My neighbours think I can fix anything mechanical or electric. When a kid's favourite toy, laptop, or MP3 player is broken I do my best to fix it. Occasionally if I can't fix it then I buy them a replacement. The same applies for adults when I consider they really can't afford to replace something essential.
Before I donate things to the charity shop I make sure they are clean and working. Several are things I bought from the charity shops that had been carelessly donated.
Being retired I have the time and resources to do this - but my 40 year career often involved fighting management to be able to do a root cause diagnosis and proper fix. It's been an obvious personality trait since repairing dropped transistor radios in my teenage years.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
