Can You Fix My Printer?

'JJ' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:06:25 GMT, sez:

Ah that's funny. I hate when people ask me to fix their printer. Not because it's belittling but because I'll probably screw it up and don't want them to know. Printer's are evil and should all be destroyed!

'bofh' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:09:39 GMT, sez:

read bofh. you'd love it

'lb' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:37:41 GMT, sez:

@BOFH... oh thanks, there goes fifteen minutes of my life, for the fiftteenth time...

http://bofh.ntk.net/Bastard1.html

'Scott Carpenter' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:12:35 GMT, sez:

I once had someone from Dubai send me a request through the Invoiceplace contact form asking for help with a HP Model XYZ123-whatever printer, how could she print landscape from tray 3?

I sat bewildered for a few minutes, but I did reply and politely informed her I was unable to assist. :)

'lb' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:15:04 GMT, sez:

Good thinking Scott. The HP Model XYZ123-whatever is a demon to maintain.

'Farmer Jeb' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:43:24 GMT, sez:

I recall that the ol' XYZ123-whatever didn't have landscape capabilities but there was a well known work-around... type sideways.

'John' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:26:41 GMT, sez:

At first I thought you were being hypocritical by mooching off of his $600/hr tax knowledge for free, and then being offended by his asking for your computer knowledge for free. But then I saw the "facts of this story have been altered for the sake of humour" notice, and decided you'd pulled one over on me. Well played!

'lb' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 10:32:13 GMT, sez:

@john -- yeh i originally told this joke to two people in the 'real' world and they both thought it was 1. not funny, and 2. cruel.

both assumed it was completely true (what does this say about me?)

so i felt i had to include the disclaimer.

the true story is that the friend does exist but i only occasionally ask him very general tax questions, and never hold him to the answers.

i'll voluntarily try to fix any computer problems he has before being asked, and yes, i am not clever enough to fix printer problems.

printers are just evil.

'Waterbreath' on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:48:05 GMT, sez:

I don't normally volunteer my services for this stuff because I am just don't keep up on this kind of stuff like I used to when I worked at the local computer store. I generally just think that I probably wouldn't be able to help them. My solutions often consist of uninstalling an application and finding a better alternative, or starting from scratch with a clean Windows install.

However, now that I think about it, their other options are almost certainly worse...

If I leave them to the dogs, there are several less than desirable scenarios that could occur:

1) They trudge on and just "deal with" the issue, suffering a sub-optimal, or downright painful, computing experience until they buy a new PC to start from a clean slate, or just give away their PC because they "just can't figure out computers".
2) They return Product X and give up on whatever ambitions they had for it, or decide to pay someone else to do it for them.
3) They pay an exorbitant hourly rate to some kid from a professional technical assistance company with a million disclaimers and no guarantees of success. And even if they solve the problem, things are never quite the same afterward... sort of like that really nice old family heirloom that gets "lost" when you move.

But if I help them out, one of two things will most likely happen:

1) I will figure out the problem, resolve it, and give them a list of things they can do to prevent it from happening again.
2) I won't be able to figure out the problem, but can suggest or perform a good alternative. E.g. "here's a brand of router I've had good luck with", or "my buddy in graphical design says good things about photo editor X", or "I'll need to reinstall Windows, but I can preserve all your important data."

Obviously these latter options are much less of a hassle for me than the former are for them.

Thanks lb, for helping me put this into a new perspective. I think you helped me become a better person today.

=)

'Adel' on Sat, 16 Jun 2007 10:05:47 GMT, sez:

this is the story of my life...i blogged about it while ago, however my story was more painfull than yours and more frequant as well.

http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/adelkhalil/archive/2007/02/22/i-m-not-the-quot-only-for-you-support-desk-quot.aspx

'al' on Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:29:01 GMT, sez:

printers are evil, sure. but fax machines wrote the book on evil. Every time those things start up, it sounds like its communicating with the Voyager probe.

'Secretspeak' on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:43:20 GMT, sez:

If this is the secretgeek I have grown to semi know and completely respect. Wherever you post, your material is gold. Nice work.

'ian' on Sat, 13 Oct 2007 07:41:38 GMT, sez:

My printer (epson} has turned into a brilliant paper shredder i dont want it fixed bye

'Ink cartridges' on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:26:47 GMT, sez:

That's a nice story, we don't all have such friends... with his money he could get a new printer instantly but in this case he didn't have to because he had you to help him. Right?

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