[RESOLVED] That's not in my job description

[CobraTekMax]

Just got back from a weird call. This lady's mouse wasn't working, just a com port resource conflict, easy fix. Took all of 5 minutes to diagnose & fix the problem, and I would've her off with no charge, but the call WAS more than a half hour away, and with today's gas prices I had to charge her something, so I charged our minimum fee ($25) for travel time.
Just as I was filling out the service ticket, she hit me with an usual request. Would I stay and watch her two under-5 children while she ran out and did a few quick errands? She said she'd be about an hour and I could charge her our hourly rate. Needless to say, I was floored. I mean, the woman had just MET me for god's sake! How could she ask me to babysit her children knowing nothing about who I am?
I politely explained that I had a very tight schedule, and I had other clients waiting on me, so I couldn't help her. Her response? "Do you have anyone else at your shop who's not busy that could do it?" Geez lady, we're computer technicians, not nannies!
Anyone else every had anything like this happen to them?

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Clatu...Verata...nnnn...necktie...nectur...nickel. ...it's definately an "N" word...

[Damned Angel]

Well thanks for fixing my computer, now my car has been making this funny noise....

[Pyroate]

Had a service call the other week that should have been fairly simple just a replacement of a floppy but the he had three other computers that needed work so I did the requested work on those also. Then as I was finishing up he said he had a few other computer devices he needed looked at. They ended up being his dishwasher,car and security system. Since all had circuit boards apparently I was supposed to know how to repair them as well. The reason he wanted me to look at them was that our hourly rate was less than any of the others he had already called and got the rates for the estimates on them and he just couldn't afford them. Jeez who would have thought that the computer repair man would be the least expensive.

[Gabriel]

Back on the days that i didn't have a Car-license. My cust. had to drove me home.
After a fix in a cust. computer i had to go home (about 2300...), the person tried to Start up his car and he didn't succeed. so i gave a try. after 3 Minutes i started panic (my home was 15Km far and no transportation).
I started banging on the Wheel and Hitting the GearBox (Aut.). after that the car Started UP!!!!.
It was really amazing, the car owner looked at me all pazzeled, how did i did it.
Well i Figured it out l8r as i asked my brother (Mechanic), He told me that in Automatic GearBox there is a MicroSwitch which prevents the car from being started up when into D or R.

[gomer]

everybody thinks that because we deal with computers that anything without tubes we can fix. i have a friend that sent his fax machine into me to fix. would no longer print fax! i explained to him and his friend (that dropped it off) that i did not know anything about fax machines. he insisted i take a look anyways. well with being busy it took 3 weeks before i had the bench clear and time to look at it. first off i checked the paper and found a fold in the roll. i cleared the fold and copied just fine. had a friend fax me and again worked just fine. when i dropped off the working fax machine to him, he informed me his wife had gone out and purchased a new one. which is what i told him in the beginning to do. because it would be cheaper then repairing it. he asked what had been wrong with it and how much did he owe me. thought i would have some fun, i got into a 3 min explaination that the eprom chip which held the bios info had blown and i had to go to the city to get another at $89.23 plus download info off the net, etc, etc, etc. when finished, he said, you lost me on the second word but what ever you said i will pay you. i no longer could keep a straight face and told him the truth. he took use out to lunch, introducted me to half dozen friends telling them how stupid his wife was for not checking the paper on his fax machine that i fixed.

[NeuromancerIV]

Fixed a guy's router config problem at his house, I get my check get ready to leave, and he asks me if I can do him a favor. Of course I look at him curiously on guard, and he ask me if I can help him to assemble a desk, one of those desks in a box from Office Depot. I replied certainly, at $75 an hour on-site fee. He gets into a pissy huff and I leave. The nerve of people...

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"A.P.P.L.E Arrogance Produces Profit Losing Entity (I LOVE that one!)

[klenath]

Where I work now I don't have this problem, but my old job was incredible how many people's positions I filled.

I was originally hired to build a simple website for a company since they'd never had one before. Sure, I did exactly like I was supposed to -- but with more added at no extra pay (in fact, they ended up cutting my pay after 3 months of my 6 month stay by $2.50/hr -- my response to that was I quit).

Apparently I was the only one there with any computer knowledge since whenever there was a computer problem of some kind I was told to fix it. Shortly after that became a "standard," everything that had a plug I was expected to be able to fix! Regularly I had to fix the photocopier, fax machine, and the phones when someone did something intelligent.

Ended up doing all network admin, PC repair, website building, Internet setup and implementation, going to the shows the company held and promote my boss's personal website (eGemshow.com -- the guy who built / builds it is a moron and everything's overpriced), and am expected to do all this after a pay cut.

[superslappy]

One of the other techs here at work was on site, and after fixing the customer's computer, they wanted him to fix their dishwasher! They even offered him a full meal and desert to fix it but he had to go to another on site call!

[Gumby]

Yeah but to me anyway fixing a computer is no different than fixing a car. You just have to troubleshoot it logicly and you will find the bad driver, bad hub, bad sparkplug wire, or whatever is causing the problem. When ppl ask me to fix something that is not a computer, I say "sure, our regular hourly rate is $85". Usually they say no thanks, but I have fixed some strange stuff. The door keypad on a Cadilac, A fax machine, a copier just to name a few. No one has asked me to fix a dishwasher yet though...

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There are no computer problems that an arc welder and a blowtorch won't fix

[Kit]

Once I dropped of a system I had built. The customer proceeds to start giving me beer. I was on my way home so I took one. After I get the system set-up and booted, he asked me to take a look at a Ms. Pac-Man machine that he got used. A board needed to be replaced and he didn't know how to. I figured since he was a nice guy and he did give me a beer, that I'd look at it no prob. Make a long story short, I got the machine up and running and me and this guy stayed up for two hours drinking and playing Ms. Pac-Man. Sometimes I really love my customers.

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Wanna get more power outta your PC? Flip the switch on the back or the power supply to 230w. You'll almost double your power! Anyone eles smell smoke?

[Lowen SoDium]

You have to love the mentality that somepeople have. If it is electric, then a computer guy could fix it. When I was doing freelance onsite repair a few months back for rich Doctors and such, I often go go out to replace a modem and end up stay to fix a Satilite reseaver, projection tv system, stereo system, airhocky table, ect.

But they were always willing to pay me for my time.

Can't say that I was ever asked to watch kids or anything, but I was left in there houses by my self before.


BTW: I am glad to see the msg board get back under the windriver domain. Work's server only allows for a few web sites to be displayed and when windrivers was changing servers and the msg boards had not moved yet, I couldn't check the boards

[SavagePenguin]

I installed a CDR-W at a man's house and after he paid me (they always ask stuff *after* they pay) he asked me to fix his daughter's kareoke machine. It was a Christmas gift and she hadn't been able to use it at all.

The four-year-old was there, and looked at me like I was her savior... so of course I tried.

It ends up it was hooked up to the VCR. Turning to channel 3 and hitting the TV/VCR button got it working, and I made a little girl's day. I left the house with her singing a Dixie Chix song in the background. Made my day.

Of course, a week or so later the guy called again and said that the kareoke machine wasn't working again. He ask that if I was in the area, could I drop by for a few minutes (IE, he wanted another free fix). I never went back and he hasn't called since.

If he brought he stuff into the shop I'd show him how to set it up for free, but I'm not driving out there for kareoke.

*edited because my spelling stinks*

[This message has been edited by SavagePenguin (edited October 02, 2000).]

[Spirit]

...Our store had built a new PC for a gentleman and his wife...I did the instal and was back a couple of times to fix some minor problems....mainly user.*s*
Second time in he asked if I could have a look at a slotmachine that kept making loud noises and wouldnt play....looked it over...all it needed was to follow the printed instructons inside to reset it!!...RTFM!
next time I was round he said he had another problem...with a Japanese Patchinko machine...thought it was a broken spring...got it home...fixed it...(only needed a switch reset...again..*S*)
I guess those must be the strangest non computer "fixes"
btw Myself and my wife got a fantastic dinner out as the result of those calls...guess it pays to try your best!

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...just a ghost in the machine...

[Prime]

I often get to a customers house to setup a machine and there is no phone jack in the vicinity so I always carry all the tools, cable, etc to install a baseboard phone jack. When they say, "I'll call the phone company and have a jack isntalled." I often jump in and offer to do it on the spot for an additional charge.

Also, on several occasions while in a customers home I have ended up recabling their home entertainment systems... "Do you know anything about VCR's... I can't seem to record from my satellite."

Once I went on a service call to a guy who lives off the state and has no transportation or job. Just before I left to got to his house he called me and asked me to pickup a six-pack of beer and some cigarettes for him on my way.

Needless to say I didn't. And after I got there I was scared to death, I made an excuse to go to my car to get some stuff and I promptly left. I actually felt in danger for my life. He still calls the shop now and then and wants techs to come out but we make excuses.

[gbbone]

I was working on a workstation in the front office at a funeral home. The secretary left for lunch and I was there by myself. Shortly after she left a guy came out of the back room and asked me if I could help him for a minute since the secretary would be gone for a while.

I said I would help him until he explained that he wanted me to help him move a body. He said he was trying to move a dead guy that went about 300 pounds. He couldn't move him from the table without some help.

I told him he would have to wait for the secretary to come back...

[Jallentino]

Since computers are my life, and my job, all my "friends" and family constantly call me at home. My favorite is when they have a problem and ask me to come over. Well, I always ask them if their mechanic comes to their house to look at their car. Amazing.
And no, I am not a TV repairman.

[Duke Phillips]

I'm with a small company now, and there are only two of us for about 60 people. We are the "phone guys" and the "furniture movers" because the "guys before us" did it. They had both suddenly quit for no reason that anyone could figure out. The only plus is that we wear jeans 5 days a week. I explained that if we're going to be moving equipment and furniture, I'm not ruining work clothes. They bought it, and I love it.