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I know I hardly ever post - this semester at college has been demanding, and I usually don't have anything new to post due to irregular hours. Well, until now.
I used to work, and occasionally get called in when they need me and my schedule allows, at a family-owned combination vacuum/computer store.
I got called in to work the day before Thanksgiving. Except for selling the occasional pack of vacuum bags for people who were getting ready for Thanksgiving, things were slow...enough to get final projects done for a couple of my classes.
Near the end of the day, I had two different customers.
Customer #1 - A regular, pretty nice guy. Brought in an older laptop having wireless connection issues. Boss fixed it before I came in, and I finished testing on it at different hotspots in the area. He was called when the computer was finished. He came in a couple of hours to close, and asked if I could also install a couple of programs. No problem, I install and update them, and run Windows Update as a bonus. I get his notebook packed up, he pays (even though we've spent a little more than an hour on his system, my boss only charges him for 1 hour) and leaves.
'Customer' #2 - Another regular, but not in a good way. Nicknamed him 'Sound Card Guy' because a few years ago he came in and tried to get a driver for his sound card. Asked a lot of questions, basically trying to get help for free. I stood firm, telling him basically that if he is getting the driver, I'm assuming he knows what to do, but my boss caves.
An hour and a half later, he leaves, only to come back telling us that it's the wrong driver. Two visits later, at about an hour apiece, and he's gone. Why didn't he bring the system in and have us fix it the first time? He doesn't have the money, but he has the time and money to make repeat visits to fix a problem we could have fixed once...
He's been a pain ever since, even since I've left employment with the store.
Anyway, here he comes, 20 minutes to close, and I already think 'I'm not leaving on time today...' Gives me a piece of paper with his system name and number, wanting me to look up drivers, so I do. He asks if there's a driver to play DVD's.
Apparently he had a problem with a virus, wiped the system, and reinstalled XP. Now his DVD's play sound only, no picture. Tell him that he doesn't have the DVD codec installed, and there's a couple of programs (Power DVD & WinDVD) that he can buy that would fix that. Of course, he wants to know if there's a free solution. I tell him no, the DVD codec isn't free
, in order to get the codec he has to purchase playback software or get the software that was installed with his system, of which he doesn't have the restore CD's.
Then he tells me that he downloads movies from the 'net. I tell him that playback would depend on what codec the file needs, of which there are numerous. Without knowing what the file is, I couldn't tell what he needed for that.
Finally, he remembers a friend of his installing PowerDVD on his system, says that he'll try to get it installed again, and leaves...10 minutes after close. Well, at least he's under an hour this time...
I know, why didn't I recommend a free all-around media player like VLC - well, I guess the moral is, if you treat me right (as in be a paying customer and get your issues fixed in only one visit instead of trying to get services and knowledge that I've paid for in money and time for free), I don't mind going above and beyond. Try to cheat me, and you get the bare-bones service.
I used to work, and occasionally get called in when they need me and my schedule allows, at a family-owned combination vacuum/computer store.
I got called in to work the day before Thanksgiving. Except for selling the occasional pack of vacuum bags for people who were getting ready for Thanksgiving, things were slow...enough to get final projects done for a couple of my classes.
Near the end of the day, I had two different customers.
Customer #1 - A regular, pretty nice guy. Brought in an older laptop having wireless connection issues. Boss fixed it before I came in, and I finished testing on it at different hotspots in the area. He was called when the computer was finished. He came in a couple of hours to close, and asked if I could also install a couple of programs. No problem, I install and update them, and run Windows Update as a bonus. I get his notebook packed up, he pays (even though we've spent a little more than an hour on his system, my boss only charges him for 1 hour) and leaves.
'Customer' #2 - Another regular, but not in a good way. Nicknamed him 'Sound Card Guy' because a few years ago he came in and tried to get a driver for his sound card. Asked a lot of questions, basically trying to get help for free. I stood firm, telling him basically that if he is getting the driver, I'm assuming he knows what to do, but my boss caves.
An hour and a half later, he leaves, only to come back telling us that it's the wrong driver. Two visits later, at about an hour apiece, and he's gone. Why didn't he bring the system in and have us fix it the first time? He doesn't have the money, but he has the time and money to make repeat visits to fix a problem we could have fixed once... He's been a pain ever since, even since I've left employment with the store.Anyway, here he comes, 20 minutes to close, and I already think 'I'm not leaving on time today...' Gives me a piece of paper with his system name and number, wanting me to look up drivers, so I do. He asks if there's a driver to play DVD's.
Apparently he had a problem with a virus, wiped the system, and reinstalled XP. Now his DVD's play sound only, no picture. Tell him that he doesn't have the DVD codec installed, and there's a couple of programs (Power DVD & WinDVD) that he can buy that would fix that. Of course, he wants to know if there's a free solution. I tell him no, the DVD codec isn't free
, in order to get the codec he has to purchase playback software or get the software that was installed with his system, of which he doesn't have the restore CD's.Then he tells me that he downloads movies from the 'net. I tell him that playback would depend on what codec the file needs, of which there are numerous. Without knowing what the file is, I couldn't tell what he needed for that
.Finally, he remembers a friend of his installing PowerDVD on his system, says that he'll try to get it installed again, and leaves...10 minutes after close. Well, at least he's under an hour this time...
I know, why didn't I recommend a free all-around media player like VLC - well, I guess the moral is, if you treat me right (as in be a paying customer and get your issues fixed in only one visit instead of trying to get services and knowledge that I've paid for in money and time for free), I don't mind going above and beyond. Try to cheat me, and you get the bare-bones service.
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