[flagged]
Fixing Macs door to door
111–120 of 213 posts
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I got out and realized it was dark, I started to accept something bad was likely about to happen to me. This was the only part that really got me. I have visited a few major US cities but never really lived there, but now I’m wondering how common it is for American city dwellers to be afraid of the dark.
I'm quite unafraid to roam around my own neighborhood, even though it's quite rough, because it's densely populated, and so there are plenty of other locals passing by at any given time. The scary thing about nighttime in a big urban area, is when you're in a strange neighborhood and you're not known as a local, and you don't know the gang scene there, or ethnic culture is different or whatever. So yeah, carrying aro…
Yes, the big electronics box was a target. No thanks, I'll help myself to a black trash bag and drag it around like a crazy person.
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#113Talk about tech gone wild! Those 90s Mac repair tales are straight out of a heist movie, complete with inkjet smoke bombs and an accidental dive into the piracy deep end. Makes today's IT work look like a walk in the park!
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#114Imagine being a Mac fixer turned pirate king - only in the 90s, right? From smoke-spewing printers to brushing shoulders with the digital underworld, those were the days of real tech adventures. Makes you miss the wild side of tech.
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#115From the entire article, this paragraph stood out the most to me
> The golden rule that every single one of these assistants warned me about was not to bother the husband when he gets home. Typically these CEO-types would come in, say a few words to their kids and then retreat to their own area of the house. These were often TV rooms or home theaters, elaborate set pieces with $100,000+ of AV equipment in there that was treated like it was a secret lair of the house. To be clear, none of these men ever cared at all that I was there. They didn't seem to care that anybody was there, often barely acknowledging their wives even though an immense amount of work had gone into preparing for his return.
You often hear anecdotes of the rich family that's got it all yet the kids are all screwed up and the marriage is on the rocks. For me this paragraph offers a glimpse into why that's the case and why people say "money can't buy happiness". I don't know I may be way off base here but that's the impression I got.
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#116Interesting read. It reminded me of "Do Things That Don't Scale" https://paulgraham.com/ds.html I just didn't get the part where he says teens are mean to him, but the only example is where a teen made his job easier... > I was always uncomfortable with these jobs, in large part because the teens were extremely mean to me. One girl waited until her mom left the room to casually turn to me and say "I will pay you $500…
Mean teens and the bribing teen are separate anecdotes. Most teens are unhappy with a stranger rifling through their phone, especially somebody installing spyware. Those are the mean teens.
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#117Thought provoking article. I like to think I acknowledge the people I call for services, at least to the extent they want the conversation. I'm sure there are many more in daily life I don't notice but whose work makes my world go around. The anecdotes about the rich in Chicago match the ones I hear about the rich in California. The divide is nearly complete.
It's just an awkward social situation, and most people just want to be left to get on with their work when they're on the clock.
Agreed. The divide might be real, but when I've done this sort of work I want to be viewed as the furniture by most people so I didn't have to spend effort on awkward conversations. And I never even dealt with rich people like this.
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#118Reading these stories about fixing Macs in the 90s is like unearthing a treasure trove of tech lore. Who would have thought that a day job could lead to encounters with high society, complete with inkjet printers turning into unexpected smoke machines, and a twist of fate leading to a starring role in the world of digital piracy? It's fascinating how these tales intertwine technology with the thrill of adventure, almost like living in a real-life spy novel
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#119[dead]
Re: Fixing Macs door to door
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get this part. Thet could just phone Apple and complain about some contractor and Apple could get his name from some records.
> They could just phone Apple That's the thing. Once they realise that they have to put effort in it, the threats stop.
Exactly, they wouldn't complain themselves or even make the initial call themselves, they'd have a personal assistant do it, and whether or not they do is arbitrary because they won't check, not important.