass is covered and the customer should also have mostly trouble free surfing for porn on the internet. :roll:

Austarion

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