Laptop Repair Story

There is a computer repair store (Tracy Computers, Tracy, California) in our area. About 2 months ago, I bought a software online and downloaded in my laptop. But I could not install it. After trying unsuccessfully for 3 or 4 times, I took my laptop to this store. One of the owners, Yuri, attended on me. The charge was $30 and he said he will call me in a few hours after finishing the job. He did not call me in a few hours. He called me at 8 pm. He said he is having problem with installing this software and 2 technicians are working on it. He said he would call me when the job is done.

He called me the next day at 6 pm and said he has installed it and I can pick up the laptop. I went there. He said that this one was a complicated software and it took him 2 technicians for 2 days to do the job. He gave me the bill. It was just $30. Knowing 2 guys worked for 2 days, I offered to pay him more. He refused stating that his advertised store price for an installation is $30 and he will accept only that much amount. I was impressed by his sincerity.

Four weeks ago we returned from our Southern California vacation. I downloaded all our pictures and video clips in Picasa and uploaded to a web album. The video clips had sound in Picasa but no sound in the web album. So I called Yuri and explained. He asked me to bring the laptop. I dropped off the laptop in his store. He called me after a few hours and informed everything has been taken care off.

I go there. I pick up the laptop. Started to leave. Yuri asked me to test if everything is OK. I said that is not necessary because you (Yuri) did this yourself. But he insisted me to test. I was about to test. He said he would clean the laptop before I test. He took it inside and came back after a few minutes with a very sad face. I asked him what happened. He said: I was cleaning your keyboard and I must have done something wrong. Your keyboard is damaged and it is my fault. I will get another keyboard and install it. I am sorry it will take about 2 or 3 days. I am not going to charge you for the keyboard because it is my fault and I am not going to charge for the services because you are inconvenienced because of me.

I returned home and told my wife what happened. She said Yuri has been burned 2 times. The next time you go to his shop he is going to tell you to go to some other repair shop and he will bear the repair expenses. That way he can save lot of money because every time you to go his shop he loses money.

I picked up the laptop with the new keyboard. Couple of days later, Yuri called me to inquire if everything is OK with my laptop. I told him what my wife told me. Yuri laughed and laughed. He then said he would consider that option next time.

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A personal note unrelated to this post. Since I am involved with couple of special projects, I will temporarily stop writing posts and visiting other blogs. Will try to be back soon. Stay tuned.

Friends

I got the idea to write this post after reading a post (Single Serve) written by NRIGirl.

We all know the famous saying. “Make new friends, but keep the old”. We do have a problem with that. Both making new friends and keeping the old are just about impossible for us.

We meet new friends. We get closer to them. It is exciting to talk to them and associate with them. Exchange of information with new friends makes us happy. We get a thrill out of it.

Once we have new friends, what do we do with the old friends? We think we have outgrown the friendship. We tend to ignore them. It is not as exciting any more to be in touch with them. The thought of them irritates us. Some of us even go out of the way to cut off the relationship.

And then there are friends who take advantage of your kindness and use you to the fullest. You give everything to that friend. But they just escape when they come to know you need some help. Recently I heard an incident like that. Brought tears in my eyes.

There is a saying in Tamil. It is called “rail snehidham”. Translation: Train friendship. It means it is a temporary friendship as long as we travel together between Point A and Point B. It will be the most entertaining and exciting time for us. But when the train reaches Point B, it is just bye bye and never to see them again. New friendship is something similar to the “rail snehidham”. Of course, in some few cases this will become a true genuine friendship. But very rarely.

Old friendships are the ones that did not start in a train journey. It is a genuine friendship. Genuine friendship involves a shared sense of caring and concern, a desire to see one another grow and develop, and a hope for each other to succeed in all aspects of life.

Just like the train journey, new friends are gone after a certain time. Then we get ourselves into loneliness that makes us really depressed. Then we start to miss our old friends, especially at hard times. We wish they were here. We wish we could see them. We wish we could do the same old things together. We fondly remember the help and assistance we gave and received.

One day we get enough strength and courage to call the forgotten old friend. As soon as he hears our voice, he immediately says “Hi (name) How are you. Haven’t heard from you for quite sometime. You must have been very busy”.

That is old friendship. It withstood the test of time.

I Won (again)

All of you may remember that I entered a contest by writing a post titled “By the Water Cooler” and I was declared one of the 5 winners. I wrote another post, I Won, announcing that winning. The story did not end here. Many of you may not be aware of further developments. Here it is.

Another blogger, YaadaYaada, claimed that a golu picture shown in one of my previous posts belongs to her. I took that picture from my wife’s golu picture collections. Therefore, I thought it was ours. I then checked with my wife and she said it is not ours. I immediately apologized to YaadaYaada and removed that post. YaadaYaada graciously accepted my apology and said: No Problem. I thought that was the end of the matter.

Ms. Parul Sharma, who organized the “By the Water Cooler” contest, and who is in no way connected with the YaadaYaada blog incident, decided to take it upon herself to punish me and teach me a lesson. In other words, she appointed herself as the Judge, Jury and the Executioner. She wrote a post and announced that she is removing my name as one of the five winners.

Ms. Parul Sharma may have thought that she was doing the right thing. But we also have to think if that is legal or not or acceptable in a civilized society. There are some people in this world think that “honor killing” is the right thing to do. Do we agree with that?

I could not believe what she did. She laid down the contest rules. I complied with all the rules. And then she declared me as a winner. What happened in another post with another blogger is none of her concern. I would have let the whole thing go if she had not insulted my integrity. Not only that. She questioned my sincerity when I apologized to YaadaYaada for an honest mistake.

Then I remembered an idiom made famous by Late Robert Kennedy. “Don’t get mad. Get even.”

I contacted a very capable lawyer in Mumbai. Explained her the whole situation as I saw. She agreed to represent me and sent a legal notice to Ms. Parul Sharma, requiring her to reinstate me as one of the five original winners. And, she got the message. On November 21, Ms. Sharma wrote another post, A very important announcement, declaring me as a winner (again).

Ms. Parul Sharma wrote in her post the following:

“SG, you are hereby reinstated as the winner of my contest. Please let me have your address in the next two days so that the book can be sent to you failing which I will send it to your lawyer”

I wrote a comment that I do not wish to receive her book.

I am sure she is not happy with this episode. But who cares?

I wish Ms. Parul Sharma success in winning The Man Booker Prize. The Booker Prize Foundation, its advisory committee, and the panel of judges will not change the “rules” after they announce the winner.

As Paul Harvey (Radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks) would always say “And now you know…the rest of the story”.

I want to thank all those who supported me on this.