Any other turd polishers here? A rant

[Benny]

I can't fix crap. Literally, I can barely jump start a car.

I've proven my ineptitude enough to my family to now completely avoid having to ever "polish turds".

Don't worry, women are welcome on this site too.

 

[Glocker]

I must have family members that are awsome. We all fix our own stuff and really don't bother calling each other to come "fix" certain things. We just fix our own stuff, pay someone professional to do it, or learn how to do it.

Ofcourse we are all close and have family gathering quite often too. Some people just don't have a clue and I would say if it angers you just tell them to get a clue and become self sufficient because they are adults...or should be adults. AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR PARENTS for christ sake! jeez this world. My parents took care of my grandmother/grandfather till they past away and I am going to do the same for my own parents, God forbid, but it will come I hate to think about it.

 

[Duce]

Some peole will never thrill to what a good deed will do until................Some say doing right has it's own reward..........out of this world so to say....................I've always try to get the most bang for my buck, but my pet peeve is when someone buys crap and spends hours teling you how great it is..................<>< Duce

 

[XMil]

Turd polishing is the real never ending story. I've tried hard to instill the values of paying for quality in the misses.

I have a camera I use at work. I spent a lot of time researching features, reading reviews etc. I picked the camera for it's simplicity of use, useful features, resolution, ability to use a common memory type etc.. I paid ~$300 for the camera a little over a year ago. The little-lady liked it and wanted one for her self.

Here's a conversation from my living-room last that took place shortly after the arrival of said new camera, that she bought for $85.

[me]: Hey, is that your new camera?
[her]: Yeah, I got it for $85. Do you think that's a good deal?
[me]: Oh yeah, that's a great deal!
[her]: I thought so too, but my mom just got one for $35 dollars!
[me]: The same exact model? (you see it coming don't you?)
[her]; Well, no, hers is made by (some crap I've never heard of). But it looks just like it!

[me]:

 

[Fletch]

I dont have those issues with my pC.......

Neither do I. But when it comes to teaching non-foolish computing habits vs. recommending a computer that is rather more foolishness-resistant...

Let's just say that after the first couple of times that you spent Christmas Eve or Thanksgiving or a birthday party fixing a relative's computer instead of having fun with the rest of the family (that you drove 1000 miles to visit), you'd make the same choices.

 

[concrete dog]

well my brother can fix just about anything,my sister and her husband just leave it broke.and let me tell you they never seem to forget to call me for$$$$$$$$$ when they need the turd polished.so i guess it is my $$$$$$ that does the polishing lol

 

[jeremy]

Them: "Can you help me out? That new PC I bought isn't working anymore. I try to check my email, and all I get is a bunch of popup windows advertising porn sites and Viagra."

Me:

This has been going on for over a decade.

Tell them it's not the computer's fault. Stay the hell off the porn sites...

 

[Fletch]

Tell them it's not the computer's fault. Stay the hell off the porn sites...

Actually, it's not that (I highly doubt my grandmother, for example, is a superfreak). It's the fact that every cutesy little application the shows pretty pictures or pretends to talk to you or whatever (BonziBuddy is the one that comes to mind) invariably gets installed, without any regard for what it might be doing behind the scenes. Every time I installed anti-virus or anti-spyware applications to get rid of these things, it was always disabled by the time of my next visit, either by the new malware they installed or by the user ("I got annoyed with all the popup windows it kept showing me").

To make matters worse, they actually liked the BS "functionality" of the various bits of spyware. I got chewed out for uninstalling someone's little craplet that went and got a new desktop background every day (while simultaneously rooting around in their address book and sending spam emails to everyone listed).

And then there was the fact that some were convinced that popup ads were actually intended specifically for them. "Yeah, I clicked on it. I thought it looked like a good product and wanted to read more about it." I tried to get them to at least use Firefox instead of Internet Exploder... to no avail.

It goes on and on... my grandmother and I are still rather frosty toward one another after all the hell she put me through.

 

[jeremy]

Technology is not for everyone...

 

[Bigum1969]

Don't worry, women are welcome on this site too.

I is what I is.

 

[Garb]

My gf's aunt is the same way. She's steals your crap and can't hold a job, and then she wants people to give her or her lazy boyfriend rides everywhere!

 

[RachelMarie]

I am in a similar position (kind of).

My mother calls often asking for help....CLEANING. She was in an accident 7 years back and is in pain most days. Since the accident she has kind of let her house go. I'm the clean freak in the family so bi-weekly, I get a call from her asking for help. Sometimes when she is gone at work I go over and do a clean sweep of her house and mow her lawn to suprise her. But YES, it gets old. I've got a house of my own to take care of, a family of my own....but I know she needs help. I live 30 minutes from her. I have a sister who lives 2 block from her....who doesn't help with any of it. It is what it is, I guess.