charging family and friends (was Re: [geeks] Ultra 2)

[alex j avriette]

>> hell no i won't charge them.  i don't charge friends and family.  end 
>> of
>> sentence.
>
> I don't charge friends and family either, but somethings I refuse to do 
> for
> free.  At this point, doing without a netgear makes the list.

i've mentioned that previous to my career as a computer geek, i was a 
car geek. this was a common situation. youve got your good friend who 
needs 8 solid hours of work done on his car. you help him out because 
you know he would help you but its a big pain in the ass. so you work 
out a barter system. depending on the likes of the individuals working 
on the car it can be anything ... think beer, pizza, car parts, computer 
help, pot, whatever. In general I would call Jon up and say "hey, can 
you come over and help me change my valve cover gasket and oil, and take 
off that damn power steering pump and maybe change the radiator too?" 
with the promise of pizza and beer afterwards. I've grown up since then, 
and would actually probably offer wine and cooking dinner (or a 
barbecue) these days.

same goes for computers. the cool thing about asking for pizza and beer 
for labor contributed is that since theyre your friends they'd like to 
have you over for pizza and beer anyways, so they get dinner, they get 
their car/computer fixed, and they have your company. and nobody feels 
'used'.

alex