The day I flipped on remote work for clients after a rescue in Tucson

Last month I drove down to Tucson to fix a server that was down for 14 hours at a dental office. Told them on the phone it would be a full day gig, but it ended up being a loose SATA cable and a bad RAM stick. While I was there I noticed their WiFi router was on the floor behind a filing cabinet, so I moved it and the whole network got twice as fast. That single visit made me realize I could have done 90% of the job over a remote session, and they wouldn't have lost a whole morning. Has anyone else switched from driving to endpoints for most fixes, and how did you handle the clients who still expect you in person?

2 comments

2 Comments

alicesingh21d ago

Honestly the dental office probably got better service from you moving that router than anything you did with the RAM. I swear half of this job is just showing up and noticing the obvious stuff people ignore for years. Remote work sounds great until you realize clients will still pay you to drive an hour just to check if the power strip is on.

nora_dixon18d ago

Tbh I get what you're saying but I see it kind of backwards. Moving that router probably took five minutes of actual thought and the RAM install at least showed I knew my way around the hardware. The drive out there is what they're paying for, sure, but the fix is what keeps them calling next time. If all I did was flip a switch they'd start wondering why they need me at all.