paying for what you get...

Times are hard for all of us. I mean it is not the Great Depression of the 40's, but for our generation, we became adults in the 90's and (whether he was your vote or not) we enjoyed the financial stability Clinton's administration brought about. Carme and I hear about our friends feeling the effects of a slowing economy back in the states...and we are full of stories about how money is trickling from a very small pipe here in this small summer vacation spot.

So with money as tight as it is now, I have to do what I have to do to make a buck, or rather a Euro. Unlike a young child going off to school who is left with the echoing words of his mother to do well and that his mother loves him while he rides the bus to school with a smile to melt the coldest of days, I am left with the echoing and frightening words of desperation from my demanding wife to...."MAKE THAT MONEY!" I walk to work with my head low and tail between my legs.

I mean it is not like I am on the internet all day chatting on Facebook and ignoring the customers with wads of cash bulging from their pockets. Still my eyes are now replaced with Euro signs (rather than the cartoonish dollar signs) when the unsuspecting client enters in with their computer explaining they have no idea why their computer will not even turn on. Still integrity (and admittedly laziness of replacing some of the more complicated parts or) keeps me from running up a huge bill for the client. I still want to keep a better reputation that my competitors. Can you believe they almost convinced a client of mine that he needed a new motherboard when all the client had was a virus? Not an expensive part, but a lot of work hours to replace in a laptop! Mind you I have many stories like this.

Still sometimes, when pricing a job, I have to look at it in a certain perspective. If a client brings a working computer to me and just wants a slight modification, I cannot justify a huge bill. On the other hand, if it will not boot or turn on, well things will change. If clients have a dead computer but absolutely needs to retrieve information from the hard drive...I go in full pimp mode!

So keeping this in mind this, a client brought me in hi PSP (Playstation Portable) he dropped the damn thing thus dislodging the door and knocking it off its hinge. With the door unhinged, there was no way the laser was going to read the discs (a failsafe to save all those addicted from blinding themselves). I did not see floating dollar signs, but I did kind of huff a bit internally. I mean here is a guy, maybe 30 some odd years old, who is itching to play this game. As his female companion stood restlessly in the doorway, letting in all the cold air, she seemed a bit annoyed, with this look in her eyes like telling the story of her having to go back to competing for the time and attention of her boyfriend. She peered at me over her shades (mind you the sun set a few minutes ago) giving me that look like she was not too pleased with my mechanical skills. Still I was thinking about that all mighty cash coming to me as the O'Jays "Money, money, money" played in my head.

Knowing this guy was at my mercy, it was a matter of me just fixing the dang thing without breaking it. If I did break it, of course I would charge him nothing. Knowing how the Spanish are, he might charge me for breaking it. Not like it would work any better than when he brought it in. Still it just looks better if I do not break it. I can now say it was an easy job, because I did not break it. But mostly because even Carme, who was in the office at the time, could see it was a matter of just popping it back in place. So with a little direct light, and a tiny flat headed screwdriver, I was done in 2 minutes. It took the guy longer to put the game in and boot it up than for me to fix it.

Once he was satisfied, he gave me a peculiar eye and asked me how much it was going to cost as he reached for his wallet. My mind raced at a good round number, one that would both satisfy my time and effort and also make the client feel like he got his money's worth. I began to understand the age old cartoon of having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other, both whispering in your ear. The devil got me as high as 10 million Euros and the angel got me to do it for free by saying, "what would Jesus do". I replied politely that Jesus could break bread and fish and make it all multiply and I needed to pay for my groceries. So I settled on 10 Euros, a fraction of my hourly wage. I do not charge by the minute.

I am sure if I could read his mind, he was thinking that he could have done that and saved his 10 Euros. So the guy paid the fare but I am not sure if he felt it was a bit too much since I seemingly repaired it with ease. But that is what professionals do...make it look easy!