Here is what I did today (sort of game related)

[leoftw]

Well yesterday I got hit by a lady . She ripped off my mirror and gave me money to replace it (I made 60 off the hit). ANyways when I went to the body shop + car part store ( a guy that I know that I had setup his PC before) since he knows I know PC"s he asked me for two things. A voice chat and text chat service .... well I did research and I stopped by this morning and he was like (oh snap) this is better than I expected. I took 2 of my laptops and his pc for reference . I set up a IRC server for his business , made it invite only and invited 2 of the PC's there. His chat thing went perfect but he asked me to write down commands to ban and kick people other than that it went smooth.

Now for the Ventrilo service he said (this makes my walkie talkie phone literally from 1970 look like crap) , he said its flawless and bought a year worth of it . So now he contracted me to go to all 3 of his shops (10 PC's) in all and hook them up with

MIRC (legit copy)
Ventrilo (12 Man slot yearly)
Mic's and speakers

He paid me 1400 to get all the work done and I told him I would charge him to troubleshoot in the future but can email me for help for free.

One of the places is in Orange County the other two are in Los Angeles County . I already have the check :)

He also said that he wants his friends int he system too because they also own car part places.

This is what the chat looks like

AutoPartsStore #1 : I need a 91 Sentra Motor
AutoPartsStore #2: I have the Sentra 91 Motor
AutoPartsStore #3: I have the motor 91 Sentra

etc etc. Seems very simple but he told me the service he had before cost him 2000 (before Instant messaging went main stream) so he said this is 100 times better. Anyways this doesn't seem so bad.

THis also saves him the trouble of calling every single dept in his car part store looking for a part. He was doing it as I was there and called 7 places to find out no one had the part , then he did it again. He said this should help .

Anyways thanks to gaming I found out about IRC and Vent so thank you gaming world and I'm buying a 9800GX2 :) if my girl allows it :P

[eclyps]

you owe saucey money for helping!

[leoftw]

Shhhhhhhhh.

I owe SF money too. I just need to cash the check and wait till it clears.

Well the cost is this

10 Logitech Mic's (USB)

$ 250

10 Mirc Accounts

$200

#Vent Service

40$ for a year

about I'm guessing 8HRS of work + gas to drive

I'm guessing I rake in about 850 or so after all the expenses etc .


and Saucey I never though you would come in useful for something . Your remarks are usually sarcastic and cause headaches. Gamesurge #help channel also helped me out making the channel private and inviting people . ITs real easy only a moron could *^#$*^#$*^#$*^#$ it up .

thank you saucey

[hOoLiGaN]

LOL legit copies.


pir8 and you save 250$.


<3

[Halfwit]

Shhhhhhhhh.

I owe SF money too. I just need to cash the check and wait till it clears.

Well the cost is this

10 Logitech Mic's (USB)

$ 250

10 Mirc Accounts

$200

#Vent Service

40$ for a year

about I'm guessing 8HRS of work + gas to drive

I'm guessing I rake in about 850 or so after all the expenses etc .


and Saucey I never though you would come in useful for something . Your remarks are usually sarcastic and cause headaches. Gamesurge #help channel also helped me out making the channel private and inviting people . ITs real easy only a moron could *^#$*^#$*^#$*^#$ it up .

thank you saucey

Up date the auto parts store called and said everything is all $%^&*(up :) j/k gj

[leoftw]

damn . it can't be that difficult to mess something up lol

[saucey]

so basically you just scammed a guy. you know, considering mIRC never needs to be registered since after the little "evaluation" period it is still fully functional, and owning and operating a channel is free, and making it invite only as as simple as typing !mode +i. how is that worth anywhere near $5, let alone $200?

profiting off of other people's ignorance, it's what makes america so great

[Iron Lung]

Trust me, when running a small business having everything be legit is paramount to getting sleep at night for the owner.:(

[saucey]

Trust me, when running a small business having everything be legit is paramount to getting sleep at night for the owner.:(i'm more amazed at the "$850 for 8 hours of work" thing - buying and setting up vent and an irc channel is easily done in under an hour. and how obliging that service can be remotely worth anything over $10 (in good faith) is hilarious.

i mean, yeah, it's probably the customer's fault for being ignorant, but i would feel terribly guilty if some guy paid me $1400 for something worth only $490 - or $500 if you add in that "labor fee" of $10

[ditship]

I feel the same way about the amount of money I pay for college.

[leoftw]

i'm more amazed at the "$850 for 8 hours of work" thing - buying and setting up vent and an irc channel is easily done in under an hour. and how obliging that service can be remotely worth anything over $10 (in good faith) is hilarious.

i mean, yeah, it's probably the customer's fault for being ignorant, but i would feel terribly guilty if some guy paid me $1400 for something worth only $490 - or $500 if you add in that "labor fee" of $10



so if someone payed you that much saucey you wouldn't accept it ?

some other dude was charging him way more than me . I showed him a demo and he was more than please . *^#$*^#$*^#$*^#$ it .

[saucey]

no, i wouldn't, because that's ridiculous. if it was me doing it, i'd probably only mention that "i need something for lunch" and let him buy me some quiznos.

[pancakes? c'est charmant!]

get that turkey, bacon, guacamole. i had saucey set up something similar for me, and all he charged was my dignity. so it was really cheap.

[saucey]

i'm more of a chicken carbonara on wheat kind of guy

[The Penultimate Mohican]

That's very admirable of you saucey but would you feel the same way if this was the 10th such setup that you did? What if you started to do these setups all day long and it became a job for you. Would the cost of your time start to factor into your price? That's why these things are based on that the service is worth to the customer.

if this was a one-off for a friend I wouldn't charge much either, but I don't think this is where leoftw is headed.

Everything is a ripoff if you look at the cost of materials. Shipping and Handling fees are a great example. Look at automotive brake jobs - they'll charge $200 for something I can do for $40 in half and hour. Consulting is all about this. On corporate levels it gets even worse because you're expected to generate as much income as possible by your shareholders.

I like your attitude and would do the same for my cousin, but what leoftw is doing here is the cornerstone of our economy. You're still my hero though.

[saucey]

That's very admirable of you saucey but would you feel the same way if this was the 10th such setup that you did? What if you started to do these setups all day long and it became a job for you. Would the cost of your time start to factor into your price? That's why these things are based on that the service is worth to the customer.

if this was a one-off for a friend I wouldn't charge much either, but I don't think this is where leoftw is headed.

Everything is a ripoff if you look at the cost of materials. Shipping and Handling fees are a great example. Look at automotive brake jobs - they'll charge $200 for something I can do for $40 in half and hour. Consulting is all about this. On corporate levels it gets even worse because you're expected to generate as much income as possible by your shareholders.

I like your attitude and would do the same for my cousin, but what leoftw is doing here is the cornerstone of our economy. You're still my hero though.the hypothetical situation is pretty unnecessary as leoftw even gave a little background story :\

oh well i'm not the moral police at all but i just felt like that was kind of a dick move

[The Penultimate Mohican]

the hypothetical situation is pretty unnecessary as leoftw even gave a little background story :\

oh well i'm not the moral police at all but i just felt like that was kind of a dick move

I got to read this post and version you had before the edit.

Upon further review...you make some great points. Given this story and some other threads I've read I'll just say that leoftw is going to make a great consultant.

Business was conducted and everyone has their own style. Your style fits more with my views, but what leo did was just business.

[Ginkan]

the hypothetical situation is pretty unnecessary as leoftw even gave a little background story :\

oh well i'm not the moral police at all but i just felt like that was kind of a dick move

To each his/her own, I suppose. I honestly know I wouldn't be a very good salesman in that regard, unless of course it was with my own business, materials, and labor -- I just dislike scamming people and enjoy enlightening people as to new concepts, information, etc. If he was willing to pay for that, that's fine, and considering another person could've charged him far more, I'd say the guy got off easy.

Personally though, I'd of probably suggested the same bit, though I'd of given him a bit more information about matter and charged him notably less. However, knowledge isn't always necessarily free, but in this regards I'd of probably gone with the same thought process as Saucey. In my viewpoint, it's okay to make a profit but not an exorbant one -- I guess money just isn't my desire, but credibility, honesty, and reputation would be for me. Hell, I'm getting into politics, I'd like to go down in history as one of the few 'honest' and righteous ones out there. :)