(no subject)

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

In regards to my before-last post, I've been fired by the boss-that-doesn't-use-TP.

Yeah, it sucks balls to be unemployed so early in the month over the incompetance of the nonexistant-staff there. They keep messing with my workplace and never put stuff back, and I get yelled at.

I wasn't really cutting corners in a bad way by slip-streaming fully up to date OS disks with keys imbedded. He MADE me use worn out SP2 cds and manually input the keys. Um... ok.

I managed to call up a few customers and tell them to come pick up their machine and run for the hills. My boss was convinced that Limewire and any other P2P program warrants a reinstall. ($75-$180) The customer complained it was slow. The machine in question was flawless. New OS, McCafe, and nothing in the background. Problem? 256 ram. When i told him this, he yelled at me that XP needed to be reinstalled, that nothing could be wrong with the ram, that XP should run excellently on 128MB. Wha?!

jesus christ. Linux even sucks on 128 for anything practical.

There is no point where something can easily be fixed in 15 mins, he doesn't care. At his shop, it's either broken, or needs a reinstall. Virus cleanup, he will never do. He will never write a ticket, even when being told the issue, making my life hell when I sit there staring at this thing and nothing is wrong for an hour or two because he only tells me to "check it". Well shit. the only problem, when I asked the customer personally, was it overheating. 15 secs with a vaccuum, done. Now why did you let me waste 2 hours?

Dear Abuma Technologies,

You really don't know how to run a business. Your A+ certification is 16 years old, I beleive. You also don't know how many customers you are losing by only offering 1 service of just a plain reinstall, because you don't know how to do anything else.

You are not the only person that is stubborn. Another guy had the same issues. Fortunately he opened up and listened to the advice of his workers and now is the best repair depot out here. please consider his example.

In refference to your business, a quote from Gordon Ramsay, "SHUT IT DOWN, NOW!"

Your former, and the only intelligent technician you ever had.

Comments

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

it's all about time in that business.

Installing memory takes a minute.. rebuilding the machine? You can easily bill 2 hours for that.

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

Repartee: Upcharge memory. Minimum billing.

And y'know what? I wouldn't do virus scans and repairs either. Or registry fixes. Reformat and reinstall is a guaranteed fix.

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

I did agree with you untill I took a look at the other business that did virus removal for $40.

Thing is, the $80/$170 guy doesn't know how much business he is losing to the $40 guy. Not everyone has $80/170. that and many dislike the idea of having to reinstall every program and configuration.

$40 virus/repair/upgrade guy wins hands down.

Economics 101: Price vs Total # of sales.

Also, reinstalls arent gaurunteed fixes when the error might stem from a driver or program (that will be reinstalled later. Not to mention you gain no experience on how to fix shit.

i can down a virus in 10 minutes. I know where to look, I know what to kill. Then I just pop on a virus and malware scans and let it scan for a hour. Done.

Reinstalls took more of my time with this guy having me use outdated disks and then installing updates, openoffice and nero manually. It required alot of attention per machine instead of just slipstreaming it, like I wanted to do, and just forgetting about it.

[wxgeek.livejournal.com]

Now this depends greatly on the virus / malware / spyware.

If you know what you're looking for specifically, and you can get in and out in ten minutes of work plus an hour's scan? Sweet. But plenty of times it's not just the one thing - or it's stubborn and hard to uproot. Or they'll disappear for awhile, you'll hand the computer back and it'll poof! reappear.

And true, re-installs aren't guaranteed fixes for everything. But specifically, I'd much rather reformat than hunt viruses.

And the prices? Reputable places around here usually charge a $45-$70 minimum bench fee, no matter what else happens.

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

So much this. When I worked at a local computer store, my boss finally got sick and tired of comping work on "it's still infected!!!" that he made a "one trojan and it's a reload" rule.
Reloads can't be your only trick and shouldn't be the first, but there's definitely a time and place for them.

(We'd get computers back that we KNEW were clean and had just been reinfected but try explaining that to a clueless user. Reformats and reloads can't be argued with as easily)

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

"one trojan and it's a reload" rule
reformats and reloads can't be argued with as easily

good rules

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

Getting fired sucks donkey balls, but it really sounds like you're well away from this guy. It would suck even harder if you started getting painted with the same brush in people's minds.
Good luck finding a better job.

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

thank you

[mix-hyenataur.livejournal.com]

Guess what, landed another job today. Same work + project manager, same pay, better environment, closer location, better/nicer/smarter manager.

Thank you.

[docskurlock.livejournal.com]

Congrats. Good for you. I have been in your shoes and I feel your pain. I'm very glad you found something else that was better. Good luck!

[honem.livejournal.com]

omg this sounds like the horror stories I used to hear from a friend of mine who had the displeasure of working for the Geek Squad at Best Buy for a month.

He said they have this manual of fixes for common stuff people bring in. And 100 % of the time it would always be the most expensive fix possible for the customer.

He said he was fired for .... get this .... fixing customers computers too quickly and too cheaply.