Fastest House Call Yet
So it’s about 8:30 in the morning, just about time to go to bed, when I get a phone call. The number is not programmed into my phone, which normally denotes a wrong number or tech support call. It was the latter, but my heart dropped into my stomach when they greeted me. It was the non-profit for whom I did over 8 hours of FREE tech support as a favor for my uncle. Furious that this favor was clearly turning into “we have a free full-time IT department now, let’s take advantage”, I finally got up the nerve to call my uncle and explain that while I didn’t mind doing a little free consultation, this was going to be the 9th hour of my time that I had not-so-charitably donated to this business. He basically said that yes, this was originally meant to be a quick freebie, but since it had gotten so out of control, “Don’t be afraid to bill”. On my way down there, I kept repeating “Not leaving without a check, not leaving without a check” in my head. I don’t know why I feel so uncomfortable confronting these people about a bill.
I arrived, dropped my backpack full of equipment down, powered on the computer and asked “Okay, what’s it doing?” Worried, she said “I don’t know! Windows just will not start! It says something about a system disk!” Last time I visited, a bad hard drive was the culprit. The thought that the brand new Western Digital I helped them pick out had died crossed my mind, but I had a hunch that this was not the case.
Sure enough,
Non-system disk or disk error
Replace disk and press any key
I reached down, ejected the floppy disk, pushed a key, and Windows booted up perfectly. For a couple beats, I sat staring at the keyboard with a blank, dead look on my face, resisting the urge to either visibly roll my eyes, shake my head, sigh deeply, and/or make some sarcastic remark, instead using that energy to concentrate on keeping a facial expression that would not suggest I was actually thinking about doing any of these things. Without saying a word, I stood and started putting my backpack back on. She said “That’s it?” As I started up my MP3 player and selected a song, I explained boot order to her and accepted her thanks. I then replaced my headphones and walked out the door. The entire process took, literally, about 35 seconds.
I’m half-pissed I walked out without a check, half-relieved that this wasn’t another tech support nightmare. Next time…next time will be profitable.
September 26th, 2005 at 10:15 am
Seems to me, you left without a check. GG Bilu!
September 26th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
What a pussy…