OK, so, now the other weird story from the past week (see previous post)...
Wednesday, I was at work, minding my own business and trying to get caught up on work so I could leave for Boone (and Kathy's recital) with a clear conscience. All of a sudden my phone rings and I answer it.
It's a retiree who wants me to help him find and install a program that'll help him create thumbnails for photos he has on his computers. I tell him of a couple I know that are reliable, and I arrange to meet him Thursday evening to install it for him. I was supposed to go to Boone Thursday night, but hey, $30 is $30, right?
Well, the next day, I'm working away on a project I was trying to finish for the paper's annual graduation suppliment. All of a sudden, there's the guy. He came to the office to tell me that he was having problems with his computer and with his cable modem connection. And he tells me more about his plans for thumbnailing his phots and showing me some of them to see what he's talking about. "Uhh, nothing illegal, though." he adds.
Immediately my spider senses start tingling.
I get there at about 5:30 that evening, and he still hasn't gotten his computer back online. After talking with Adelphia tech support for a half-hour, he tells me what's really up with the computer pics. Seems his dad passed away recently and he's taken pics of all the estate items in anticipation of selling them off. He also mentions "I'm into bodybuilding", but judging from his physique and the magazine pic of a flexing musclehead on his living room floor, I suspected that he was more into bodyBUILDERS. The creepiness factor was rising exponentially as I stayed there and tried to explain that his crappy computer would need an upgrade to do what he had to do.
Finally, he and I decided that there was nothing else that could be done that day, and he walked me back to the door. Which he then unlocked. I didn't even noticed that it had been locked in the FIRST place. I left feeling like I had just avoided re-enacting a scene from Oz.
Now the question is, what do I do now? I need the money that he promised to pay for my work, which is yet to really begin. However, I have the strong suspicion that he is trying to make me, ifyouknowhutimean. Then again, maybe I'm reading too much into this. Maybe he is just a harmless old man who is genuinely working on his dad's estate and enjoys pumping up his deteriorating old body.
Still, I think I'm just going to tell him how to download the program he needs and try to refer him to someone else who can help him with his problems.
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