AM I wrong in my bow/stella haze, but I see the bulk of sigs being AMD users here. Is it that AMD users feel more like helping (for a fee) those in need? or am I in fact making up my own statistics like those on shampoo ads. Where 75% of people recommend brand y (of 4 people questioned outside the brand y HQ)
I can relate to some of feelings expressed here, but from a slightly different angle. I studied photography in college, and I work in the imagery field. As such, many people I know often come to me for photos or artistic help. "Hey, you do photography, right? Can you shoot my wedding?" "Oh, you have one of those professional cameras, right? Can you take my kid's portrait?" "Hey, you're into art, aren't you? Can you design a logo for me?" Sometimes I'd like to be candid with them. Would you go to a podiatrist to cure your headache? Well then, my emphasis of study was documentary photography of places. I suck at portraits. Instead, I try to understand where there coming from. I think in some cases it isn't so much the desire to get something for free (though that may be part of the motivation). I think it has more to do with implied trust in your ability to do the job. Yes, my friends could hire some other photographer. But they don't really know the other photographers. They don't have a rapport with a stranger, and they aren't really that familiar with other photographers' work. Instead, they know me and they know they can trust that I'll do a good job. The next time a friend comes to you for computer advice, consider it a compliment to your abilities.
complements don't put fuel in my tank nor food on my table. my skills are a service, you can ****ing pay for that service.
Damn, I really agree with both of these points! Still, with computer hardware out of the education system, I'm free to laugh and cry at the morons that question me while I take their parent's money.
I'm an Intel user, and I've certainly done my share of helping. Mostly with my grandads computer, which counts for about 10x the effort of any other computer. Mainly because he's adamant he knows what he's doing when he really doesn't, , so you first have to listen to what he's doing and that it's what he's done every single other time (even if its wrong and I know it doesn't work), then try to explain the correct way. Main reason why I've never advertised building/maintenance anywhere but to family and close friends as its too much hassle.
I hear you about grandparents computer help. Mine used to call me at work to get me to help them. One day I told them that I was at work and couldn't get to them to help until lunchtime (which was about 3 hours away) I got a call back 15 minutes later telling me not to bother, they paid someone from up the road to go and help them. A few weeks later they had a new PC too... they never did tell me what they paid for it. I have a lot of respect for silver surfers but sometimes trying to get the right way across to them can seem to take a long long time
Hey, I never actually said that I agree to help them. Most of the time I tell people that I'm too busy or I'm not free that day. Since I have a full-time job that puts fuel in my tank, I don't mind helping out now and then. It's my personal way of bringing balance to the universe. And lord knows I could use all the karma I can get!
Sadly that's what happens when they want something fixed, means they don't know enough themselves to do it and think everything can be made brand new. Even worse when it's family, I had to stop working for a friend because I felt like I was stealing money from him because of his stubbornness in learning about what he was using and refused to upgrade. Took about 200 off him over 3months for a laptop that was worth 50. It's same for any industry just gotta be tougher with them and really simplify things for them, Id imagine mechanics do same but there not as honest and will quite happily bleed you dry.
Wait, you're Dutch and a therapist? Things are becoming much, much clearer now! This has been an educational week as far as my knowledge of bit-tech members goes!
for me it boils down to; Close friends / family, i fix for free, i know they will appreciate it. Outside of that, i will usually do repairs for free, if its for people who want to learn then chances are i will make the extra effort to try and help them understand the process i go through to fix whatever issue they were having with their computer. That said, people who annoy me, get arrogant with my advice or that i plain just dont like i just refuse to help out. my time is as valuable to me as their time is to them and if they cant respect that then i cant be f****d w/ them. Generally speaking, i try will tell people my chosen course of action after identifying an issue but before fixing it. If they dont like it, i tell them to get a quote from someone else, usually, after they have done that, they come back to me with a little more respect for both my time and my skills or they pay someone else for theirs and regret it when the bill comes in a week later.
I get the same thing but what I do nowadays is simply send them an lmgtfy link to point in them right direction to fix it themselves. I used to get quite unpleasant about it but now it's just a case of I will offer advice but they have to do the work. It is complimentary that many people think of asking me for help, I don't mind that. However, I'm a firm believer in helping them to help themselves by pointing them towards the information they need to resolve the issue. If they don't like that the response is along the lines of "DILLIGAF?" *shrug* I used to take paying jobs outside the office but I spend all day working on systems, I don't wish to be doing it in my time off as well.
Doesn't sound like screwing people at all to me -- I charge £50 for hosing down a system and at times I find things can get quite in depth with more obscure problems -- for example I recently came across an XP system with an instance of a virus that had replaced the HID driver to remain memory resident, which I hadn't seen before. I don't want cheapskates. If I'm handed a wrinkly fiver from someone for a job I take major offence -- I didn't spend three years broke at college to have the p*ss taken out of me. Agreed, really makes me cringe when people say that, or "I hear you know a bit about computers" -- they instantly start on the wrong foot with me when they say that. Tbh it's got to the point where I find it difficult even talking to people about computers, often statements people make just make the red mist descend on me.
I get people approach me at work asking if i 'take a look' at their personal laptop/desktop. I am not paid to look at personal equipment or even insured fro that matter. Ill give free advice and diagnose faults and suggest the best course of action, i usually get met with a disapproving grunt and harsh comment because i haven't worked on their daughters shitty netbook in work time! In the same token i was forced to recover data from the head teachers personal Mac-book Pro today. I spent 3 hours backing up his iTunes and family photographs. This ****er gets £80k + a year and thinks it appropriate to breach school policy and re direct my working day so he doesn't loose his music.. People don't like paying for things i understand that, but getting shitty when you refuse to do something for FREE...Blow me.
Its not really about that. I spend all day, in and out of sites, trouble shooting problems, fixing problems, setting up systems, designing systems - all day I do computer stuff. When I get home, im normally thirsty to do something to my computer, rarely am I full of beans to fix someone else's problem. If I helped everyone I know that needs help, all the time, then I don't think I would ever stop. Have to draw a line somewhere - I draw it at charging everyone for my time if I'm not at work - maybe to make myself intentionally an unattractive offer.
Oh i did intially, untill my boss came and told me to do it. 'We cant upset the head.' Everyone in this place has double standards, make and break the rules if it suits them. Going to take a snapshot of his drive with all of the non work stuff on it, the Itunes, the torrented films...Maybe ill show the govenors..
