30
DotM
7y

TL; DR: please save me from IT hell

Note 1: this is a rant that comes after a couple other rants I'm going to call "family business saga" from now on because I feel like this is gonna go on for a while

Note 2: the following may look exaggerated but it's because of how pissed off I am at said person

So I have to help this one family member with his computer but he's worned me out so much last summer that I can't stand him (it's all tech based). At all. Both in person and via text calls. I dread and become pissy each time he's nearby, just his presence makes me want to jump in a hole and stay there for eternity.
And he's not the smartest cookie in the jar when it comes to tech, so he comes to me for help (instead of going to my brother. Aaagh why doesn't he go for my brother as well, it's mentally tiring having to "help" him - as he doesn't learn what I'm trying to teach him even after several attempts). I don't really mind being sought for help when it comes to tech, but this guy takes it one step further.
He entered my room with his computer in his hands saying this friend of his has installed W7 on his PC (why didn't he handle all the things he wants to do, it would save me a lot of anger containment) and that I *had* (it's always "YOU HAVE" because I'm a tech-ish person and I'm in uni for CS) to help him do a bunch of things.
So he boots up the thing and there are 32 updates to do, so I'm guessing that he didn't boot it up after the OS update until now. He leaves my room and I sigh out of relief. He comes back with the AC remote complaining it's too hot in my room and that he's gonna put it down a degree or 2. Jesus christ do not tamper with my AC settings, it's fine to me. The updates are still going on. He leaves again.
The computer takes its time to update and so does he. I'm happily playing minecraft when he comes back, the computer off after updating. He looks at it and says "why is it off?". I reply back "it finished updating.", trying to keep my cool. Even the most simple questions are irritation inducing.
He reboots it and lets it run. After it boots and it's ready to go he just stays there for like 2' without doing anything because the hard drive light was going off. I think he thinks the computer is going to explode if he touches it while the light is blinking 😬
He goes to connect the computer to the internet and gets all surprised that the computer doesn't recognize our home's internet (he has been here before with his computer, I guess, so he had connected, so I think he was expecting it to auto connect like that). I tell him that the computer doesn't recognize our home's connection because it has had a fresh OS installation and so it didn't have any connection registered. He types in the password and the connection is established.
He them starts going on about that he wants to get these pics on the business' website and how does he put them in his computer and all that. I do that for him and he's all like "how did you do that?? 😮" like it's a magic trick
And he's always going on at everything as if it's all a big undoable thing. "How do I do this? You know what, do it yourself and show me because I don't wanna fail". Dude. Bro. Everything - EVERYTHING - you are afraid of doing is undoable. EVERYTHING. Good christ.
I swear I've never felt so glad I'm going back for uni next week

Comments
  • 3
    Okay i have a few theories: 1.: he is all surprised because he thinks that you will take that as a compliment and happily fix all the other future problems 2.: he thinks that you will fix all fix computer problems always, so he does not learn on purpose (why if you have a slave which does everything) 3.: from his general tone it sounds like he is 1 or 2 generations up in the family tree. Maybe he thinks he can treat you like that because you are younger?
    In any case: Stop helping him if it causes you anger. I know people like that. i, for myself, only offer technical help as "christmas present" in very special circumstances when i have nothing else to gift :D
  • 2
    @darksideplease It's a mix of 2 and 3. I think it's mostly the fact that I'm a CS student AND I am family (that also means free fixes I'm guessing. The guy is a cheapskate) and I try to help that makes him keep coming back. And yeah, he's 1 gen up me, he's my uncle. He tries to learn but it doesn't get in his head, you know? The guy is middle aged, his mind goes like "this is too hard!! >:V HELP". He even bought a smartphone to "help" him in the business (he had - and still has I think - one of those old phones that would smash the wall if you threw them and not the other way round), but even meaningless things as call logs in a contact confuse him.
    He just barged in my room and I went to vent to my parents, I bet they're sick of me complaining, but he's such a pain, I can't just take it, but telling the person to stay back directly is hard. I just need a punching bag :b
  • 1
    @g-m-f Thank you kind sir 🙃
    HaHa and this is not even all of it
  • 1
    I know how you feel. Every time I'm back from Uni, everyone in my family asks me to do something to their mobile, computer, smart TV, etc. This Christmas I had to: install cyanogenmod on my dad's mobile, buy a new mobile for my mom (do endless researches to find the fastest, cheapest, etc.), fix my sister's iPod, format my sister's laptop and fix my aunt's laptop. I was like:"Jeeez, next time I'll spend Christmas somewhere else". :/
  • 2
    I usually solve that problem by saying "I'm on vacation and I don't want to work". What ones family doesn't realize is that kind of stuff is a chore for you and you deserve rest like everybody else. If they get angry or keep saying "It will take just 5 minutes for you", just say "No it wont, if it took that much, you could have done it, and I'm doing this for free so you will have to wait for me when I have time and will to do this." Usually they give up after that. 😊
    If they get mad at you, let them get mad. Since there is no other way to do this.
  • 0
    Go ahead and kill him. We'll all look the other way, and so will the rest of your family, probably.
  • 0
    @stefano Jesus :/
    Even in uni sometimes I have to assist (via phone calls of course, which sucks because I can't really see what's the problem and my brother dodges out of it so it all comes to me >:V). I don't really mind helping my parents, because they don't really ask how it is done so it spares me that extra job (well if it's something they think they'll be doing again in the future they may ask), but this guy just constantly asks how does he do ANYTHING, and he doesn't even think that if he fails, everything is alright (in the spectrum of things he wants to do), no. He feels like the world is gonna end if he makes a tiny itty bitty mistake and the fact that I have to explain it countless times just eats me inside and makes me go all pissy at him. To the point where he complains I don't wanna teach him (since I type so much faster than him so he just sees my fingers fly across the keyboard). It has been worse but he wants to do EVERYTHING (business wise). On his first try.
  • 0
    @arekxv My dad now has been saying "We're not in office hours 🙃" whenever he asks him something now and it's night or so 🙃 (he's my dad's brother and when he's not working - which is not for long now, there hasn't been much activity since it's winter - he pretty much lives in our home since they live close. He "leaches" on our internet and cable service when he's around because he doesn't want to pay for himself, says it's not worth it and that it is too expensive. Me and my mom are going nuts, sometimes he leaves here at 2am after much pushing. He just doesn't get it)
    Well that's true, my vacations are ending (finally - this puts a toll on me; I come from uni to rest, and there's this guy just asking things from all directions, I feel kinda trapped in here) but he's just gonna say I DO have time and I HAVE to help him and all that crap. Gotta learn to say no and end this, some day I'm going to go burnout to uni
  • 1
    @MrXero Don't mind if I do LoL
    Sometimes family relatives are too much because they're family and think they can ask us to do whatever (specially because it's for free) 😒
    And when we can't they come with a "I thought I'm paying you to learn that?" (aka fix everything that exists and is yet to exist) comment 😒
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