ah, your good with 'computers' aren't you?
Discussion
funkyrobot said:
I don't bother advertising my services anymore to family and friends. Nobody ever leaves you alone if you fix something and they never appreciate what you have done.
My brother in law thinks he knows a bit about computers so I leave him to it. For some reason, every bit of advice and everything I setup or changed was altered by him. The family would then trust his word over mine. So I gave up.
Much easier life. Let the brother in law do it.
Just as a pointer, he thought a hard drive was a processor. That's how good he is.
My BIL is a database expert. If he is prepared to fix mum's computer he's more than welcome.My brother in law thinks he knows a bit about computers so I leave him to it. For some reason, every bit of advice and everything I setup or changed was altered by him. The family would then trust his word over mine. So I gave up.
Much easier life. Let the brother in law do it.
Just as a pointer, he thought a hard drive was a processor. That's how good he is.
I'll fix easy stuff when I'm visiting, but it's disastrous to have 2 people fixing a third party's computer.
I write code for a living, and have no desire to fix PC problems after hours - but if it's your mum, you do it anyway.
My favourite excuse is
"it's too complicated for me. I only work on 16 bit processors"
- but it never works.
OT rant : what the hell does "working in IT" mean? It seems to be used to cover everything from programming to network cabling to being able to find the power button on the third attempt.
dirky dirk said:
Nightmare
mum has me doing allsorts
flat has its own colelctoin of tv,
no it docent its freeview,
subtitles too small,
put on by the the bbc,
phonebill not right, tablets not runing right, no internet (which is the visitor wifi and free),
i got her sky but she cancelled it, not realising it wlil incliude her own free wifi,
so far this week ive been a heating engineer, app iinstaller shed repairer, and pc speederupperer
and fitbit fixer,
How many times did she wipe your s
tty arse and snotty nose?
mum has me doing allsorts
flat has its own colelctoin of tv,
no it docent its freeview,
subtitles too small,
put on by the the bbc,
phonebill not right, tablets not runing right, no internet (which is the visitor wifi and free),
i got her sky but she cancelled it, not realising it wlil incliude her own free wifi,
so far this week ive been a heating engineer, app iinstaller shed repairer, and pc speederupperer
and fitbit fixer,
How many times did she wipe your s
tty arse and snotty nose?Along the same lines, I used to run a couple of websites, back in the early 00s.
Friends and family wanted their own website and asked me to help. I used to go to their place and talk them through doing their own. I would not touch their keyboard. If they said 'I can't do I'd tell them that there's no point in having their own website. That would concentrate their minds.
I set up a Joomla! site for one person and left a list of what they should do and when. I numbered the paragraphs and when they phoned because it had broken, I'd say 'Number 3,' or whatever.
I set up a couple of Wordpress sites for friends. When Gutenberg came out there was chaos. They are both on the classic editor at the moment. On the plus side, it convinced me to go with WP.
Friends and family wanted their own website and asked me to help. I used to go to their place and talk them through doing their own. I would not touch their keyboard. If they said 'I can't do I'd tell them that there's no point in having their own website. That would concentrate their minds.
I set up a Joomla! site for one person and left a list of what they should do and when. I numbered the paragraphs and when they phoned because it had broken, I'd say 'Number 3,' or whatever.
I set up a couple of Wordpress sites for friends. When Gutenberg came out there was chaos. They are both on the classic editor at the moment. On the plus side, it convinced me to go with WP.
I'd say a good 99% of the 'problems' I've fixed both at home and at work have invariably involved turning it on and plugging in one of the leads that wasn't, it's quite scary how some people seem to lack any kind of logical problem solving process.
The funniest thing I ever saw was from converting a nationwide business from Unix based dumb terminal software/Hardware to SAP which also involved teaching people how to use PC's /mouse
I had one late middle aged lady come to me saying her mouse wasn't working right so I asked her to show me what it was doing.
She promptly held up the mouse in the air and tried to move it around saying 'Look it's not working!'
I did try very hard to keep a straight face as I put her right.
The funniest thing I ever saw was from converting a nationwide business from Unix based dumb terminal software/Hardware to SAP which also involved teaching people how to use PC's /mouse
I had one late middle aged lady come to me saying her mouse wasn't working right so I asked her to show me what it was doing.
She promptly held up the mouse in the air and tried to move it around saying 'Look it's not working!'
I did try very hard to keep a straight face as I put her right.
AW111 said:
My BIL is a database expert. If he is prepared to fix mum's computer he's more than welcome.
I'll fix easy stuff when I'm visiting, but it's disastrous to have 2 people fixing a third party's computer.
I write code for a living, and have no desire to fix PC problems after hours - but if it's your mum, you do it anyway.
My favourite excuse is
"it's too complicated for me. I only work on 16 bit processors"
- but it never works.
OT rant : what the hell does "working in IT" mean? It seems to be used to cover everything from programming to network cabling to being able to find the power button on the third attempt.
'Working in IT' .... It's a generalization so you dont have to explain to people why really have zero interest in what you actually do and would probably not understand if you did try to explain.I'll fix easy stuff when I'm visiting, but it's disastrous to have 2 people fixing a third party's computer.
I write code for a living, and have no desire to fix PC problems after hours - but if it's your mum, you do it anyway.
My favourite excuse is
"it's too complicated for me. I only work on 16 bit processors"
- but it never works.
OT rant : what the hell does "working in IT" mean? It seems to be used to cover everything from programming to network cabling to being able to find the power button on the third attempt.
geeks said:
I just send people this when they ask me to look at their computers
Also when faced with the tech conversations, a friend recently built himself a mini pc to go under his TV so he could watch porn I assume. Anyway he was very impressed with himself and I nodded and made the right noises when pointed out various features. He then asked me what I do with the TV to watch things etc. He was very unimpressed when I told him I just use and Amazon Firestick for streaming services and an Xbox for DVD's and Blurays. What most people don't seem to understand is when you do that st for a living, the last thing you want to do at home is start fannying about with obscure Linux distros or odd hardware with weird drivers, it's no longer a hobby for me but a living.
Also when faced with the tech conversations, a friend recently built himself a mini pc to go under his TV so he could watch porn I assume. Anyway he was very impressed with himself and I nodded and made the right noises when pointed out various features. He then asked me what I do with the TV to watch things etc. He was very unimpressed when I told him I just use and Amazon Firestick for streaming services and an Xbox for DVD's and Blurays. What most people don't seem to understand is when you do that s
t for a living, the last thing you want to do at home is start fannying about with obscure Linux distros or odd hardware with weird drivers, it's no longer a hobby for me but a living. very good!Yes I agree, if you work day to day with tech you start to appreciate 'simpler technology' because you can't be arsed tinkering like a hobbyist would.
For example, many years ago I would never have purchased a NAS box... why? I can make my own HTPC/Server with windows Server, setup network shares, add users, install some custom backup software. Today I cannot be arsed with any of that. I just want to open the box, plug it in, go through initial setup, job done.
LuS1fer said:
My mother thinks I can cure any PC problems.
Her PC just happens to be cripplingly slow so I have to clean stuff off it, whenever I'm there.
I fitted an SSD to speed it up but not a huge difference and then I had all sorts of problems with the BIOS recognising it, on start up, so an hour job turns into several hours.
"I got an email saying there was a problem with my Google account but it has now been recovered. Can you come down and sort out my Google account"
Sure, it's only a 10 mile round trip....
"No, log into your Google account and if you can, delete the e-mail".
Whenever her PC isn't working, what she really means is that she is incompetent and no matter how many times I tell her something, she still can't grasp simple stuff.
I need new phones for Christmas. Oh thanks, can you put all the numbers in for me...
She is 80. Am I being too harsh?
Yes, you are being too harsh. One day she won’t be there and you’ll long to be able to go round and fix her stuff. I know, I’ve been there. Her PC just happens to be cripplingly slow so I have to clean stuff off it, whenever I'm there.
I fitted an SSD to speed it up but not a huge difference and then I had all sorts of problems with the BIOS recognising it, on start up, so an hour job turns into several hours.
"I got an email saying there was a problem with my Google account but it has now been recovered. Can you come down and sort out my Google account"
Sure, it's only a 10 mile round trip....
"No, log into your Google account and if you can, delete the e-mail".
Whenever her PC isn't working, what she really means is that she is incompetent and no matter how many times I tell her something, she still can't grasp simple stuff.
I need new phones for Christmas. Oh thanks, can you put all the numbers in for me...
She is 80. Am I being too harsh?
Lead DBA here as well with a bloody pretentious job title for a large global firm, and thankfully fixing random computer/phone issues for most other people are long over.
I do have to sort the wife's issues out occasionally, but thats to be expected. MiL I don't mind either as she does a lot for us for nothing, so am happy to help her. My mother usually gets my sister or her partner to look at anything since I am 300 miles away, but while they think they know what they are doing, they really don't (listening to him talk about "computers" is painful, really really painful and I just nod and smile) so I usually have to fix it when I visit (which delights the wife).
A long time ago I had to make clear to dear old mum that whoring me out to all of her friends and their families to fix their computers for free was just not really on. Started quoting hourly rates with minimum call out charges and that stopped that one.
I do tinker at home, actually, but only when I want to and I always make sure anything that gets rolled out to the "household" is pretty much bullet proof and reliable. Plex is a firm favourite and does just work. Otherwise I have no interest in fixing other peoples problems, especially if they don't follow your advice to begin with.
I definitely use the "Work in IT" as an easy get out to not have to explain what I do, while I like it, it is boring (not as boring as being the network guy
), so most non-IT types don't understand and really don't care.
I do have to sort the wife's issues out occasionally, but thats to be expected. MiL I don't mind either as she does a lot for us for nothing, so am happy to help her. My mother usually gets my sister or her partner to look at anything since I am 300 miles away, but while they think they know what they are doing, they really don't (listening to him talk about "computers" is painful, really really painful and I just nod and smile) so I usually have to fix it when I visit (which delights the wife).
A long time ago I had to make clear to dear old mum that whoring me out to all of her friends and their families to fix their computers for free was just not really on. Started quoting hourly rates with minimum call out charges and that stopped that one.
I do tinker at home, actually, but only when I want to and I always make sure anything that gets rolled out to the "household" is pretty much bullet proof and reliable. Plex is a firm favourite and does just work. Otherwise I have no interest in fixing other peoples problems, especially if they don't follow your advice to begin with.
I definitely use the "Work in IT" as an easy get out to not have to explain what I do, while I like it, it is boring (not as boring as being the network guy
), so most non-IT types don't understand and really don't care.AW111 said:
funkyrobot said:
OT rant : what the hell does "working in IT" mean? It seems to be used to cover everything from programming to network cabling to being able to find the power button on the third attempt.
Unix/Linux System Admin in old money, DevOps in the brave new world. (Still fighting the good fight against DBA’s (Do Bugger All’s) and Developers (well it works on my test machine .....)). 
bad company said:
Happens to some extent in many jobs/professions, just ask a doctor or policeman. I worked in recruitment and was sometimes asked to help people with their cv’s.
Very true. I’m an electrician and get people asking what is wrong when given such a vague description, the mrs telling everyone she knows that I’ll do the job for them but then says your not gonna charge are you or don’t charge much as I know them! She even tries to farm me out for other jobs that aren’t electrical aswell just because I’m handy with other things! Sometimes I just wish I had a non descript job and was useless / can’t be arsed lazy.
I also wonder why people who need something doing always think I really want to go out and work in their house instead of relaxing at home after I’ve already finished work like they are doing.
The worst for me is the sil who has a fella, got 2 sons in late twenty’s but they won’t touch anything as they don’t know how! No matter how small. Drill a hole to hang something up; they don’t know how to use a drill! Wtf. I don’t actually do anything for them now unless it’s purely electrical they eventually got the hint. Between the 4 of them they couldn’t figure out how to replace a tube and starter in a fluorescent light even when told.
I've managed to shake this off in recent years, I think Windows 10 has genuinely helped - with a few clicks even a complete idiot can just 'start over' with it without really losing anything... and it does seem to be more robust than previous versions.
I have on occasion been awkward about stuff though to try and deter people from asking...
The worst requests are ones about home printers, home printing stresses me out in my own house - never seems to bloody connect and it takes me ages to get anything simple done.
As a slight link to this, we also get issues with local small businesses hearing what we do in the pub and trying to get us to take them on as an IT provider - it's very hard to explain that what we do (working with enterprises along side existing in-house or 3rd party IT functions) is very different to being a first line of support for an estate agent or haulage company. Have one guy in particular, he's a lovely chap but he desperately needs IT help for his business and 5-7 office workers who are all running on Office2003, Windows XP and have a shared spreadsheet that they need to take in turns editing He's willing to pay for new gear, O365 subscriptions etc but he just can't find anyone that will do it for him - I could sort it in a couple of hours but the ongoing support/maintenance is something I just couldn't commit to.
I have on occasion been awkward about stuff though to try and deter people from asking...
The worst requests are ones about home printers, home printing stresses me out in my own house - never seems to bloody connect and it takes me ages to get anything simple done.
As a slight link to this, we also get issues with local small businesses hearing what we do in the pub and trying to get us to take them on as an IT provider - it's very hard to explain that what we do (working with enterprises along side existing in-house or 3rd party IT functions) is very different to being a first line of support for an estate agent or haulage company. Have one guy in particular, he's a lovely chap but he desperately needs IT help for his business and 5-7 office workers who are all running on Office2003, Windows XP and have a shared spreadsheet that they need to take in turns editing
He's willing to pay for new gear, O365 subscriptions etc but he just can't find anyone that will do it for him - I could sort it in a couple of hours but the ongoing support/maintenance is something I just couldn't commit to.I have completely stripped and rebuilt my Elderly Neighbours ~10 Year old HP Inkjet Multi-function a few times.
Modern low and mid end Printers not very repairable.
I used to enjoy fixing Dot Matrix Printers.
God knows how many Family/Friends Laptops, etc.
Yes Dad, it might have come free with the Daily Mail/Which but you don't need yet another Anti-virus or Toolbar.
My Next Door Neighbour (we get on well) thinks I can fix anything.
Have done Electronics, Plumbing, Electrics, Car bits including a very bodgy bodywork repair with a bit of Biscuit Tin and No Nails (passed the MOT).
He turns up with all sorts £3 Phone Charger. Can I fix it? No! Buy another one.
Can I update his Sat Nav? I did and set all Post Offices as POI that bonged every time he drove past one.
Modern low and mid end Printers not very repairable.
I used to enjoy fixing Dot Matrix Printers.
God knows how many Family/Friends Laptops, etc.
Yes Dad, it might have come free with the Daily Mail/Which but you don't need yet another Anti-virus or Toolbar.
My Next Door Neighbour (we get on well) thinks I can fix anything.
Have done Electronics, Plumbing, Electrics, Car bits including a very bodgy bodywork repair with a bit of Biscuit Tin and No Nails (passed the MOT).
He turns up with all sorts £3 Phone Charger. Can I fix it? No! Buy another one.
Can I update his Sat Nav? I did and set all Post Offices as POI that bonged every time he drove past one.
I've done this for mates for years. It's easier now they use iPads and phones rather than PC's. Also BB provider CPE devices are now much more user friendly and require less support. In return one gives me discounts on car servicing, another helps out with plumbing stuff and the HGV truck salesman has promised me a good discount on a truck should I ever want to buy one. It's just what you do for mates.
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