g1ant

<rant>
I'm getting more than a little pissed off about how us "old people" are being portrayed by TV advertisers.

I'm "old", it goes without saying that I'm too stupid to know how to program a VCR/DVR/automatic oven etc.

So I'll go and find a five year old to do it for me. They know "everything" about technology don't they?

Its funny though how this old fart gets more than a few jobs repairing the f-ck ups that these know it all teenagers leave behind.

The latest two:
"Well my 11 year old grandson told me that Windows 8 is rubbish so he tried to install Windows 7 on my new laptop and now nothing is working"
Well no it won't. There isn't a Win7 driver for either the sound card or the WiFi card. Whoops.

and just today,
"My 15 year old borrowed his friends Ipod Touch but didn't have the passcode. So he plugged it into his laptop and tried to get iTunes to change the iTunes account to his so he could get around that."
So now we have an iPod that's passcode locked and guess who is going to unlock it? A teenage self appointed "genius" or an old fart pushing 60 who has been employed in IT for 25 years?
</rant>

SultanOfSwing

Solution - just start charging double for fixing all mistakes made by those under 30.

You can send me your choice of pie as thanks

g1ant

I used to know a guy in England who fixed domestic appliances. He added £10 to his bill if the husband had already had the back off.

SultanOfSwing

Nice one ! Same kind of idea.

CelticRover

I remember seeing an ascending repair rate schedule in a garage once that had a base rate, a higher rate if you gave advice and an even higher rate if you insisted on helping.

SultanOfSwing

That's a good idea.

Bob

Family and friends special....triple the regular rate

There's a garage down my way that as a sign for their labour rates which is x bucks an hour, y bucks an hour if you bring your own parts and z bucks if you've tried the repair yourself first, which is about double

g1ant

I'm more concerned that kids are actually beginning to believe that they are smarter than adults.

Duncan Roberts

It's an interesting subject. Most people think that teenagers and the like are computer geniuses when really, on the whole, they know next to nothing. Knowing how to use Facebook and Twitter or search for stuff on Google doesn't mean you understand even the basics.

CelticRover

Once I got rolling on skills upgrade I found that I was only a chapter behind the kids at any given time and not quite the dinosaur I was made to feel. I didn't need that rotary phone after all.

cluedweasel

I've been hearing this since I turned 30 many moons ago. Strangely enough, I'm still working away on stuff that most under 30 can't even comprehend. Yes, I am a smug git.

BEVS

I would just like to say

I am 59 , therefore I must be a hopeless idiot.

sir_eccles

That's because they don't understand from first principles. Give them a pile of components and tell them to build a Pc and they would look at you like you were mad. To them everything is premade prepackaged and disposable.

Guindalf

It's not necessarily age that makes one a hopeless idiot!

When I first got here and had no job, I advertised my IT skills for mobile computer fixes. I had three rates...

1. Normal rate.
2. + $10 if it was an HP or Compaq.
3. + $10 more if they had tried to fix it before calling me!

scrubbedexpat097

Me too