Years ago, had a college student bring by his laptop for repairs. Keyboard stopped working, according to him, and he had no idea what the cause could be.

After he left, I quickly surmised that someone spilled a sugary beverage on it, so I contacted tech support for the model (let’s say it was HP) and they quickly place an order for a replacement part. During the call, support also mentioned that a previous support call was made on this laptop for, you guessed it, a spilled soft drink. Noting that information, I proceeded with the order and, when the part arrived, swapped out the keyboard.

After verifying that the laptop was functioning properly, contacted customer to pick it up. I left it running on the repair table and moved on to other tickets. The following morning, I noticed that the screen was blank and decided to tap the keys to awaken it. Nothing happened. Listened and could hear cooling fan running, so I cycled the power. Powers back on, except the screen is still blank.

Reached out to the customer to tell them the situation and see how they wished to proceed. Here is when dad, a local attorney and expert radio/TV commentator, gets involved. He starts cussing at me and threatening me with a lawsuit if I don’t replace/repair his son’s computer. I calmly inform him that, no, I will do no such thing for a previously damaged computer. Incredulous, he accuses me of lying about previous damage to cover my ass for negligence. That’s when I inform him of the conversation I had with HP.

Now, I had him dead to rights, but this is where I was surprised. After his brain audibly glitches, he says, “wtf are you talking about HP? My son owns a Dell.” My response was that clearly there is some misunderstanding here on your part because I’m looking at an HP, not a Dell.

No apologies, nothing comes from Mr. Attorney. Instead he sends the kid to come get the laptop and pay the bill. I had to know what the hell just happened, so, when the kid shows up, I ask. He sheepishly admits that he had his frat bro’s laptop, because frat bro had broken the kid’s Dell laptop and given the kid his HP laptop. Guess frat bro never mentioned spilling a coke on the HP and this kid figured his parents would be none the wiser.

To this day, Mr. Attorney is on TV/radio to offer his opinions on whatever legal case is in the news, and I chuckle every time I see or hear him.