ML> i also never got passed the feeling of "taking candy from a baby"
ML> where the "candy" is the money and they are the "baby"...

 NA> I never really felt that way. I do what I do to survive and I
 NA> figured out that the rent, bills, etc don't pay themselves. I do
 NA> have a level of contempt and  disdain for customers that cause
 NA> problems on their computers and "can't understand how that
 NA> happened". Windows prompts a few times if you wish to run  a
 NA> certain program or component; but nah, lets just click our way past
 NA> that. 

yup... i knew i had passed my level of "acceptance" when i
realized that i was snapping at my clients/customers about their lack of
diligence and complete disregard for the training and time i spent
educating them on procedures and methods of helping themselves...

i cannot count the number of times that i spent an hour or more training
folk on basic maint of their system(s) only to have them give me a blank
glaze-eyed stare when i asked them why they hadn't done the maint they were
now going to pay me $60US/hour to do for them... the real excaberating
point to this was that my training regieme put them in the chair for an
assisted walk-through after several demonstrations and their taking notes
of the exact steps... in some cases, i even located their original notes
written exactly as i had trained them and they couldn't make heads or tails
of them even when sitting back down and attempting to follow them verbatim
as they had done previously :?

 NA> Somewhat back to topic; the recent DB newcomers who ask for my help
 NA> are very smart and outline questions as detailed as possible... it
 NA> helps. 

yes, it does! i love haveing clients like them and i have no problems
assisting those like them... this is one of the reasons why my clientele is
now very exclusive and they pay the price for this exclusivity and that i'm
kinda pretty much "on call" for them when they need me... barring
my paying gig, that is ;)

)\/(ark