MY LIFE IN HELL - Part 293
It was Mark Twain I believe who said, "No good deed goes unpunished". And, such is the case.
It was Voltaire who said, "The roadway to hell is paved with good intentions." And, so it is.
Yesterday I set out to do a favor for a friend. It wound up being a bigger favor that any of us expected.
It all started about two months ago. I decided to upgrade my computer. So, I ordered a new, bigger hard drive and 2 Gigs of memory. The company from which I ordered the items misrepresented them on their web-page. I tried to cancel the order but received no response. When the items arrived, it was too late because the company had gone out of business. :-)
So, I was stuck with 2 Gigs of very expensive memory that I couldn't use.
Enter the Roadway to Hell at this point:
The day before yesterday it occurred to me that I could do a favor for my best friend and upgrade her computer. I exercised what I thought was 'due diligence' and checked to make sure that the memory was compatible with her rather aged, but working fine and serving her well computer.
I called her and offered to not only give her the memory but to install it, too. After all, that is one of the 'no-brainer' DIY things an owner can accomplish. In fact, I have done it before and had no problem.
She was quite reluctant to tamper with her computer. "If it works, don't fix it". Pshaw! I said. This will make it MUCH better. It will speed up the operation immeasurably. It will rejuvenate your computer and it will be better than it ever was.
Then she began to doubt my ability to perform the operation. That is understandable since I had to take a 2 year course to learn how to operate a mechanical can opener (I passed with flying colors, I might proudly add).
I persisted. She loved me. I love her. She trusted me. She is a fool.
To cut to the chase, I went to her house yesterday, expecting to be in and out within an hour at the most. Things went well from the beginning. I performed all the proper steps, got the computer open and found the memory slots. I quickly changed the memory sticks, closed the computer up and plugged it in. No problem what so ever.
But, then, I turned it on. Nothing. I turned it off then back on. Nothing. Oh, did I mention the horrible electrical fire smell that emanated from deep within the newly upgraded computer? No? Oh, well, that was the first clue that something was wrong.
I opened the computer back up and could see nothing amiss. (Not that I would have the foggiest notion whether anything was amiss short of a burst of flames or an explosion) I spent the next two hours (with my former best friend and her husband standing, arms akimbo, mouths agape, eyes bugging out staring at me). I took the memory out, put it back in. Reversed the slots, put the old memory back in. Did it all over again. And, again...
Finally my ex-friend's husband suggested they call their friend who is a computer repair person. As luck would have it, he was in his car and minutes from their house, so he stopped by. His wife was with him.
His wife and my ex-best friend went into the other room to talk "women talk". I could hear part of their conversation. I kept hearing the phrases, "what an asshole", "I should have known better", "I've always considered him to be pretty much worthless", "I'll take his ass to small claims court", "I use that computer constantly to conduct my business", "There was always something about that asshole I didn't like but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now I know what it is: He's a pushy, know-nothing moron"... That sort of "women talk".
In the mean time, my ex-best friend's husband, the computer geek and I all gathered around the now defunct computer. We stood there, gazing upon its innards like a bunch of dumb-struck fools. Finally the computer geek pronounced the computer "DOA".
My ex-best friend and the geek's wife came into the room. The geek repeated his pronouncement to them as they gazed dumb-struck at the innards of the defunct computer.
But, then, the gaze... and attitude of the group shifted: Toward me. Not a word was spoken. Not a word HAD to be spoken. The death-rays of hatred and disgust blasted me from their eyes.
Okay, to get to where I'm going - HELL - I went down and bought them a brand new computer. That is not what I had intended to do with $800.00. Oh, did I mention that I also paid the $85.00 service call of the geek? And, he has to return to transfer the data from their old hard drive... At least another $85.00.
So, here's the bottom line. The memory, which is now completely unusable (since it may well be defective and, thus, dangerous to any computer into which it might find its treacherous way) cost me $225.00 plus shipping. The computer cost me $837.00. The geek, so far, has cost me $85.00. What started out costing me one hour of time wound up costing me 9 hours. The favor has cost me my best friend. The favor will incur more cost when the geek's final bill comes in. So...
Let's have a contest here. Can any of you, my lovely, brilliant LJ friends tell me what the moral to this story is?
LOL
It was Voltaire who said, "The roadway to hell is paved with good intentions." And, so it is.
Yesterday I set out to do a favor for a friend. It wound up being a bigger favor that any of us expected.
It all started about two months ago. I decided to upgrade my computer. So, I ordered a new, bigger hard drive and 2 Gigs of memory. The company from which I ordered the items misrepresented them on their web-page. I tried to cancel the order but received no response. When the items arrived, it was too late because the company had gone out of business. :-)
So, I was stuck with 2 Gigs of very expensive memory that I couldn't use.
Enter the Roadway to Hell at this point:
The day before yesterday it occurred to me that I could do a favor for my best friend and upgrade her computer. I exercised what I thought was 'due diligence' and checked to make sure that the memory was compatible with her rather aged, but working fine and serving her well computer.
I called her and offered to not only give her the memory but to install it, too. After all, that is one of the 'no-brainer' DIY things an owner can accomplish. In fact, I have done it before and had no problem.
She was quite reluctant to tamper with her computer. "If it works, don't fix it". Pshaw! I said. This will make it MUCH better. It will speed up the operation immeasurably. It will rejuvenate your computer and it will be better than it ever was.
Then she began to doubt my ability to perform the operation. That is understandable since I had to take a 2 year course to learn how to operate a mechanical can opener (I passed with flying colors, I might proudly add).
I persisted. She loved me. I love her. She trusted me. She is a fool.
To cut to the chase, I went to her house yesterday, expecting to be in and out within an hour at the most. Things went well from the beginning. I performed all the proper steps, got the computer open and found the memory slots. I quickly changed the memory sticks, closed the computer up and plugged it in. No problem what so ever.
But, then, I turned it on. Nothing. I turned it off then back on. Nothing. Oh, did I mention the horrible electrical fire smell that emanated from deep within the newly upgraded computer? No? Oh, well, that was the first clue that something was wrong.
I opened the computer back up and could see nothing amiss. (Not that I would have the foggiest notion whether anything was amiss short of a burst of flames or an explosion) I spent the next two hours (with my former best friend and her husband standing, arms akimbo, mouths agape, eyes bugging out staring at me). I took the memory out, put it back in. Reversed the slots, put the old memory back in. Did it all over again. And, again...
Finally my ex-friend's husband suggested they call their friend who is a computer repair person. As luck would have it, he was in his car and minutes from their house, so he stopped by. His wife was with him.
His wife and my ex-best friend went into the other room to talk "women talk". I could hear part of their conversation. I kept hearing the phrases, "what an asshole", "I should have known better", "I've always considered him to be pretty much worthless", "I'll take his ass to small claims court", "I use that computer constantly to conduct my business", "There was always something about that asshole I didn't like but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now I know what it is: He's a pushy, know-nothing moron"... That sort of "women talk".
In the mean time, my ex-best friend's husband, the computer geek and I all gathered around the now defunct computer. We stood there, gazing upon its innards like a bunch of dumb-struck fools. Finally the computer geek pronounced the computer "DOA".
My ex-best friend and the geek's wife came into the room. The geek repeated his pronouncement to them as they gazed dumb-struck at the innards of the defunct computer.
But, then, the gaze... and attitude of the group shifted: Toward me. Not a word was spoken. Not a word HAD to be spoken. The death-rays of hatred and disgust blasted me from their eyes.
Okay, to get to where I'm going - HELL - I went down and bought them a brand new computer. That is not what I had intended to do with $800.00. Oh, did I mention that I also paid the $85.00 service call of the geek? And, he has to return to transfer the data from their old hard drive... At least another $85.00.
So, here's the bottom line. The memory, which is now completely unusable (since it may well be defective and, thus, dangerous to any computer into which it might find its treacherous way) cost me $225.00 plus shipping. The computer cost me $837.00. The geek, so far, has cost me $85.00. What started out costing me one hour of time wound up costing me 9 hours. The favor has cost me my best friend. The favor will incur more cost when the geek's final bill comes in. So...
Let's have a contest here. Can any of you, my lovely, brilliant LJ friends tell me what the moral to this story is?
LOL