Since I just told a weird albeit detailed story of a 1991 failure to land the hottest chick in the dorm despite a super promising initial encounter, I went through my memories of that year and decided to post a completely different, albeit also frustrating story.
I had no computer at school the first quarter I was there, so I walked around trying to find the computer lab. The main ones on campus were all the way on the other side, and were not convenient. I asked if my dorm had a computer lab, and I was told, "Well, kind of, but the computers are all in disrepair, and we closed it last year."
I told them I was very good with computers and might be able to fix them. They agreed to let me into the locked room to fuck around with the computers, and see if anything was salvageable.
Indeed, the computers were in bad shape. Some had bad components. Some had corrupt sectors on their hard drives. Some had corrupt operating systems. However, I determined that all of this was within my capabilities to fix, and without any cost to the school. I asked if they would let me take a crack at getting the place operational. They said yes, but warned me that they might not be able to pay me for any "work" I did. Essentially I had to agree that I was doing this voluntarily, but that they might be able to find some money for me if I were successful in getting it all working.
I went to work on the computers, and I fixed almost everything. I put a lot of time into it, and had to swap out a few parts from one computer to another in some cases, but when all of the smoke cleared, all of the computers except two were booting, running quickly, and running properly. I also made sure they all had working versions of the software which was supposed to be on there in the first place, which again had gone corrupt in some cases. Now the students of the dorm had a computer lab where they could do word processing, math assignments, and other stuff, and they could even print out what they completed, as I hooked everything up to the printer in the room.
I presented this to the director of the dorm, who profusely thanked me, and told me he would be reopening the lab for the remainder of the year. He also said he would be asking his bosses to cut a $200 check to me for my work on it, stating that it was a bargain given everything I accomplished.
Unfortunately, I got word a few weeks later that my $200 payment was
... and that his bosses deemed it voluntary work, outside of their budget. Ingrates. But I wasn't mad at him. I knew that he tried and went to bat for me, and the bottom line was that I agreed to do this without guarantee of any compensation.
About two months later, the same dorm director approached me as I was walking into the lobby.
"Hey Todd, I think I have good news for you," he said. "I noticed a lot of students were having trouble using the computers. I mean, they're working great, and I appreciate that, but some of them just haven't used a computer before, and keep needing help figuring out how to do things. So I proposed to my superiors that we created a new position for computer lab assistant, and I'd love to hire you for the job."
I told him I would be interested. He said, "The position hasn't been created yet, but it will be soon. But I guarantee, when the position is created, you're the first person I hire, no question. I know that doesn't pay you for what you already did, but at least you'll have something for all the help you gave us."
I told him I appreciated that, and to get a hold of me when the position was officially created.
Unfortunately, I didn't hear from him. We were starting to get closer to the end of the school year, and I asked what happened.
"Sorry for not getting back to you on this," he said. "Unfortunately because we're too close to the end of the year, this will be created starting next school year. Are you going to still be in the dorms next year?"
I said I probably would be.
"Okay, well if you're in the dorms in September, even if you're not in this one, come by and I'll make sure you get one of the positions. Sorry about all the delays and confusion here. I really want you to get something out of all this."
September came around, and I ended up not getting the job.
Why? Read on...