A friend of mine, for whom I've offered my services in the past (at discount rates, mind you), decided to upgrade his home PC a few months ago.

Not being technically inclined, he invites a mutual friend to help him out. I'm not aware of this at the time and would think nothing of it as this 2nd person has some knowledge of PCs and their workings. It's not as if he's stealing a client away from me.

This mutual friend then proceeds to call me up during the evening. The questions are getting stranger and stranger as the calls come in, as they are very specific and technical. As I said, I think nothing of it at the time, as we have had many similar discussions in the past.

So I find out some time later what exactly went down and I can't help but feel... used, if you will. The mutual friend was calling me up for assistance, for which my services had not been contracted, to help out the first fellow, who still benefited from my skills and experience. Without charge.

It's too late now to bill anyone, but I have learned from my mistake. I give out very little info to friends over the phone now. If any given question sounds like it will take up more than 15 minutes of my time, I kindly decline to participate, propose URLs or local shops.

Just another example of how us techs can get screwed