Day in the Life: Computer tech enjoys solitude of repair work
Fred Batton is the wizard of Windows. The doctor of dysfunctional hard drives.
Six days a week, Batton works at his computer shop on South Main Street in downtown Laurinburg, nursing sick computers back to good health.
He opened Highland Techs Computer in 2002, and business has been as steady as a hospital emergency room ever since.
His store is decorated like a bachelor pad for PCs. No frills, just lots of computers and laptops waiting to be examined.
And like any good diagnostician in a small town, Batton said everyone knows he's the go-to guy when their computer acts up.
Batton, 37, said he's been taking apart computers since he was a kid. He studied how to put them back together at Richmond Community College and UNC-Pembroke.
He said on an average day he fixes six to seven computers. Batton mostly works alone, but over the years he's hired people to man the front counter.
"I go through spells when I don't want anyone around and then I pick up an employee when I'm tired of being by my myself," said Batton, who is separated and the father of a 5-year-old.
But none of his employees have had the skills to nurse a computer back to working order, Batton said.
"I couldn't never afford to pay anyone what I'm worth," he said.