It used to be that if you were a car mechanic that had friends with problems with their cars asking you to “take a quick look” at their problems. It would only take a minute… but in the end you ended up spending more and more time on this “only take a minute” problem. In todays world however, it’s the IT Geek that gets this now. All too often I’ll be at a BBQ or similar gathering when people ask what I do, I tend to avoid telling them that I fix computer problems for a living. I do that because I don’t want the “can you take a quick look” scenario happening.
Long story short, people do not value the work that we do enough. They do not realise that it’s not a quick job and that our time has value.
What do you do in these situations? How do you handle them?
Check out this video below – it explains it a little more humorously than I can 
I wear my “No I will not fix your computer” T-shirt as much as I can, for this very reason. Comes in handy at BBQs 🙂 Got it from thinkgeek.com
Try telling people you’re a Gynaecologist. I’m prepared to wager they won’t ask you if you could take a quick look…
A friend once needed computer help, and I told her that I couldn’t fix her computer because I had to mow my lawn. However, if she’d like to mow my lawn, I’d be happy to fix her malware for free. To my surprise, she agreed to the trade. When it was all done, she commented on how tall my grass had gotten, and that it had taken her much longer to mow it than she had originally anticipated. I said that happens a lot with computer work too. When she mentioned that I finished her computer before she finished my yard, I asked her, “How long did it take you to learn to mow a lawn, and how long did it take me to learn to work on computers?” She agree’d that it was a fair trade.
Side note: I also have a friend who is an electrician and one who is a painter – similar results. 🙂