The Odd Encouters with My PC

If I was able to get electricity regularly and consistently, I sure would be in front of my PC every now and then. That reality doesn't exist here, sadly—the utopian electricity lifestyle—and so I end up going to different places that run generators to use my PC. And that often brings me weird experiences.

Someone walked up to me one time at one of the nearby lounges where I go to work with their electricity. He came straight up with the question, "Come and teach me this bitcoin thing." He said. I have been looking for someone who will explain it very well to me." He continued, pulling closer to take a better look at my screen.

I was taken aback by this, and I took a pause to look at the man for about five seconds before I responded. To begin with, I couldn't understand what business he had with my PC to be looking at what I was doing on it. And then how he felt he could ask me about something potentially delicate—my lifestyle and finances—as a stranger was totally weird.

"I do not understand what you are asking me." I responded because I really did not understand the question and how it concerned me. Pointing at my screen, he asked, "Is that not bitcoin?" Then I looked back at my screen to try and find the bitcoin the comrade saw.

In my mind, I facepalmed when I looked back and saw that what he saw was the thumbnail for a news article I had just opened to read on cryptonews.com. Then I responded that I had no idea about crypto and that page was only an advertisement that popped up. "Oh, okay. I have just been looking for someone that would really teach me very well about bitcoin." He said that and then left.

I was appalled by what just happened. It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened, however, so I wasn't surprised. As usual, I would try to disengage from such conversations about my personal life with someone I barely know.

A similar experience is yet another place where I go to use electricity and work. Over there, someone asked me to teach him "how to do Yahoo." He was asking me to teach him how to do fraud, essentially. I mean, he may have been joking, but I felt an iota of truth in it, as he genuinely was curious about what I always did on my PC, which got me engrossed always. He must have thought, "Surely, this must be Yahoo."

Again, I would disengage from such conversations. Such were going to lead nowhere, waste my time, and breed contempt that I never needed.

Over here, there is this stoopid notion about people who use PCs. It's rather uncanny that people still think like this in 2024 when everything practically has something to do with computers and the internet. And for some reason, they always think someone is committing fraud. Yes, many consider crypto to be a fraud.

Many times, people don't actually know what I am doing with my PC. If they ever find out that I am usually on some social media platform called Hive interacting and making posts—that's if I am not doing my offline job instead—they would wonder how such a thing could get me so busy most times. If only they knew...

This same PC that I take care of has brought me different kinds of attention. I met someone a few days ago who said he had actually known me for months. He knew the exact spot I sit and work whenever I come to the lounge we met, and even just about the time I usually come around there. I was surprised. Most certainly, I wouldn't have had such attention without the PC.

The PC makes people around here think I am one hacker supreme overlord sometimes—the elderly ones, actually. And that's how one elderly man walked up to me, leaving his duty post as a gatekeeper, to ask me one question.

He said, "You have a PC. Please help me use your PC to check this website to see that they are giving free $20 to Nigerian citizens. You must have heard about it." And in my head and stomach, I burst into ridiculous laughter. It was funny to me that anyone would think there is such a thing as "free money," especially in Nigeria, and that PC was "the way to unlock it."

I couldn't be disrespectful and openly show my amusement at the occurrence, and so I kept a straight face. And then I just told the man that I had never heard of anything like that lately. To my surprise, he was surprised that a young, active youth like myself hadn't heard of such an opportunity, as it seemed like I was ignorant about such an opportunity.

The man was adamant that I checked, but I told him that I would research better when I got home and would give him feedback another day. He knew I was hesitant and unwilling, so that was enough to have him let me go.

This is my experience on most days. This PC, which should be a normal piece of technology, seems like something made by aliens and is causing me interesting happenings. Can you relate to such?