HELP! I'm riding the horns of a dilemma (and it ain't fun)...

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

My partner just gave me a computer to fix that had him freaked-- he'd been working on it for days. (It was a Win2000 registry problem.)

My quandry is, should I let him know I solved the problem and fixed the computer within five minutes (a quick google search revealed the exact cure) or wait until tomorrow and let him know how much sleep I lost, staying up into the wee hours to solve the mystery?

Either way, I'm gonna get the same money, but I'm torn between impressing the hell out of him or easing his pain by looking a bit mystified by it myself...

*sigh* The things we do for money...

:evilgrin:

[searchingforlight]

1. Honesty is the best policy. Show him how you fixed it and he will learn.

A good lesson is worth the money spent.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Hear! Hear!

n/t

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Oh, I plan on showing him

(I've already saved the MS Knowledge Base article to a floppy for him) but I need to know if I should let him think I struggled with it for a while! I don't want to make him think he doesn't know what he's doing...

[searchingforlight]

4. He didn't know what he was doing. That's why he gave it to you.

He obviously respects you for your abilities. Don't fall into the trap of hiding your light under a basket. It is dishonest and in a way manipulative.

If you want an honest relationship professional or personal the right thing to do is to tell it like it is.

[Bushfire]

5. Give up the truth

and he may refer his family & friends to you down road more quickly. Just my $0.02.

[Cassandra]

6. To be kind...

you could let him think you struggled for a while, then had an :think: and were able to look it up. If you make him feel stupid, he may pay someone else next time. This way, he gets to think you were just lucky.

[searchingforlight]

7. The whole reason we are on this site is about the truth.

Lies, even when meant to be kind, are still lies.\

This is not something to lie about. If it was me, I would be offended by the fact that you lied to me to save me embarrassment should I ever find out.

To me it would say that you didn't think much of me as a person that my ego would need that much stroking.

[liberalhistorian]

9. I agree, the best thing to do

is to tell him the truth. If he ever finds out otherwise, and lies do have a way of being found out no matter how many precautions we may take in lying, it'll be a lot worse for you. He'll probably just be grateful it's finally solved and fixed!

[Gato Moteado]

8. the truth...

...the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

[MoonGod]

10. Hehe... I know the feeling... but just let him know...

... It's not at all uncommon for somebody to figure something out in 5 minutes that somebody else has been banging their head for days over. That's the whole reason to pass a task like that off: to get a new perspective. Clearly, he did the right thing by handing it on to you.

[sandnsea]

11. Laugh, joke, tease

and just say 'you aren't gonna believe this'.

[WilliamPitt]

12. Bet him you can find a better fix quicker

and then take him to the cleaners. :)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. I'm impressed

Why shouldn't he be?

Go for truth, hon :-)