Well, after checking out that interesting thread about stupid questions asked by (stupid) customers, I thought I'd start one about annoying people that hang out around computer stores all day.

Now, I'm not referring to your good friends who stop by to talk-shop, see if you can sneak away to go for some coffee, or want to try Counter-Strike out on that kick-*** demo machine you put together. I'm referring to people who somehow latch onto your store (and usually several others as well), think that they're a good friend of yours when they're not, get their nose into anything and everything going down at the store, and generally make your life as a tech/salesperson a living hell.

Here's a little bit about what I'm talking about: There's one guy who comes in and contradicts what I say to real customers. This morning this guy came in as usual and is poking around the entire store (our store is a hardware store with a computer dept, sounds screwed but it's true) so I figure he's not going to bug me today. A customer comes up to our area and asks what firewall software I would recommend. After asking her a few questions, I recommended a couple. Suddenly, from behind me comes this booming voice - "NO, HE'S WRONG, YOU DON'T NEED ANY 'CAUSE WINDOWS SHIPS WITH FIREWALL SOFTWARE!" I turn and look at the guy, giving him a shut-the-hell-up-I'm-with-a-customer look, but he proceeds to argue with what I'm saying. I managed to convince the customer that I was right, and kicked the mofo out of the store for good. :-)

There's another guy who's here everyday, asking questions about how to repair different stuff, the best tools to use and even stuff about basic HTML coding. He goes to all the stores in this area, bugging the techs while they try to repair stuff. Based on the types of questions he asks me and the other techs in the area (most of us are all friends, we get together and talk-shop all the time so we can warn each other about wacko customers), it seems that he's a relative newbie to the computer scene.

Now is it the case that he wants to learn more so he can use a computer more effective? Or is it the case that he's a cheap bastard that wants to repair his own stuff and not pay a shop to fix things for him... my original guesses were way off. Turns out he's in the process of setting up his own little computer repair business in his basement and wants to do webdesign on the side. He's convinced all this friends that he's the best computer expert in town as he "provides consulting" to the local shops, so they can go to him for repairs!! Let's just say that this mofo's plans are on hold as he damaged a few of his friends machines and nobody trusts him right now... :-)

I'm sure that we all have stories like this; I'm interested to see what other people have experienced