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Who do you provide tech support for?

B

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
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Being the first port of call (oh, but you're so good at it) spent an entire day at a friend's place yesterday setting up her new MacBook Pro, transferring files over from barely functional iBook running Panther, installing router and new wireless network with backups... and then teaching her how to use Mail and some other apps, even though she's been using a Mac for ten years.

Weeks of timid footdragging over ordering a broadband service, endless dithering and pissing about over which Mac to buy, and in the end, going with the ISP her mother — of all people — recommended, rather than what I had or ISPReview had to say... and then expecting me to immediately drop what I was doing on a sunny weekend morning and cross town to wave a magic wand. Which I dutifully did, because that's what friends are for, right?

Sucker.

By the end of the day, I couldn't wait to escape, especially as she didn't want to put the Mac to sleep in case it burst into flames overnight... so had to unplug it from the wall and ensure it was shut off. This came straight after asking me how to put something in the trash again, and then I was shooed out the door because her boyfriend called and wanted to come around...

...to use her new Mac.

Swear I almost skipped out of the house, so glad to be on my way home at almost 10pm and no dinner.

Hard enough to keep your own bits and pieces running at times, who do you fix stuff for and teach them how to use it? And how do they tend to treat you?
 
Only my parents. They're pretty good, not very demanding. They seem happy with their Christmas present: a new iMac, which replaced a really old PC which is good :)
 
Mainly the parents-in-law and the sister/brother-in-law, mainly it's iPod and iTunes-based problems. Luckily, Ma and Pa Cake don't own a computer otherwise they'd no doubt be inundating me with technical queries too. :eek:

As for work, hardly ten minutes goes by without a 'Jaffa! My internet is broken!' (or similar) cry going up. Gah.
 
Mostly my parents, but I converted my Aunt and girlfriends parents to Mac as well so I end up helping them more often :rolleyes:. Its always silly questions though like how to rename files, delete things, use itunes, ect.
 
OP i really feel your pain. I'm the go to guy for tech support amongst my friends and family and it's highly irritating at times.

Your story is even worse and i'm not sure i'd even tolerate that much.
 
Too many. But I've been able to tell most people to sod off lately, so it's pretty much only my parents and my brother who occasionally calls.
 
daneoni said:
OP i really feel your pain.
Click to expand...


Looking back, should have told her months ago to get a PC because they're so much cheaper... and then later, telling her I couldn't help her with Windows. Out of my league and all that.
 
My relatives

It gets old as it seems they never learn as they ask the same question sometimes over after a while. Also what aggravates me is that if I don't know something, I will research myself to try and get an answer and yet those that ask me, don't bother taking the initiative to try and find the answer themselves and go straight to asking me.

Keep in mind, most times, it takes quite a while to get it resolved because we all know, I have loads of spare time and I love to spend it doing things like that...

I mean, what I do isn't "magic", it is merely being resourceful 99% of the time
 
Ma is hopeless. Pa is tech savvy. But I still help my dad with Photoshop and design related tasks.

What is the bane of our family is my grandparents TV setup. If my dad's not available then they'll call on me. Polish satellite dish, UK aerial, UK satellite dish. Every TV in the house needs a signal from each "input", plus the ability to record.
Total mess.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Looking back, should have told her months ago to get a PC because they're so much cheaper... and then later, telling her I couldn't help her with Windows. Out of my league and all that.
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Even if its a mac i just make a genius appointment for the girl if i find her annoying/taking me for granted (your girl seems to be) and leave it at that. There are about 5-6 Apple stores in this city, 2 flagship ones, i'm sure she'd be well catered for.
 
Parents...sort of. Wanted to get them up to speed on the latest and greatest tech gadgets. Showed them my iPhone 3G and asked if they wanted to use one. Their response? Is that the new computer everyone is talking about? :confused:

They now both have RAZR's. And they will keep those RAZR's until they, or the phone, dies.
 
Just me, and I have a bastard for a client. (I have never had a real problem.)

I have reached the age where people just assume that I know ***** about computers, and that suits me very well.

:D
 
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If MR is count, then probably thousands of people since that is what I do here. If we are talking about non-virtual world, then mainly parents, sister and grandparents, occasionally a friend.
 
I refuse to help people. The only people I help is my parents, or sister and her fiance or REALLY close friends.

I get insanely pissed when my parents tell people I work in IT. It then turns into "well can Scott come take a look at my computer, I'm sure its something simple. It only says "non-system disk or disk error, strike any key when ready". I always refuse. My time outside of work is filled with school and game development. I have no time to do free (or paid) tech support.

Once they even brought my grandmothers computer over to my apartment wanting me to fix it. (The grandmother that is living is not close, so I'm really not being a jerk here). I was so mad because I knew where it would lead. I simply reinstalled the OS (since whoever tried to fix it earlier stopped halfway through, literally) and that was it. It then turned into constant phone calls of how to do this or that, then into "well this isn't working now", and now into other relatives calling my parents asking them to ask me to fix computers.

My response? I'm not familiar with Windows anymore, I switched to Mac. (Even though I fix windows for a living :p )

/rant
 
chrono1081 said:
My response? I'm not familiar with Windows anymore, I switched to Mac. (Even though I fix windows for a living :p )
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It gets ugly when you are forced to lie, to avoid being 'used'. And unwelcome guilt, no matter how much you think you have suppressed it, it still there.

Your parents should realise that you are not a little boy anymore, available to do chores for others on their whim.
 
I'm kind at fault for this due to converting my parents, girlfriend, family, etc to Macs, iPhones, iPads, etc. So probably like 10-15 people, but it's okay because typically its like 1-2 issues a week.
 
iJohnHenry said:
It gets ugly when you are forced to lie, to avoid being 'used'. And unwelcome guilt, no matter how much you think you have suppressed it, it still there.

Your parents should realise that you are not a little boy anymore, available to do chores for others on their whim.
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Agreed! I've told them a million times to not discuss what I do for a living because I know where it leads or just say I'm a game developer. (I am, just not for a living...yet).

They don't work in IT so they don't understand that there is no such thing as a "quick question" or a "simple fix". Even something like calling someone to walk them through something turns into "Well while you are on the phone, I also have this weird problem every now and then where I turn on the computer and it says NTLDR is missing, how do I fix that?"

We've all seen those types of case unfortunately : /
 
Anyone with the understanding if it is a computer or laptop I fix it at my house.
If its a network, tell me what the problem is, write down passwords, beverages must be provided, anything over 2 hours its pizza time, and I will tell you if I can fix it or not.
No troublehsooting over the phone with the exception of what they are seeing.
If the computer is up, I will log in remotely to take a look around.

And it done at my convenience.

I hate being that way but dam it will suck the life right out of you if there aren't any ground rules
 
Ya'll need the xkcd tech support cheat sheet!
 

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Generally only my parents and girlfriend. My mom is pretty good about it, my dad is hopeless and easily frustrated. He'll call me at any given moment and say "I can't open my email. WHY!?", to which I have no good answer, which results in an angry tirade. My boilerplate response is 'restart the computer', but he never does this without calling me first so I can tell him to do it. It works 98% of the time. :rolleyes:

I generally try to keep my ability to fix computers relatively well hidden, as I am familiar with what can happen if word starts to get around. I've finally convinced my parents that if they're going to tell their friends that I'm good at using the computer, they must also mention that I charge $25/hr to fix computers for anyone not having employed me, raised me, housed me or slept with me. ;)
 
Dagless said:
What is the bane of our family is my grandparents TV setup. If my dad's not available then they'll call on me. Polish satellite dish, UK aerial, UK satellite dish. Every TV in the house needs a signal from each "input", plus the ability to record.
Total mess.
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Gah! I wish that I'd stepped in and prevented my parents from buying a sat receiver, separate PVR and separate Blu-ray player. Should've got a PS3 + PlayTV... goodbye, multiple remotes!
 
OutThere said:
. I've finally convinced my parents that if they're going to tell their friends that I'm good at using the computer, they must also mention that I charge $25/hr to fix computers for anyone not having employed me, raised me, housed me or slept with me. ;)
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I love this- I'm going to have to do the same!


I do IT stuff at work, and i get the dreaded "My SLICE(database)/Email/Internet/whatever isnt working! fix it!!" all the time. What's worse is the employees bring in their personal computers all the time and just have me fix it... of course they dont ask first. I currently have 3 computers in my room... all of which are my co-workers personal computers.... GAHH!
 
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