Usually, If I have electrical repairs to do, I do them very early morning or late at night when the house is quiet. The mantra I'm always banging on to the Wheelie Manor Mob is 'Tidy is good. Tidy is cool. If you leave it out, some bugger will borrow it or eat it. And get those knickers off that radiator".
So what did I do? Middle of the day, mob was out for a while, I thought Ooh. Me time. Out came the soldering iron and multimeter, On went the Science Channel. Should have known better.
Darn it. Forgot to lock the door. "'Ullo mate. Noticed your lot went out, thought I just see how you are. I'll make myself a cuppa. What you doing?" Normally, I would have thought, aw, bless. What I was actually thinking, sat there with a very hot soldering iron poised menacingly in my hand and a string of solder between my teeth, is probably painful, illegal, would require some co-operation on their part and unprintable.
"Oho" he said, a bloody great pint mug of tea in his hand. "Mate, you hide your light under a bushel. Didn't know you did stuff like that....". Too right they didn't. Now the word is out. Now it's "Oh, Wheelie, I was just passing, and I wondered if.... and they wanted to charge 40 quid at (insert distant repair shop here) and I'm sure its only a little thing....".
£40 is cheap. Look at it this way. The maths work out something like this. Vat is 20%. £40 becomes £32. Parts and postage on something small - say a toaster? Maybe £10. Hours of work is always rounded up. Lets call that an hour of testing, checking, cleaning, fitting, skills and labour, minimum of £20. Profit? £2.
Aha, you say. That £20 labour is profit? Nope. Has to go to one side to ensure the capital is available for the parts and postage for the next repair, and the tax man needs to know about it all.
They're actually looking for a freebie. 'Cos I'm a nice guy. No I'm not.
Sigh. Just buy a new Toaster/Power supply/Million candle power torch/Graphics card, ect. willya?
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