JonesPC

Have you ever loved doing something that gets spoiled unknowingly by someone? In my about me page I talked a little about how I love working on PCs, and have done so as a hobby for a few years. I’m the guy that gets called by friends and family when there are problems with their PC, I’ve built plenty PC’s over the years, I’ve repaired and upgraded PC’s over the years, I love doing it. There no better feeling than seeing increased performance in whatever game or software after you’ve tweaked and upgraded, it’s just so satisfying. So much so that a lot of times when I do paid jobs I will always do extra, or a little more than I need just because I want others to be just as excited as I am when they boot the PC to see how much better things are now.

A while back I had been dealing with a friend and his PC. It first started as a simple OS upgrade, going from Windows 98 to Windows XP. The PC was a really old PC, only had about 32mbs of ram 10 gig hard drive.  I can’t remember what processor but it was of the Pentium 2 class… A really old PC. I upgraded the PC and suggested that he upgrade the ram, which he bought a stick and I put it in for him.

A couple of weeks later he called again, wanting me to install Adobe Audition. When he first asked, I was under the assumption that maybe he tried to install it and had problems. To try to find out what I needed to prepare for. I asked what he did, and what happened. He didn’t try to install it, was scared to try because Audition was such an expensive piece of software that he didn’t want to take any chances. (he was under the assumption that if he messed up, it would ruin the install disc). I went over and installed it.

A few weeks later he called wanting me to come over and do something else…

This had turned into a biweekly ongoing thing every since I made the very first upgrade. To be honest, I love doing it so the fact that he needs help so often would be great in any other situation. The problem isn’t that he needs help, it’s that he treats me like I’m one of his employees. If a day comes that he needs help, he may call 5-6 times or more. Each time leaving messages on my voice mail, complaining that I’m not calling him back, demanding me to be at his house at certain times, then complaining that I missed our "meeting". A lot of those days I will be at work, or will be out doing things that I have planned. When I do get a moment to call to see what the problem is, he never really tells me, just expects me to rush to his house "on the double".

I know a lot of you PC guys out there have probably had similar situations. Sometimes you have to sit your friends down and let them know that you are doing them a favor and you do not work for them. And for those of you that have that friend that keeps your PC in check, remember that even though it’s his hobby, he is still your friend. Most of all he is doing you a favor….Have you ever priced PC repair lately? Treat your guy (or girl) wrong and you may end up paying those prices