[geeks] PC Repair shop fun...

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Jonathan C. Patschke" <jp at celestrion.net>
>Date: 2008/02/26 Tue AM 01:41:06 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] PC Repair shop fun...

<snip>

>And then there's the occasional more-money-than-brains customer who you
>-really- appreciate because they always want the newest/greatest/fastest
>stuff you can order, but it's ever-so-soul-sucking because they're
>either going to give it to their kids "to play on" or you know the most
>intensive thing they'll do with it is a mail-merge in Word...while you
>wait for your most recent side-project to compile on your beat-up 486
>laptop that time forgot.

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my dad years ago about a friend of the familky that owned a bar at the Jersey Shore (Spring Lakes, NJ) - my dad said it was a horrible business, because to keep the bar going you needed "regular" customers ("Hey Norm!"), but the problem was they tended to get sick and die of complications from alcoholism and/or old age, and you had to keep attracting new, younger alcoholics to start coming to your bar...

>Beyond that, there are the no-pays, the late-pays, the customers who
>whine your ear off for hours at a time, and the occasional interesting
>customer who has the strangest ways of applying his technical
>knowledge[0].  You don't really want to get -rid- of any of them (except
>for possibly the no-pays), but they all consume a tremendous amount of
>time and energy.

That is the joy of retail...

>Basically, in a small shop, you charge those sorts of rates for two
>reasons:
>   1) You're a convenience to the customer by being a happy, friendly,
>      smiling face that will answer any question they can come up with,
>      and you're willing to look at their box now-now-now if they stomp
>      their feet hard enough, instead of the "Geek Squad" dweeb who will
>      drool on his nametag and tell the customer "that's against policy"
>      or some other garbage.
>   2) You have to do it to stay in business.  Unless you work out of your
>      house and only do on-site work or take-away work, you just have to
>      do it to make ends meet.  Beyond rent there are utilities,
>      employees, dry spells, inventory, etc.
>
>I had to get out of it.  I really liked interacting with customers
>because they honestly appreciate someone who doesn't treat them like an
>idiot (to their faces, anyhow), and who is genuinely willing to answer
>their questions.  But, barring the occasional bonanza[1], it's a labor-
>intensive way to break even.

That's about what I figured (more or less), and that's what kept me out of the business.

>Personally, I've found my best (IT) work in being the IT guy at a
>company that is pretty far removed from IT as an industry[2].  However,
>I love that, for the most part, that end of things is Someone Else's
>Problem now.

<snip>

>[2] Did the ISP thing.  That was fun, but extremely stressful.  Did the
>     consulting thing, didn't break even.  Working for the state in IT
>     was rewarding[3], but not as much fun as private industry.

My current work for the school board is fun, and as you say, I like being able to say "Your talking above my pay grade" and smiling when they talk about the latest after-hour push to get something done. Everyone knows I am hourly and part-time, so when they ask me to "pitch-in" it is by adjusting my current hours to accomodate the latest "project du jor" without increasing my hours (as I am only allowed to work 18 hours/week - my position is part of a job share)...

Lionel