When Cutting IT Costs Costs You More: The $150 Mistake That Cost $2,800
If you’ve ever worked in an office where "tech support" is just whoever can plug in an HDMI cable the right way, this one’s for you. Over at r/TalesFromTechSupport, a paralegal-turned-reluctant-IT-guru shared a cautionary tale that’s equal parts hilarious, infuriating, and painfully relatable for anyone who’s ever watched a boss try to “save money” by making things much, much worse.
Let’s set the scene: a small law firm, a boss named Dave with grand delusions of hardassery, and a paralegal just tech-savvy enough to get roped into every IT “emergency.” When Dave decides to slash monthly IT costs by $150, it sets off a chain of events that ends up costing the firm $2,800 in lost productivity. The best part? No one’s the wiser—except the entire internet.
From Paralegal to (Unpaid) IT Guy: The Accidental Career Pivot
Our hero, u/NoFliesOnFergee, is every office’s go-to “tech person”—not because they’re a certified IT pro, but because they know the HDMI cable goes in the HDMI slot. After a modest raise and fewer billable hours, they inherited the delightful job of fielding tech support calls, with a side of “call the real IT people when things get hairy.”
Enter Dave, the boss. He’s a lawyer—talented in the courtroom, but, as one commenter (u/lokis_construction) put it, “Intelligence is not the strong point in this guy's resume,” at least when it comes to IT. Dave’s solution to rising IT bills? Yank ten computers off the firm’s support contract, saving a whopping $150 a month. Despite some gentle pushback—“maybe we should keep a spare or two?”—Dave insists: “just get the fucking computers off service.”
You can feel the foreshadowing. Like a horror movie, but with more Outlook errors.
The True Cost of “Cost Savings”: Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish
It takes exactly two weeks for disaster to strike. Two lawyers are suddenly computerless—a laptop and a desktop bite the dust. Getting them back on the support contract is a four-hour ordeal, during which our paralegal-IT-hero is frantically troubleshooting and the attorneys are twiddling their (very expensive) thumbs.
Let’s do the math. The firm bills the paralegal’s legal work at $115/hour—four hours lost: $460 gone. The two attorneys, each billed at $300/hour, are offline for the same four hours: that’s $2,400 in lost billings. All to save $150.
The Reddit community was quick to spot the irony. As u/wiseapple wisely advised: “Start documenting his decisions and the costs associated. One of these days, someone is going to ask you about cost overruns and your documentation will be your saving grace.” The OP is way ahead: “I have a flash drive with all of his ridiculous emails in case shit hits the fan and he tries to blame me.” (Naturally, this sparked a whole sub-thread on best practices for CYA—cover your assets—with suggestions for offsite backups, printed emails, and, as u/Rapunzel1709 warned, not taking sensitive data out of the office.)
“Manglement” in Action: Why Lawyers Shouldn’t Play IT
Commenters dubbed Dave’s style “manglement,” not management. While Dave might be a stellar litigator, his approach to IT is less “strategic leader” and more “impulsive jackass,” as OP charitably puts it. The community had a field day with this. “It’s just that I wouldn’t hire an IT guy to defend me in court, so why should a lawyer make IT decisions without even considering input?” mused u/lokis_construction, earning widespread agreement.
But the real kicker: the firm’s cost-saving measure didn’t just backfire; it did so predictably. As u/creamybastardfilling dryly noted, “This will continue until someone above him finds out he’s losing money, or someone important is directly affected by his idiocy.” OP isn’t holding their breath for recognition or reward: “If I report all this money that could be saved, they'll DEFINITELY reward me with a raise, right??” (Spoiler: the community’s collective eye-roll could be felt through the screen.)
The Exit Strategy: Why “Just Hang in There” Isn’t Enough
It’s no surprise that OP is actively job hunting, as revealed in a comment: “Oh I've been actively trying to leave for about 2 months and already had an interview with another place. I'm not sticking around.” The chorus of supportive replies is telling; u/Vahdo sums it up: “Sounds like you need to find a firm that actually values you... good luck OP.”
And for anyone wondering if this kind of managerial penny-pinching is rare, the comments paint a bleakly funny picture. “Lawyers are the worst IT clients,” jokes u/zrad603. The bar for tech support at law firms? u/Xjph says it best: “Able to operate a toaster.”
Conclusion: Document Everything and Beware False Economies
What’s the moral of the story? When you let someone with zero IT expertise make all the IT decisions—especially if they’re allergic to expertise and feedback—you’re just begging for a disaster that costs far more than you ever hoped to save. As many commenters pointed out, documenting decisions (and their fallout) is your best defense against blame when the inevitable happens.
Have you survived “manglement” in your own workplace—tech or otherwise? How do you handle bosses who think cost-cutting is a strategy, not a gamble? Share your own tales of budget blunders or IT heroics in the comments!
And remember: if your company’s “IT guy” is just the one who knows which cable goes where, maybe—just maybe—don’t build your tech strategy around saving $150 a month.
Original Reddit Post: How to save $150 a month by spending $2800