Repairing student home machines

[tech_guy]

Biscuits, beer or wine are the usual currency. Leave it as you doing them a favour, and then them buying you a gift as a token of their appreciation. Unless they're fit, in which case letting you take them for a drink would be acceptable.

 

Money causes too many problems. There's the whole tax / self employed / vested interest.

 

Yeah, I agree - the currency for fixing personal kit at my school is sex or chocolate - we have a sign on the wall to that effect. We get a lot of chocolate....

[lill]

 

Yeah, I agree - the currency for fixing personal kit at my school is sex or chocolate - we have a sign on the wall to that effect. We get a lot of chocolate....

 

PMSL !

 

Ive had bottles of wine, chocolate and a couple of bunches of flowers,

 

Staff : bring it in and if I have time ill take a look at it and advise if its not just a quick fix

 

Students : advice is free but taken at your own risk.

[russdev]

Just to say through if you worked on staff or students pc and got paid and work for lea then good chance you broke lea rules.

 

Why I hear you ask well let me tell you

 

One of fudemental rules and thing you can be fired for (with out proper 3 stage meeting aka pack your bags and leave type of firing). Is to run business from the school.

 

Under strict interpretation on the rules.

 

A staff members says can you fix my pc will pay you even if do it outside of work time. The initial agreement was made in working hours so technically your 'touting' business etc and so technically running a business from the school.

 

 

As said this is strict interpretation etc

 

 

Russ

[Guest richard]

Just to say through if you worked on staff or students pc and got paid and work for lea then good chance you broke lea rules.

 

Why I hear you ask well let me tell you

 

One of fudemental rules and thing you can be fired for (with out proper 3 stage meeting aka pack your bags and leave type of firing). Is to run business from the school.

 

Under strict interpretation on the rules.

 

A staff members says can you fix my pc will pay you even if do it outside of work time. The initial agreement was made in working hours so technically your 'touting' business etc and so technically running a business from the school.

 

 

As said this is strict interpretation etc

 

 

Russ

 

I ask people to email me outside of work hours if they want me to do any work for them That solves that problem.

[FN-GM]

I would advise them but not physically do anything to the machine.

[enjay]

You don't need to worry about tax implications of taking money unless you make more than something like £5k a year on the side.

 

I have done work for staff for which they've paid me - this has been done outside of school hours, did not use any school equipment (except electricity in one case, but that was the headteacher's PC) and was arranged during my breaks, so as I see it, I've broken no rules (not LEA-employed though); my contract states that I can have outside employment so long as it does not go against the basic principles of the school.

 

I've also been "paid" wine and chocolate - in one instance, for doing something that was work-related and actually my job, but the teacher insisted I took the gift. Family and friends is different and I will do that for free, as that is what friends are for - I fix their computer this week, they offer me their professional services next week.

[tomscaper]

I did give my mobile number to a member of staff before the holidays. I built him a PC and said any probs give me a ring and i will talk you through it. turned out he didnt have any problems but hey guess what, he freely handed my mobile number out to other members of staff.

 

Didnt know this till another staff member during morning staffroom meeting said she was gona ring me that night to talk her through a problem on her machine.

 

I told her to never ring me out of school hours and to delet my number. and then proceded to lay down the law to the geezer that gave my number out.

I had a similar issue to that one, my boss has my mobile number and she gave it to the office, one day i was in the computer room and got a phone call from office to put a phone call through.

 

They try it now and again but i never answer my mobile unless i want to.

 

They still ask all the time why dont i answer my phone.

[mrforgetful]

Family and friends is different and I will do that for free, as that is what friends are for - I fix their computer this week, they offer me their professional services next week.

 

Which is why i try hang out with as many computer illiterate strippers and escorts as possible!

[tomscaper]

Yup, I try to avoid getting into the discussion that if their computers are broken. Some people don't appreciate how hard this stuff can be and how long it can take.

 

The last person i fixed a computer for asked how much it took me, I said 5 hours. (Okay it wasn't a straight 5 hours, I had to leave it scanning etc) but he was shocked and paid me £60. I love those type of people

 

I just hate people who don't even offer to pay. There was this one guy at work who had obviously been looking at porn on his computer asked me to clear all the junk off it. It took me a good few hours. I took it back to him, gave it to him, and he said "Thanks, bye, see you Monday". No offer of paying. He's recently asked me to look at his other computer too, he can forget about that!

 

I have had that, i have never asked anyone to pay for me to look at there pc, i let them offer me, i guess it could be classed as a gift on there part for my help. dont know if that then aviods from tax, lol.

[plexer]

Nick: I don't think that's correct your tax allowance is used up if you allready earn over that amount in your normal job. Therefore any job on the side will be liable for tax and NI.

 

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/5.2/start-a-business/qanda/28481/tax-charges-on-a-second-income.thtml

 

Ben

[Lee_K_81]

I did give my mobile number to a member of staff before the holidays. I built him a PC and said any probs give me a ring and i will talk you through it. turned out he didnt have any problems but hey guess what, he freely handed my mobile number out to other members of staff.

 

Didnt know this till another staff member during morning staffroom meeting said she was gona ring me that night to talk her through a problem on her machine.

 

I told her to never ring me out of school hours and to delet my number. and then proceded to lay down the law to the geezer that gave my number out.

I had a similar issue to that one, my boss has my mobile number and she gave it to the office, one day i was in the computer room and got a phone call from office to put a phone call through.

 

They try it now and again but i never answer my mobile unless i want to.

 

They still ask all the time why dont i answer my phone.

 

Answer: Because it's my personal mobile and i dont like to answer it during work hours as it's not professional. If you'd like to buy me a work mobile, and pay the contract, thats fine.

[witch]

Plexer is right - you will be liable for tax etc and they are getting better at chasing you up.

I will do a favour for someone but I tell the others that yes, I do do repairs in my spare time and to contact me on my company email and we can discuss it.

I do actually have a company due to my other business.

I also state charges up front

[SteveB_NI]

I often get the office to pass calls through to my mobile / call me on my mobile then I contact them on landline ASAP as I'm usually out and about the school - not even I know where I'm going to end up.

 

This only happens though when I anticipate an important call coming through - or someone coming to visit.

 

I also give my mobile number of our field engineers which often come out to fix equipment / server issues - this is purely for convenience & I know they won't abuse it.

 

As regards to the topic - I've fixed a number of teachers pcs in my own time (breaks / after school etc). The first one I fixed - just after I started here caused me to have to get stitches in my thumb after an incident with the casing!

[Guest aliv25]

I recently fixed a "friends" pc (i even asked for help on here a few weeks back) and didnt get paid financially, but in kindness ; ) depending on who the person it is, depends what you want out of it.

[SteveB_NI]

"didnt get paid financially, but in kindness ; ) depending on who the person it is, depends what you want out of it."

 

hehe!

[TechMonkey]

Yep, students we are happy to give advice to but never touched a machine. Tell a lie, a student brought their laptop in shaking like a leaf as all their coursework was on there, was being the operative word. Gave him a long lecture about backups & we can't gaurantee anything and we may not have time. Then broke out the just arrived laptop HDD caddy we had order for such an occurance on school laptops. Decided to give a go as we wanted to test the caddy and the kid was all right. Found and copied the work off and gave him the laptop, CD with work on and some pointers about what was best to do.

Staff we will have a look at their machines on site up to a point. We don't ask for payment but generally get something in return. Except that one time we spent longer than we should have on someones machine as it was really bugging us (and was a slow day) finally cleaned it. Member of staff was soooo gratefull even told us in passing about the booze cruise he was going on at the weekend. Nowt. The only time we had got our hopes up, especially as the guy is a bit of a wine buff & knows his french. Cest la vie.

[enjay]

Nick: I don't think that's correct your tax allowance is used up if you allready earn over that amount in your normal job. Therefore any job on the side will be liable for tax and NI.

 

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/5.2/start-a-business/qanda/28481/tax-charges-on-a-second-income.thtml

 

Ben

That's for registered businesses though - I was under the impression that below a certain value, you don't need to declare income of that nature (although taking money for giving someone a lift will invalidate your car insurance). Same goes for gifts/freebies which employers give, so long as the value is less than £x, you're okay. I think...

 

And if I'm wrong, and tax should be paid, then surely the same would apply to bottles of wine, etc and we should be paying the tax on the market value of the item (as you do with company-provided private healthcare, for example)?

 

I wonder if it comes down to exactly how the money/gift is determined. If they choose to give you a bottle of wine as a thank you, that's one thing, but stating "work is carried out for 2 bottles of wine per hour" is different. Don't know, thinking aloud here...

[greenfieldsupport]

The first one I fixed - just after I started here caused me to have to get stitches in my thumb after an incident with the casing!

 

Lol, have scares, want to trade pics ?

 

Unfortionatly people used to "book" me through my parents, and i didnt have much choice over this as it was "shes a friend of a friend so you have to fix it or you'll have to move out :|"

...

it got to the point where i would be fixing home pc's 4 or 5 nights a week, and as you all know sometimes, when you have to ressurect a port infested windows 98 machine, or worse, NT 4.0. It can take a good few hours.

 

I complained enough to reduce it to about 1 night a week but then managed to move out ...

 

Not had a job for a while now

[gwendes]

I think that you do need to declare everything. A bottle of wine would be difficult to prove as a payment for services as they could just be gifting you. Officially, I'm pretty sure that you need to pay tax...

 

That said, I worked for Butlins and they used to give us booze and other nicities all the time...

[jojen]

I'll help staff with their PCs, sometimes at work and sometimes by taking them home, occasionaly at their own home, but never ask for payment. I tend to get paid in gifts and most of the staff know what it is I like so that's fine by me.

 

Pupil's laptops and PCs are a no no for me though. I will give advice and instruction where possible but definitely wont touch them. The only time I have was for a pupil who had a PC loaned to them by the school which was eventually gifted to them.

 

And like everyone else here I get asked by friends and family all the time which is a different kettle of fish.

[Heebeejeebee]

Nick: I don't think that's correct your tax allowance is used up if you allready earn over that amount in your normal job. Therefore any job on the side will be liable for tax and NI.

 

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/5.2/start-a-business/qanda/28481/tax-charges-on-a-second-income.thtml

 

Ben

That's for registered businesses though - I was under the impression that below a certain value, you don't need to declare income of that nature (although taking money for giving someone a lift will invalidate your car insurance). Same goes for gifts/freebies which employers give, so long as the value is less than £x, you're okay. I think...

 

And if I'm wrong, and tax should be paid, then surely the same would apply to bottles of wine, etc and we should be paying the tax on the market value of the item (as you do with company-provided private healthcare, for example)?

 

I wonder if it comes down to exactly how the money/gift is determined. If they choose to give you a bottle of wine as a thank you, that's one thing, but stating "work is carried out for 2 bottles of wine per hour" is different. Don't know, thinking aloud here...

 

You're correct Nick. I had a chat with a relative who's an accountant and she says that it comes under earnings from hobbies or similar. She said she thinks it's about £2000 though - not 5K.

 

HBJB

[strawberry]

i think 2k is the limit for hobbies, i rememeber ebay saying they were going to charge tax on anyone who went over 2k.

[enjay]

Thanks HBJB and Strawberry, I was sure I wasn't making it up! Sadly though, I'm nowhere near £2k from on-the-side PC repairs :-(

[enjay]

I tend to get paid in gifts and most of the staff know what it is I like so that's fine by me.

Not wishing to sound too mercenary, because I'm really not, the issue with that is the value - 2 hours work = bottle of wine = ~£3.50/hour.

[russdev]

Going back to op an interesting project is Simmons college in usa.

 

There is great podcast at.

 

http://connect.educause.edu/blog/Carie417/e2006podcastselfhelp/16726

 

Basicly they ran number of selp help clinics for students and also created self help area that before students logged on to network with own laptops (in the halls etc) they had to run through.

 

http://my.simmons.edu/services/technology/helpdesk/antivirus/disinfect-protect/

 

Russell