.

[TwiceOver]

Way to be neighborly.

Helped one neighbor with his entertainment center, and another I trim around his garage. Between the two I never have to shovel my driveways.

 

[SR1729]

...

 

[HumblePie]

That is the truth. I had a friend that I built a computer for, and it was actually a pretty painless experience and she never really bothered me with questions.

Fast forward a few years, and this friend mentions that she wants a web site. I know where this is going so I kind of ignore the request. Fast forward a year or two later, and she contacts me and says "Hey I signed up for this web provider but I'm confused on how to make a site and if you help me, I'll make you a free dinner." I HATE building web sites -- I like architecting the underlying infrastructure, but I hate making content and keeping it current.

Anyway, I generally ignored her or told her things like "Just get on your provider's site, as they have to have instructions." After more nagging, I finally said "OK, give me the name of the provider, the address, and the credentials and I will take a look." I logged in and they had documents with STEP BY STEP, ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS with ACTUAL SCREENSHOTS on how to connect and build a site with stuff like Frontpage (which she had). I downloaded the document, attached it to an email, and said "Here, follow these and you will have no trouble."

I got an email from her a couple months later. "I'm confused about these instructions and need your help." I deleted the email and ignored the request. Seriously, a 12 year-old kid could build a site with those instructions. It wasn't that she was dumb; she was just too lazy to read the damn thing and just wanted me to do it for her. That is the type of person I don't like to help -- the ones who make zero effort at finding a solution or reading documentation.

For that matter, I was also the same way with help desk associates. If they came to me with questions on how to fix something and couldn't outline the troubleshooting steps they had taken that yielded no results, I would tell them to pull up Google and not to bother me until they had thoroughly exhausted all possible solutions and I expected a list of actions they tried.

DUDE!?!?!?

Are you a moron? That was all code for "Come to my house NAO and bang me MAOR!"

Seriously though, it sounds like she was wanting you to build more than a website for her with that level of persistence. If she was genuinely that lazy, she would have only asked once and then bothered someone else. The fact she kept asking and offered dinner means she probably wanted to get on her hands and knees to give you a blowjob while you made a website for her.

Oh well, too late now.

 

[7window]

why do you need to tell your neighbor what you do?

 

[IndyColtsFan]

DUDE!?!?!?

Are you a moron? That was all code for "Come to my house NAO and bang me MAOR!"

Seriously though, it sounds like she was wanting you to build more than a website for her with that level of persistence. If she was genuinely that lazy, she would have only asked once and then bothered someone else. The fact she kept asking and offered dinner means she probably wanted to get on her hands and knees to give you a blowjob while you made a website for her.

Oh well, too late now.

I am surprised Anandtech took this long to bring this point up. She was a lesbian though, and not a hot one.

 

[zinfamous]

I am surprised Anandtech took this long to bring this point up. She was a lesbian though, and not a hot one.

So now we know the real reason you ignored her all that time.

 

[Modelworks]

I help the first time and continue as long as the neighbor doesn't try to abuse the situation. I would help with networking, but then if they started asking for help with lots of other things they could do if they took a little time to learn it, that is when I would tell them I can't help them.

I had a family member who would call me for everything. Things that were easy to learn if they just clicked help. Every time I would tell them to read the help file they would respond with , when they get time. Sorry I don't have the time for people that refuse to help themselves.

 

[HumblePie]

I am surprised Anandtech took this long to bring this point up. She was a lesbian though, and not a hot one.

I was being a little silly if you couldn't tell by the tone of my post. However, this doesn't mean she didn't want to slobber all over your knob. Many a lesbian has no problems with giving blowjobs out for favors.

Also, when getting a BJ, who cares how they look? Lean back, close your eyes, and think about someone else down there.

 

[NinjaTech]

I use to be the friendly computer guy that said, "Sure bring over your computer and I'll take a look at it.". However, it started to get to the point that people would start bringing over their computers and their friends computer and their mothers computer and their mothers, brothers, friends, nephews computers. Some people would give me money for my time but then they would expect a lifetime of free technical support. Eventually, I had to tell people I just didn't have the time. I even had to block some people's calls and emails because they refused to take a hint.

Now, when people ask me for computer advise I always give it freely. However, I never volunteer to come over and fix it. I just give advise and that is it. Unfortunately, most people do not understand the advise I give them. For those people who are insistent that I come over to look at their computer, I am always too busy.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I got sucked into helping a neighbor trouble shoot her ancient computer a few years ago...ended up reloading Windows after about 2 fucking hours.

never again...

 

[SR1729]

...

 

[BUTCH1]

I think you did the right thing OP, if it were just resetting a single router or updating a driver OK, but to expect someone to spend 4 HOURS of their time fixing their stuff for free is a joke and as others have mentioned even if you finally got it up and running you would be asked to be free tech support for life...

 

[hellotyler]

I don't know, I'm happy to help my neighbors and setting up something as simple as a router is no sweat off my back. Free beer and I get a chance to meet some potentially cool people, not to mention I could call on them for help or to borrow a cup of sugar if I ever needed it in the future.

 

[Chaotic42]

The difference is this: mechanic, attorney, physician and carpenter are seen as professions by the general public.

Fixing home computer stuff is seen as a hobby.

So if someone has a neighbor who is a mechanic but is also into gardening, they feel comfortable asking him gardening questions even when they wouldn't expect him to fix their car for free. They don't see gardening, or fixing home computer stuff, as a job.

That doesn't stop them. My friend's wife is an attorney and gets bombarded all of the time. So does my service manager friend. When it's family, I just tell everyone that I just work using a computer, and that my cousin actually works in IT. Works out well for me.

 

[sactoking]

You know what, I've been very liberal with offering my professional opinion to my neighbors and from it I've had my neighbor offer to help me rewire part of my house, another neighbor offer me access to ~$15,000 in power tools whenever I want, and another neighbor offer to help me fix a small internal combustion engine. What goes around comes around.

 

[blinblue]

I think as a common courtesy I would give it a quick look. If I could fix it in under 15 minutes, I'd just go ahead and do it (probably little more than resetting the router would make it work). If after 15 minutes I couldn't fix it, tell them that it'd be better to get a pro to fix it.

I think the same goes for any skill. If I knew my neighbor was a skilled mechanic, and I had a car problem I wouldn't feel bad asking for some quick help to diagnose (and perhaps fix) it. Maybe he knows its, for example, a blown fuse, and it takes 3 minutes to fix.
I wouldn't expect him to help replace a transmission or something like that. But I don't think its too much to ask for a quick consult to figure out where to go from here (quick fix, or bring into the shop).

But likewise I wouldn't be offended if they said no. It still is a favor, and there is no expectation to do it. I just think some courtesy and a quick check are nice things to do, and can go a long way to keeping things friendly.

 

[bfdd]

I do refuse to help anyone with gadget problems, ie mp3, e-readers, printers, etc. I've had so many people ask me to look at their iTunes or fix their iPods, I've used both only in passing. I've played with iTunes enough to know it's a piece of shit, but not enough to know anything about fixing it or someones iPod. I'm not a gadget person, I love reading all about the new stuff coming out and try to keep up with what's the best out there etc, but I just don't buy them because I have almost no use for them.

 

[bfdd]

DUDE!?!?!?

Are you a moron? That was all code for "Come to my house NAO and bang me MAOR!"

Seriously though, it sounds like she was wanting you to build more than a website for her with that level of persistence. If she was genuinely that lazy, she would have only asked once and then bothered someone else. The fact she kept asking and offered dinner means she probably wanted to get on her hands and knees to give you a blowjob while you made a website for her.

Oh well, too late now.

Seriously wtf? I'm pretty oblivious to being hit on for the most part, but there is no way I would ignore landing lights like that.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Seriously wtf? I'm pretty oblivious to being hit on for the most part, but there is no way I would ignore landing lights like that.

Psssst. Read post #80.

 

[cman8884]

When I first moved in to my house, my neighbor told me he did fence work. So I asked how much he would charge to put up a fence. He told me to just get the materials and we would do it. Not knowing him very well I rented some tools and proceed it to do it by myself. Later that day he told me that I was doing it the hard way and if I could wait to the following weekend he would bring his equipment and we could knock it out.

I took him up on the offer. On Thursday he stops me and tells me that he had something come up and could not get to it that weekend, but his crew didn't have any work to do for Friday. He paid his guys to put up my fence and did not charge me a dime.

Needless to say I will work on his computer anytime for no charge. BTW that is what neighbors are for.

 

[SR1729]

...

 

[xanis]

I always feel bad saying no to people when they ask me to fix their tech issues, since it's one of the few things I'm good at and feel confident doing. I learned from experience though that sometimes I just have to say no. Usually fixing a small problem opens the door to "fix my shit" calls from everyone and their mother.

 

[xSauronx]

if he had offered beer....i would have straight up told him to fill a cooler. ill work for beer...if i can drink while i work and theyre not in a hurry (and wont run out of beer)

because god damn, after having me drunk and working on computers, nobody is going to ask me to do it again.

 

[Sid59]

One of my good friends asked me to build him a computer and said "no, go get a dell, it'll be a bit more expensive but if anything goes wrong, you can call them."

He forgot about it for a few weeks and asked again but I gave him the same spiel and offered to help him pick out parts. He gave in and ordered a dell. 4 weeks later, his hard drive corrupted and had to call tech support. They sent a tech out to replace the drive and install from the restore disc.

I told him, he saved himself time because i wouldn't be able to help till for a week and even then, he'd either wait for an RMA from the HDD mfg or buy a new hard drive.

 

[Lanyap]

Just go over there and spend the day eating their food, drinking their beverages, using their bathroom, watching their TV then at the end of the day tell them you can't fix it and to call the ISP.