This is beginning to remind me of a story I once heard....
At one of the Dams out West, the power output was seriously reduced one day. Try as they might, the engineers were not able to figure out why this was so, let alone fix the problem. Then someone recalled that "George" knew what to do in this situation.
Well, as it turns out, George had retired some years before. So they look him up, track him down, bring him into the plant, and explain the problem.
George says "Sure, I can fix it!" He then borrows a hammer, and, accompanied by a parade of management types, preceeds to walk into the miles of catwalks and piping within the dam. He reaches a place, gives the pipe a solid whack, and all is well.
Soon after, the PoCo gets a bill from George for $10000. Somewhat taken aback by the size of the bill, the PoCo askd for an "itemised" invoice.
George responded "$25 for hitting the pipe. $9975 for knowing where to hit it!
The point to keep in mind is that we, as professionals, are paid as much for our knowledge and experience as anything else. We are not parts stores, nor simply retarded apes doing grunt work.
Sometimes the customer doesn't really appreciate that fact. The best "cure" is to let him hire a hack a few times.
