I got a bottle of el cheapo bourbon + my standard charge which I thought was quite awesome at the time.
I never get a f***ing "thank you" let alone any sort of recompense. I must be doing it wrong! Mind you, I don't advertise myself as a geek in RL so that might explain it.
NOM! Worth a pretty penny as well. around here, being "the PC Guy" means that it's pretty much EXPECTED of you to fix things. Promises are plenty (mostly alcohol - whisky, wine, beer - in THEORY i have enough booze to never spend money on it again, occasionally dinner), and "conversions" are few. Nowadays I don't help much anymore. Close friends who then repay with dinner or help me out (say by helping me fix some issue on a car or fetch a new washing machine) or family (whom I help out because they're family and often DO offer accommodation when I visit them at the coast) are the only ones... Done b*tching now - I once got a CD (I can't remember what exactly - possibly a Bon Jovi disc) for helping someone figure out how to use Win95.
Well being part of a large IT department we are paid to fix things and don't expect gifts. But few weeks back I sorted a system for a Bloke in Finland and he sent back some salmiak with his old drive and a thank you note. Didn't really expect it at all so was a nice gift.
Driving lessons, 6 hours worth too, in the snow, slush and ice, not driven or learnt since, haha, but that is just down to lazyness, and costs. Some people are starting to take the micheal, so i'm considering charging. Sam
Friend of mine had a couple of laptops he wanted me to take a look and and see if I could repair, but they both turned out to have broken screens. I asked if he wanted the data off them and he said no, just bin them. A few weeks later he said he had a third, dead, laptop and did I want it for the parts? I said sure, and by the time it was all done I managed to get one working unit out of the assorted parts and also replace the broken keyboard on my G/Fs laptop.
Have fixed a few pc's for people but never get any gifts for it simply because I tell them, I will charge them £20 to find the fault and £10 per hour to fix it. Normally that will end with them saying just build them a new pc or tell them where to get a new pc from, but some times people are just happy to pay. The only people that actually gives me a gift is the people I work with, because at the end of the year I get a slightly better grading on my performance for the year because I have helped the team members out without charging them, which results in anything up to £250 more on my annual bonus, and I normally only help one or two in a year.
I usually only get a thanks, occasionally may get a few quid. Mind you most the time when I am asked to sort a PC out its the mother in law, however, since I built her a new box a few months back she has only had 1 issue with an older scanner where you have to hack the driver to get it working.
Gifts? No, I do this for a living*. Cheque or cold hard cash is good for me, thanks. *Well, part of a living anyway *rolls eyes*
I've had the usual bottles and the odd £20 or £40 but the strangest has to be an opium pipe. Technically it wasn't for fixing a PC rather, setting up a TV for my great uncle. He's also given me a pen and a couple of safety razors, one of which is the best razor I have ever used, not bad for early 50s technology - still looks new too.
It wasn't for fixing anything, but a customer gave me a North Korean 1 yuan note tonight for a tip. I wasn't complaining!
Wait, isn't 1 Yuan worth less than a quarter? Is a North Korean one worth more or something? Wait, isn't the currency of NK the Won (KPW)?! I'm so confused by your post now [edit] Struck out #2 because I found out they use both now. Still confused about the first bit though!
Yeah, I'm sure it is, but the cool factor is worth more to me than the couple of bucks I might have gotten from him otherwise. I mean, it's got Kim Il Sung's pic on it!
its because he can wrap it around a toilet roll, then build himself a few of these and pretend he's saving the world. LoL
EDIT: It's a Chinese Yuan note, worth about $.16. I was confusing Chairman Mao with Kim Il Sung. Still cool, though.
I've had a basket of fruit before Good quality stuff too.. not your usual supermarket stuff. Mostly I get nowt for it though.
I don't offer to help people and do my best to not help unless I expect some kind of favor returned. There's a reason I don't do favors for random people. You either don't get anything in return, they take it for granted and so on. I never ask people for help if I can avoid doing so. You can say I'm a miserable sod, but at the end of the day, it annoys me more that people take the piss, more than not having those people as friends.
Were you associating with a lot of butchers, or did these people just happen to have fresh exotic meat produce lying around? (If the latter, be afraid.) A dear friend of my mother's pays me entirely in jaffa cakes for fixing her computer. Well, she gives me money too, but I only insist on (and keep going back for) the jaffa cakes. I love jaffa cakes.
