Do people ask you for free professional help constantly?! Vent here!

[heathrow42]

All the time. I saw the perfect shirt on someone at WDW that I've been looking all over for. It said:

"No, I will not fix your computer"

dmadman43 - you have private messaging turned off

You can find this shirt on thinkgeek (www . thinkgeek . com) (take out the spaces) search for 388b that's the item number - it comes in black or white Thinkgeek has lots of other great geeky stuff too.

--heather

 

[nativetxn]

Family and friends call my dh for legal advice. I don't really have a profession so I don't experience that inconvenience

Katholyn

 

[disneymom3]

Love that Tshirt as DH is in IT and has all the usual calls about broken computers. A few years ago, his mom bought a specific computer against his advice and was calling several times a day because she was having tons of problems with it. He finally lost it and said, "It's not working because you bought a stupid system!"

As a Realtor my personal favorites are "We just bought this house and....."
Or, "I am not sure my agent priced my house right..." And, "We are looking for a house with blah blah blah in this city blah blah blah. Do you think you could find something for us.......our agent just isn't finding what we like but if you could find some we could go look at them." (With the other agent.) HELLO!! I do work on comission people, go ask your own darn agent AND if you had hired ME, you wouldn't be having these problems!!!

Ahhhhh, vent over. Thanks!

 

[moniot]

We get this all the time. My DH is a mechanic and we own our own shop. It never fails when you run into someone they want to you tell them what is wrong with their car and what they can do to fix it. Then they call us at work and say that didn't work now what can I try. We don't mind helping our but when it is your income...........maybe we could start a pay per call hotline........I might get to go to WDW more often

 

[va32h]

Yes; I have a website and sell on ebay full-time, and people are always asking me for advice or to sell something for them.

I try to give them resources instead of answers - to show them where they can read or research online selling, rather than have them keeping coming back to me.

I don't usually mind when people ask...but sometimes they go too far, IMO, when they ask for my suppliers or what something costs wholesale, or how much money I make. On those occasions, I try to make light of it, and jokingly say "can't reveal all the trade secrets, you know!" and hope they get the hint.

 

[allie&mattsmom]

My DH is always getting asked for legal advice, doesn't matter if it's no where close to the type of law he specializes in! We also have a lot of friends ask him to do their wills....for free! Oh and let's not forget all of the requests for him to get them court supervision for their traffic tickets!

 

[KelNottAt]

DH owns and runs his own production company. He shoots for real feature films, TV shows, professional sports, and commercials, etc.

He does not do weddings...and he never works for free. So please don't ask.

Thank you very much.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

Yep. People are always asking how to get free tickets to concerts that I work.

 

[Feralpeg]

People occassionally ask me for things. If I am able to help them I do. If not, I explain why I can't. I don't get mad because they ask.

 

[LilyStar]

Oh do I get this a lot. I work for Ticketmaster. End of story.

 

[crazelion]

I worked for baseball and football staduim. I get ask for free tickets all the time. I don't get free tickets for family or friends but every thinks I does. Only get gets for the immedicate family and they don't need a ticket because they come to work when I do.

I got degree in computers and people ask me computer questions all the time.


I love my job because I get see free entainment plus get paid for it.

 

[powellrj]

DH and I don't get asked for free advise, we get asked for "donations" all the time. We both work for food manufacturers and people always think we have access to free food. Everytime someone has something they ask us to donate product. We have to buy and pay for the product just like they do and we don't get it for free.

 

[Nik's Mom]

I'm a financial aid advisor and can't even go into the bathroom at school without a student stopping me for help with their financial aid. It has gotten to the point that I don't want to leave my office unless I really have to!

 

[Michie]

Love that Tshirt as DH is in IT and has all the usual calls about broken computers. A few years ago, his mom bought a specific computer against his advice and was calling several times a day because she was having tons of problems with it. He finally lost it and said, "It's not working because you bought a stupid system!"

As a Realtor my personal favorites are "We just bought this house and....."
Or, "I am not sure my agent priced my house right..." And, "We are looking for a house with blah blah blah in this city blah blah blah. Do you think you could find something for us.......our agent just isn't finding what we like but if you could find some we could go look at them." (With the other agent.) HELLO!! I do work on comission people, go ask your own darn agent AND if you had hired ME, you wouldn't be having these problems!!!

Ahhhhh, vent over. Thanks!

I get the same thing, I am a broker and an appriaser. The worst offenders~relatives

 

[mickeymo]

I teach water aerobics in the evening, I'm not sure if that is considered a "professional" occupation. I get a lot of parents that ask if I teach private swimming lessons. I have a few autistic kids in my class and they are doing so well. I figured out that they love to count, so I have them yell out the numbers while we all exercise. It has worked out so well, I am so thrilled.

I wish that I had time to teach privately, it would be fun!

I teach water aerobics too - can't go to the neighborhood pool with my kids and work out while they're swimming, otherwise, I'll have a bunch of mothers on their noodles copying the same arm, leg, or ab work-out I'm doing...

I have aquantances who ask for a "friend discount" aka "free" on lessons for their kids in the neigborhood pool or in their back-yard pool...I usually play the "liability" card and offer to be their instructor of choice when they register at the pool where I do work...

my dh is a part-time professional photographer - it's amazing the numbers of people who are somewhat annoyed that he charges competitive rates... I think they think because it's not his primary income, he doesn't need to charge competitively...

 

[Kermit]

I guess we must not get asked as often as some people because DH and I really don't mind. He's a computer programmer/DBA, and I'm a former writer who takes in odd jobs from time to time, and we are usually glad to help people. However, one of the big reasons we don't mind is probably because neither of us is uncomfortable with asking for money if a job is too big. We help people for free when it's small jobs, and then we get a good reputation so that they don't mind paying us when they need something big done. And we don't give discounts to friends, either. We've both decided that moonlighting is only worth it to us if we make a large amount of money, and we won't be convinced to work for less than we're used to.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I'm an RN and an occupational therapist. Relatives ask for advice all the time--I don't mind--I just wish they'd take my advice once I give it. I don't mind friends/co-workers asking for advice but I always preface it by saying, "you know, I'm not a physician or a nurse practitioner..."

I also have an online business selling books and ephemera--I've had many people ask me to sell their stuff on Ebay for them. I've done this a couple of times, once for a good friend who had a very valuable book, and once for a friend of my mother-in-law's, but it is time-consuming and not something I want to do on a regular basis. I tell people I would be happy to teach them how to sell online instead--and nobody has ever taken me up on this!

DH is self-employed as a computer tech, and is CONSTANTLY called for free advice. He generally gives it gladly, but too often has spent 45 minutes to an hour on the phone, walking people through fixes (not friends--we're talking about customers and complete strangers!) , and is starting to back off on that a bit. His knowledge and time is how he earns his living, and he was giving too much of it away for free. He's such a nice guy, though, he feels guilty for making a visit and charging for things that are "easy."

 

[tiggerlover]

Just because I work in a real estate office everyone thinks I am a realtor and an expert on the market. I do know about it, but by no means am I an expert, I work in the admin office!

 

[luv2nascar]

My DH gets the computer and electrical thing all the time. He is very handy and people need him to do stuff all the time and he despises it. When he is not working he wants to be not working. He does avoid it sometimes. His grandmother was the worst she would call and say so and so is going to call you about their computer or whatever. She'd actually give our number out to people to call him.

 

[SamRoc]

I manage my dd's acting career. Alot of people want info how to get their kids started in acting. I used to be helpful, until it hurt my daughters career once. Alot of people want a short cut, and to use all the info you have so they don't have to do any research, it took me 3 years to figure out what I was doing!