by Flack » Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:30 am
Five years ago, I did some minor computer work for an ex-coworker. It involved tracking down and creating some recovery floppy disks for an old and non-supported computer. Without the disks, the computer was unusable. The disks were no longer available from the company, but I was able to track down a copy from an old vendor and convert the old images into workable floppies. It wasn't hard work per se, but it involved jumping through a lot of hoops and probably took me two weeks of messing around to get it to work. It was such a pain that I made the coworker five copies of the disks and told her to put the other four in a safe place in case she ever needed to use them again.
About a year ago, the same ex-coworker contacted me again. She lost all the disks, and needed the same thing done again. It had been so long that I didn't remember anything about the process. This time it took even more legwork, due to the fact that the old website that used to host images of the floppy had since gone offline. I was able to contact a guy who used to do tech support on these old systems and obtain another disk image. The big problem I encountered was that the software required to make the disk images does not work with a USB floppy drive, so I had to find a computer that had a vintage 3.5" drive. I made more copies of the disk and informed the co-worker that it was unlikely I would be able to perform this task again in the future.
Yesterday, out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail. It was a thank you card from the ex-coworker, along with $300 cash tucked inside. The hand-written note mentioned that she had been waiting for "a good month" to pay me (I'm assuming that means she just got her tax returns).
I'm on the fence as to what to do here. I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm positive she could use $300 more than me. I offered to do the work for free and did not expect any payment. I would say that this ex-coworker is particularly emotional and occasionally fragile, and returning the money might seem offensive to her. Still, I don't feel right about keeping the money. Maybe what I did took some technical know how and some old school trickery, but I enjoyed the challenge, and it wasn't difficult once I tracked down all the necessary parts.
Ideas?
Five years ago, I did some minor computer work for an ex-coworker. It involved tracking down and creating some recovery floppy disks for an old and non-supported computer. Without the disks, the computer was unusable. The disks were no longer available from the company, but I was able to track down a copy from an old vendor and convert the old images into workable floppies. It wasn't hard work per se, but it involved jumping through a lot of hoops and probably took me two weeks of messing around to get it to work. It was such a pain that I made the coworker five copies of the disks and told her to put the other four in a safe place in case she ever needed to use them again.
About a year ago, the same ex-coworker contacted me again. She lost all the disks, and needed the same thing done again. It had been so long that I didn't remember anything about the process. This time it took even more legwork, due to the fact that the old website that used to host images of the floppy had since gone offline. I was able to contact a guy who used to do tech support on these old systems and obtain another disk image. The big problem I encountered was that the software required to make the disk images does not work with a USB floppy drive, so I had to find a computer that had a vintage 3.5" drive. I made more copies of the disk and informed the co-worker that it was unlikely I would be able to perform this task again in the future.
Yesterday, out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail. It was a thank you card from the ex-coworker, along with $300 cash tucked inside. The hand-written note mentioned that she had been waiting for "a good month" to pay me (I'm assuming that means she just got her tax returns).
I'm on the fence as to what to do here. I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm positive she could use $300 more than me. I offered to do the work for free and did not expect any payment. I would say that this ex-coworker is particularly emotional and occasionally fragile, and returning the money might seem offensive to her. Still, I don't feel right about keeping the money. Maybe what I did took some technical know how and some old school trickery, but I enjoyed the challenge, and it wasn't difficult once I tracked down all the necessary parts.
Ideas?