How to handle this situation?
So I'm not very good at handling most social situations, but this one is one of the most awkward situations for me.
So there is someone I know, I was at their house and spotted a few problems with their computer, and they told me I could take it with me to fix it. It wasn't forced onto me, so I'm happy to help in such situations.
Now a few days later, the problems were fixed, so I called them up to tell them they could pick it up from my home. Well, this is when the awkward part comes in. They asked me how much money they should pay me. I told them that there are no charges(in an awkward manner), and they insisted for a while and then said they'd come pick it up later.
I believe I didn't handle the situation very well, and that it could have been handled a lot more gracefully. What is the best way to handle this particular situation?
Browncoat
Deinonychus
Joined: 14 Feb 2013
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 362
Location: Near one of the Great Lakes
My dad does this sort of thing for people all the time. Usually he just tells them they owe him one or works out some kind of barter. Eg. one time he did a load of updates in exchange for borrowing a backhoe for a day.
Personally, I go for distraction, usually through joking. In your situation I would've probably made a joke about having access to their browser history for blackmail material being payment enough. The topic would then shift to their browser history and they might forget about the question of payment.
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"You can't take the skies from me"
I also fix other people computers sometimes and find this situation awkward as well. But I learned not to care - professional workers take money for such stuffs and I am unemployed but can do the job just as well so if people want to pay me why not take the money? So I just say a pocket money amount that is much less than the professional worker price (for example 10PLN for work that professional worker demands 40PLN). They pay, everyone is happy(I earned some money and they paid much less than they would if they hire professional worker).
Jules_Bonnot_1912
Snowy Owl
Joined: 22 Dec 2014
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 146
Location: location location .... that's what it's all about
I had the same a half year ago: older couple called me because some co-worker recommended me. I hate that, but I'm a sucker when somebody asks for help. So I gave them advice on how to back things up, but in the end I thought I might as well do it myself ...
So there I was: backing their stuff up on a external disc they had, deleting the system (Vista) and making a dual-boot system with Windows 7 and Linux Mint (so they can safely go online and do some banking). Put some extra progs on it to help them with the maintenance ...
Took several days to get all the right drivers and stuff (very old laptop), but it worked just fine ...
But then came payday ... and that can get pretty weird ... How much can I ask? I can't charge them per hour nor for the amount of programmes ... For that amount they'd be able to buy a new laptop!
So I ask them: what is it worth to you? They gave me 50 euro and even then offer more. But I just took the 50 ...
There is one downside: once they know who to call, they keep coming back. That might be a good thing for somebody who's doing this for her/his profession, but not me. Sometimes they just want things that are next to impossible ...
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I'm REALLY good in bed: I stay on my side and rarely steal the covers ...
