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    The fine line between helping and servicing

    IT Discussion
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    • D
      Dashrender
      last edited by

      I often trade dinner for working on a computer.

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        Katie @Dashrender
        last edited by

        @Dashrender I've done that, too. 🍝

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          Minion Queen Banned
          last edited by

          I think we all have. I have traded for dinner, other gadgets, house cleaning... I need more of the housecleaning barters to happen.

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            Bill Kindle @Nic
            last edited by

            @Nic said:

            You could always do barter - like your price for an hour of tech support is gonna be a case of beer. That straddles the line between friendly favor and business transaction.

            lol, doing that very thing right now for one of my wife's nursing student buddies! Yes I am getting beer!

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            • K
              Katie @Minion Queen
              last edited by

              @Minion-Queen said:

              I think we all have. I have traded for dinner, other gadgets, house cleaning... I need more of the housecleaning barters to happen.

              Me too - though I'd rather trade a cooked meal for someone cleaning my house over IT work. 😛

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              • ?
                A Former User
                last edited by

                I got a couple G's knocked off of one of these. the (now) wife loves it.

                ringrang.jpg

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                  PSX_Defector @Minion Queen
                  last edited by

                  @Minion-Queen said:

                  I need more of the housecleaning barters to happen.

                  So clean my house and I'll fix your PC. Cook my dinner not because I fixed your printer but because that's your place, woman!

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                    Minion Queen Banned
                    last edited by

                    I have to babysit for the likes of you! I aint got no time for that!

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                    • S
                      scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      I say that I do Linux and people don't ask me to help.

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                        technobabble
                        last edited by

                        If I can't answer in person, FB, texting or via phone, I just tell them, you know I will have to charge you to come out. My real friends pay me and the cheap ones ask me a different question 3 months later. 🙂

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                          scottalanmiller @technobabble
                          last edited by

                          @technobabble said:

                          If I can't answer in person, FB, texting or via phone, I just tell them, you know I will have to charge you to come out. My real friends pay me and the cheap ones ask me a different question 3 months later. 🙂

                          Or the SAME question.

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                            technobabble @scottalanmiller
                            last edited by

                            @scottalanmiller said:

                            @technobabble said:

                            If I can't answer in person, FB, texting or via phone, I just tell them, you know I will have to charge you to come out. My real friends pay me and the cheap ones ask me a different question 3 months later. 🙂

                            Or the SAME question.

                            yeah, like they think i won't remember...lol

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                              scottalanmiller @technobabble
                              last edited by

                              @technobabble said:

                              @scottalanmiller said:

                              @technobabble said:

                              If I can't answer in person, FB, texting or via phone, I just tell them, you know I will have to charge you to come out. My real friends pay me and the cheap ones ask me a different question 3 months later. 🙂

                              Or the SAME question.

                              yeah, like they think i won't remember...lol

                              Seriously, I see that all of the time with large commercial companies. They ask to do something foolish, get explained why that is a bad idea, accept it, wait a few months, start the whole thing over again as if we didn't ask, explain, demonstrate, agree, etc.

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                                Nara @Minion Queen
                                last edited by

                                @Minion-Queen said:

                                I think we all have. I have traded for dinner, other gadgets, house cleaning... I need more of the housecleaning barters to happen.

                                I tried to barter IT help with my housekeepers, but they didn't nibble.

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                                • K
                                  Keg
                                  last edited by

                                  I'm terrible with this as I can never say no. Every time, I say "Yeah, no problem"! I genuinely enjoy helping out others but I know I get used as very very rarely will any of them help me out with non-it related things. Example - I fixed a friends computer and I paid for the disk drive and new graphics card. He even watched me pay for the parts online and did say he would pay for them but he never did. Few months down the line, I asked him if he could help me with a plumbing issue I was having so a few days later he came and fixed the problem, with a bill for £120! Why am I such a mug lol

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                                    scottalanmiller @Keg
                                    last edited by

                                    @Keg said:

                                    I'm terrible with this as I can never say no. Every time, I say "Yeah, no problem"! I genuinely enjoy helping out others but I know I get used as very very rarely will any of them help me out with non-it related things. Example - I fixed a friends computer and I paid for the disk drive and new graphics card. He even watched me pay for the parts online and did say he would pay for them but he never did. Few months down the line, I asked him if he could help me with a plumbing issue I was having so a few days later he came and fixed the problem, with a bill for £120! Why am I such a mug lol

                                    That's especially bad 😞

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                                      Keg @scottalanmiller
                                      last edited by

                                      @scottalanmiller

                                      I know! When it comes to business that I work for, I'm shrewd and know exactly how to work suppliers/customers. When it comes to me personally, I fail everytime hence why I don't run my own business - I wouldn't make anything! So to get around this, I tend to tell everyone that I don't have the tools anymore to do any maintenance or support. But for true friends, which I think I have one or maybe two, and for family - the door is always open.

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                                        scottalanmiller @Keg
                                        last edited by

                                        @Keg said:

                                        @scottalanmiller

                                        I know! When it comes to business that I work for, I'm shrewd and know exactly how to work suppliers/customers. When it comes to me personally, I fail everytime hence why I don't run my own business - I wouldn't make anything! So to get around this, I tend to tell everyone that I don't have the tools anymore to do any maintenance or support. But for true friends, which I think I have one or maybe two, and for family - the door is always open.

                                        If I was running a business on my own I would have the same problem. No way would I ever get paid for anything.

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                                        • IRJI
                                          IRJ
                                          last edited by

                                          This is different for MSPs, but as an employee I refuse all personal desktop work to other employees. As far as friends, I tell them the same thing. I dont work on personal PCs. The only ones I will work on are immediate family or my parents.

                                          No amount of money is worth helping someone that is going to continually ask you questions. Especially when they are a friend or Uncle and think they deserve the tech support.

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