The Idiot Escapades At Computer Geeks (Part I)

*sarcasm*Working at a computer store is such a delight. You meet some of the most wonderful people!*sarcasm*
Over the weekend I had fixed (or tried to fix) a laptop. We had brought it in thinking that we needed to reinstall the Operating System.
For those of you who don't know, the OS is basically the massive piece of software that lets you interface with the hardware. For most people, Windows XP. Reinstalling this software is a very destructive action that involves reformatting the hard drive.
I plugged in an external USB hard drive, and commenced backing up the data. A short time later I checked on the transfer, only to find that the computer had shut off while I wasn't looking. So I tried again. About ten seconds into the transfer the computer just cut off. Dead. It died quite instantly, and wasn't low on battery, so it couldn't have been the battery or a bad connection to the charger. Since it was a USB hard drive that had (probably) caused the computer to die, the motherboard is a likely candidate for failure. Unfortunately, on a laptop there's nothing I can do to fix it, so it's not my problem anymore.

The owner of the computer comes in the store today to pick up his machine, and so begins my story. This man comes in and we hand him the computer, expecting him to just leave, since we have nothing to show him, not having fixed his computer and all. But no, he takes it, puts it down on the counter and says, "No, you ain't gettin' off that easy." And the fun began.

He claimed that when he brought the computer in there was nothing wrong with it.
"So... why did you bring it to us in the first place?"
"Because the DVD drive wouldn't do what I wanted it to."
So I calmly explained that it wasn't the DVD drive itself, but the operating system that was causing the problem, and that we couldn't fix it because the motherboard was going bad.
"Well you can't just give me back a broken machine, I need a computer!"
So I told him that we didn't do any work on it, so he didn't owe us any money.
"You don't understand though... I need a computer."
I repeated that we couldn't fix it, and he would have to take it somewhere else.
"But it wasn't having that problem when I brought it in, so you must have broken it."
At which point my boss came up and asked him if he had ever even tried to plug something in to the USB port.
"You don't understand... I need my computer!"
"No, I understand, but we can't do anything about that."
"Yes, you can replace my computer!"
"Well it isn't our fault that it's broken."
"But it wasn't having that problem when I brought it in!"
...

That cyclical conversation went on for another five minutes before the owner of the store showed up. She wasn't in a very good mood to begin with, and when she heard the way the conversation was going she wasn't happy. She grabbed the reigns of the conversation, and didn't take any shit from him. At one point he actually said to her "Well, regardless of the facts..." She laughed, turned around, and said, "Just get out of here and sue me then." With a big smile on her face. Of course, that didn't stop him. The conversation finally ended with her saying "shoo" over and over again while he tried to explain that he needed his computer, and that we owed him the money for it.

*Sigh*
This world is truly filled with idiots.