I used to work the IT help desk as well and I didn’t want to fix broken shit in my spare time either. Friends and family were constantly on me to fix their shit or worse, help them setup their new thing / upgrade or whatever. The thing that always irritated me about it was that no one ever considered this a favor, you know, actual labor. To them, I just knew the secrets, and should simply share those secrets with them like a good friend. Because whatever they wanted to do, in their minds, was very very bad easy, they were just missing some small secret answer that would make it all suddenly work. And of course they’d only consult me late in the game after they’d made the purchase or whatever and gotten stuck because it didn’t work. Eventually I had to formally declare that I wouldn’t be helping anyone anymore.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I just started writing up invoices for my side hustle and quoting prices to fix their shit.

I do that for a day job, so I have no interest in working more for free. Putting a price tag on the help definitely helped cut down how much bullshit they tried to get me to do

[–] opus86@lemmy.today 12 points 1 day ago

My trick with family is I tell them "Well, I can do it, try harder." It's my little way to show them how much I appreciate how often they told me I was mentally handicapped growing up.

[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Tell them "Only if you help me" and make them sit and watch and learn. If they stop watching/helping, so do you. They will then learn how time consuming it can be and it's not just one magic secret.

[–] stickyprimer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If it’s a very well defined task with repeatable steps, sure. Often it’s more like “why won’t my CarPlay open my garage door?” And in those cases I barely even know where to start and need to experiment and fiddle, and the last thing I want is them hanging on my arm asking questions and offering bad theories.

[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's exactly when I want them hanging around, so they learn that I don't know shit, and now we both will be learning how to fix something at the same time

Next time they will think "he doesn't know shit himself, no point in asking, might as well Google myself how to fix"

[–] j5y7@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

The only people I do this stuff for is my parents, because they certainly did a lot for me over the decades. Also, if I don't do these things for them, some asshole will drain their bank accounts because their passwords would be the names of their children.