Why Can't People Just Keep It Simple?

[Rokkaholik]

So.... I try to do my best as a helpful person to both friends and strangers, especially if I've had experience or have knowledge with whatever they seem to need help with. A few days ago a lady on my Facebook "For Sale, etc" group posted that she was looking for a decent gaming PC for her son. Their house was robbed and his good laptop was one of the bigger things stolen. She came right out and said that she is a single mom and only has $600-ish bucks to spend.

 

I won't ever claim to be a PC "technician" nor do I have a degree of any kind , but I know enough to be dangerous. What I will admit that I'm good at is research and finding Bang For The Buck deals on things, so I asked her a few questions regarding her needs.

 

First, the term "gaming PC" is a wide spread term and can be anything from playing solitaire to the most heavily graphics intensive stuff out there, so I asked her what games her son intended to play because that would be a big factor on how to stay within her budget.

 

She said he likes some shooter type games like COD and a few others.

 

I then asked what she all had for Monitors, speakers, mice, keyboards, etc... Apparently, she is covered in all that so basically the entire budget could be then spend on the tower itself.

 

I suggested online searches first so she could have plenty of things to compare and NOT have to deal with the in-person salesman type seller who may talk up his 10 year old boat anchor and possibly scam her. I broke it down for her how to be able to Google Processors and other parts, read reviews and check to see when they were released as well as looking up current sale prices on ebay, and then gave her a few specs to stay within.

 

I suggested her getting a few year old Dell or HP type tower that had the available slot for a good PCI Express video card and be able to upgrade the PSU if needed depending on the card. These would also likely already have an operating system on them as well so that would be another $100 she wouldn't have to spend.

 

I researched a few on ebay and Craigslist and found 4-5 good competitors well within her budget and one slightly above, but worth the extra $50 if she couldn't negotiate the price down.

 

 

 

This is where it gets interesting and infuriating....

 

The typical responses to her post of people trying to unload their junk and the idiots who cannot read and start suggesting systems $800 and more. 

 

One guy got very vulgar because she had to remind him of her $600 budget a couple times and he basically called her an idiot for even asking if she didn't want responses... Seriously?

 

 

 

Then.... out of nowhere swoops in this hoity toity "IT Professional" of 5 years telling her all she will need and TOTALLY blows the budget out of the water and proceedes to get technical with her about what he does for a living and these other "clowns" don't know what they are talking about, etc... I responded to him about staying in her budget and he basically waved me off because he is an.... "IT PROFESSIONAL" and this is what he does for a living. 

 

Wait... what did that have to do with a budget again?

 

This asshat was in complete salesman mode and was volunteering to even assemble it for her, etc...

 

Then SHE chimes in and reminds him of her budget, so he fires back with a slightly cheaper system, but still in the $1100 range...hahahahaha

 

He argued with her for a while about how NEW is better than stuff that's a few years old, etc... How again does that keep her in budget?

 

 

Lets just say it turned into a back/forth between the "IT PROFESSIONAL" and the "Clowns" on who knew more, etc....

 

 

Then the post had disappeared altogether. Apparently she got sick of it and deleted it, but then I got a personal message from her about what I had been proposing. She thanked me again for being the only polite person to chime in and actually READ what she had requested and not go through and belittle everyone else.

 

She messaged a few sellers on the craigslist ones I found that were already done. Waiting for their responses. Depending on that, the next would be the second option of a few year old Dell or HP that can be upgraded to do the job.

 

On top of all this, she added me as a friend on FB and is a management level Job Recruiter in my area... Good friend to have if the need arises. 

 

 

 

I guess I just can't wrap my head around snooty uppity people with "titles" who always have to use that title as an argument or a way to prove they are right. Those titles are usually just a piece of paper.....

[wevsspot]

On top of all this, she added me as a friend on FB and is a management level Job Recruiter in my area... Good friend to have if the need arises. 

 

That relationship might come in handy some day............

 

Kudos to you for actually being one of the few, or the only one, who actually "heard" what she was saying about her budget.  And your approaches to solving her problem were legit.  Good for her that she sounds as if she's listening to the only reasonable person who responded to her.  FB is full of posers and clowns anyway.

[Rokkaholik]

I was surprised how fast that post turned into a sheetshow. All because some titled person wanted to pound his chest a little...lol. I hope she find something good for her kid.

[Rokkaholik]