I'm Not That Type of Girl

These days it's easier for me to count what appliances are actually working than those that are not. My fridge seems to have packed up today, and that is in the wake of something even more serious that happened yesterday: my landlord gave me an eviction notice. And I have only 2 months. Now, there's a part of me that's ridiculously happy because I've been wanting to get the hell out of this house for ages but I've been putting it off , in order to deal with other priorities. The other part of me is terribly angry and shocked because I have no idea where this came from. I have not had a run-in with him and I only just went to pay him for this year, last week, and he never said anything. Not to talk of the additional psychological and financial crisis I have been thrown into. Of course he gave the notice to every tenant in this house, and I hear he has actually sold it, but that does little to make me feel less upset. And to think that he attached a court summons to each notice!
Without provocation! Anyway, I refuse to dwell on that, and on any other bad things that are happening. I know when things happen like this it's inevitable that good things are quite close. And there have been glimmers of hope....

In a related development....

I took my laptop to the place I bought it from, to see if it could be fixed. Unfortunately, the only guy who could fix it was unavailable, so I had to leave it , with a promise from the person who sold it to me that he would call me this evening. So this evening, true to his word, he called me and announced that it would cost 40k to fix my laptop. Initially I thought he had said 4k , but I told him that the first thing would not be how much it cost but what was wrong with the laptop in the first place. So he said he would send me an sms breaking it down.

About 30 minutes later I received this sms:
250GB hard drive. 25k. Formatting. 5k. Working on system board to recognises (that's him not me) dvd, webcam, wireless, fingerprints and others. 10K
Workmanship. 5k

Now before I launch into my 'Chirade' let me give you a brief background into the laptop and myself.

My laptop was one of those HP touch screen tablets that could swivel to a 180 degree angle. This model is prone to all sorts of hang-ups with all the bobs and bits, not 'seeing' its drives, ports, etc., and it needs to be constantly updated from the web. The problem that took me to the repairmen was that the laptop would power on, but the screen would remain blank.

I, on the other hand, am not your regular everyday girl. Granted, I like cooking and fashion and I hate football but that's where my girliness ends. I am a gadget freak, I understand electronics and mechanics and I can change my tyres, fix my light bulbs and replace the spark plugs in my generator. When anything goes wrong with my gadgets/car/electricals I am my first port of call. If it has delicate parts that are for experts only, then I am googling the problem thoroughly. My male friends actually come to me for advice on their gadgets/ cars. So if you are an electrician, or technician or something and you don't know what you are talking about I will floor you so fast your head will spin. and it's worse if you are trying to cheat me, cos I HATE to be cheated.

So before I had taken the laptop to the guy - his name is Mike, by the way - I had done my research. I had read all the threads on forums where people had the same problem and they were many. So I knew that the problem was likely to be the motherboard, because the motherboard is the part that ensures all the other parts of the computer work together, and receive info from each other.
So you will understand my rage when I saw the bogus bill.

If indeed the stupid guy was replacing my hard drive as he claimed , what would be the need to work on the board to 'recognizes' dvd, etc? You fix a new hard drive and connect it to the motherboard, simple! Then to add insult to injury he charged me for formatting. That's like selling someone a car and charging them to turn the key. You format simply by typing a command. Then to make it seem clean he charges me for workmanship. Anyway, I sent him an sms saying I was coming to pick it up. When he did not reply, I called him up, asking if he saw the sms. He then asked what I would want him to do for me. Then I went ballistic! Ole.

Why the hell do all these stupid artisans think that all women are dumb? Or maybe I should reverse that question and ask why do women allow themselves to be taken for a ride? All you need is a little research, or a second opinion and you are likely to find out the truth. But it's easier for them to play dumb and helpless, and have creeps like this make a pile off them. Not that that excuses the daylight robber, though. But I've seen so many of them, I actually assume they will attempt to cheat me, so if they don't I am pleasantly surprised.

Like my former mechanic, Jamiu. My car had developed a number of faults and when I had the money I decided to fix it once and for all. He gave me a bill , itemising all he needed to do and including his fee. I gave him ALL the money, knowing I was making a mistake, but wanting the car to be fixed ASAP. A few days later, he returned with the car well done and another bill. The difference between this bill and the other was just 5k, so I was practically paying the same amount again. But stupidly, he gave me an itemised bill again, and on this bill were the same parts he had written before, save for two other inflated items. I took my keys from him and gave him a good earful, not forgetting to include the fact that I knew the real prices of the inflated items, and that I did not forget the parts he wrote down previously. And I walked away.

Mechanics, technicians and the likes be careful with Chili Pepa. I'm not that kind of girl. Not now, not ever. Nonsense.

Chili!
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN