Plugging in…
Inkjet printers have brought the production of photographs to the masses. Or have they?
Ink is expensive and one doesn’t get much ink mileage from a cartridge (you think gasoline is expensive?) Photo paper is expensive and myriad choices confound the buyer. Fiddling with the digital image takes time, and knowledge. By the time one manages to print one 5 x 7 gotta-have photo, it has cost about an hour of valuable time.
So you’ve figured out how to print more quickly – education is a wonderful thing. Now, why, oh why is that photo so blurred and why won’t the ink dry in seconds, like the instructions said it would?
“What happened” lamented a client of mine, who had printed photos many times before? Panic set in – was the printer failing, was the ink compromised, did the paper lose its sheen?
Operator error – the photo paper was placed in the paper feeder, glossy side up. With normal, bond paper, it doesn’t have a “preferred” side; some inkjet printers require the paper glossy side up, some glossy side down. Some photo papers (matte finish) are difficult to see which side is the printable side. When all was said and done, that beautiful 8 x 10 photo cost just under $ 100 to print. And, no, it wasn’t being entered in a contest, not being framed for a showing, not being submitted to a newspaper to accompany a potential Pulitzer Prize article. My client just wanted to print the photo to see it.
Once you’ve printed a hundred dollar photo, you’ll never forget to check the paper before putting it into the printer again.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on, is it right-side down?
Unplugged
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
No One Makes This Stuff Up
Plugging in…
I spent an entire day, a full eight hours working with a client who had purchased new computers and needed assistance with file transfers, printer driver installations, internet and email account setups and a host of other computer-related tasks. By the time I left him and his office, all the computers were running perfectly; internet and email tested and on-line, all files transferred and printers humming with output. So I left. Drove home. Ate some dinner. Answered the business phone around 8:00pm the same evening.
Guess who was on the line? None other than the client I had just spent the entire day with. His only words to me were: “My computer fell, from a great distance. Don’t ask me how”. Inquiring minds need to know. Of course I asked how. Things were just fine at the office, until he left the office. He decided to take one of the new desktop computers home to replace an aging one in his home office. Pretty simple really. Turn off, unplug, put in car, drive home… he got stuck at the put in car stage. He positioned the desktop computer (not the monitor) on the roof of his car while he fiddled with the keys to open the car door. That is how the computer came to fall “from a great distance”. Trust me; no one makes this stuff up. Needless to say, there wasn’t anything I could do to resuscitate the poor computer. Dead as a door nail, like old Jacob Marley.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on?
Unplugged
I spent an entire day, a full eight hours working with a client who had purchased new computers and needed assistance with file transfers, printer driver installations, internet and email account setups and a host of other computer-related tasks. By the time I left him and his office, all the computers were running perfectly; internet and email tested and on-line, all files transferred and printers humming with output. So I left. Drove home. Ate some dinner. Answered the business phone around 8:00pm the same evening.
Guess who was on the line? None other than the client I had just spent the entire day with. His only words to me were: “My computer fell, from a great distance. Don’t ask me how”. Inquiring minds need to know. Of course I asked how. Things were just fine at the office, until he left the office. He decided to take one of the new desktop computers home to replace an aging one in his home office. Pretty simple really. Turn off, unplug, put in car, drive home… he got stuck at the put in car stage. He positioned the desktop computer (not the monitor) on the roof of his car while he fiddled with the keys to open the car door. That is how the computer came to fall “from a great distance”. Trust me; no one makes this stuff up. Needless to say, there wasn’t anything I could do to resuscitate the poor computer. Dead as a door nail, like old Jacob Marley.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on?
Unplugged
RTFM
Plugging in...
RTFM = Read the F$@#$ Manual
When I worked in the technical support arena, it was a phrase, said in jest, when someone called with a tech support question we knew was answered in the manual. Since the bulk of the general computing public never cracked the shrink wrap on the manuals, the industry responded with a cost-cutting measure of producing the manuals on CDs or DVDs. See? We really are our own worst enemies. At one time, staffs of technical writers were busy producing the manuals for all the software and hardware vendors. Many of the manuals did get used - people put them under their monitors to raise them up; they acted as book-ends on book shelves and some became booster seats for children. Some just collected dust. No kidding.
Fast forward ten years or so and the paper-style manuals are thin, but contain valuable information. Information such as if you want The Computor Tutor to help you with that new smart phone, PDA (personal digital assistant: Palm Pilot) or camera, they MUST be charged before she arrives, and not just an hour before. Where do you think that tid-bit of knowledge comes from? Yes siree - that slim booklet inside the plastic packaging.
So yes, I have arrived at several clients only to inform them that the electronic device we were going to work with, needs hours of charging or sometimes an overnight charge before we can even turn it on. That's after I had to wrestle with the stubborn plastic packaging and extricate the all imporant piece of paper that said "CHARGE ME FIRST". Reading. It's fundamental.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on?
Unplugged
RTFM = Read the F$@#$ Manual
When I worked in the technical support arena, it was a phrase, said in jest, when someone called with a tech support question we knew was answered in the manual. Since the bulk of the general computing public never cracked the shrink wrap on the manuals, the industry responded with a cost-cutting measure of producing the manuals on CDs or DVDs. See? We really are our own worst enemies. At one time, staffs of technical writers were busy producing the manuals for all the software and hardware vendors. Many of the manuals did get used - people put them under their monitors to raise them up; they acted as book-ends on book shelves and some became booster seats for children. Some just collected dust. No kidding.
Fast forward ten years or so and the paper-style manuals are thin, but contain valuable information. Information such as if you want The Computor Tutor to help you with that new smart phone, PDA (personal digital assistant: Palm Pilot) or camera, they MUST be charged before she arrives, and not just an hour before. Where do you think that tid-bit of knowledge comes from? Yes siree - that slim booklet inside the plastic packaging.
So yes, I have arrived at several clients only to inform them that the electronic device we were going to work with, needs hours of charging or sometimes an overnight charge before we can even turn it on. That's after I had to wrestle with the stubborn plastic packaging and extricate the all imporant piece of paper that said "CHARGE ME FIRST". Reading. It's fundamental.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on?
Unplugged
A Digital Duh
Plugging in...
How many of us have done something like this?
A digital camera is such a wonderful creation. No film to worry about. Take as many photos as you want, view, delete, take again. Take hundreds more! Document your way through life. Absolute instant gratification, almost like an ATM machine. Some digital cameras also take video clips; some of the hybrids can shoot 60 minutes or more of live video.
I was called upon to assist a client who had taken some video footage of her daughter and wanted to transfer it from the camera to the computer so it could be shared with the world. Not really, just the family and ALL the daughter’s friends. This was LONG before utube existed. Taking pictures and video are very easy – most people don’t even crack the camera’s manual before they become expert shooters.
My first course of action is always to talk first – I ask many questions before I take over and begin troubleshooting. I listened well to my client, asked for the camera’s instruction manual and checked out the camera from stem to stern. Now being very familiar with the camera, I proceeded to follow the camera’s instructions to transfer the video footage. Oops – instructions were as clear as day and would have worked perfectly. If. Only. If only my client had loaded the “digital film” into the camera before she took the camera on its maiden video shoot. No film, no footage, no fun, no fair. She did put in the batteries and it was fully charged. No consolation.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on? And in this case, is the ¨digital film¨ card inside?
Unplugged
How many of us have done something like this?
A digital camera is such a wonderful creation. No film to worry about. Take as many photos as you want, view, delete, take again. Take hundreds more! Document your way through life. Absolute instant gratification, almost like an ATM machine. Some digital cameras also take video clips; some of the hybrids can shoot 60 minutes or more of live video.
I was called upon to assist a client who had taken some video footage of her daughter and wanted to transfer it from the camera to the computer so it could be shared with the world. Not really, just the family and ALL the daughter’s friends. This was LONG before utube existed. Taking pictures and video are very easy – most people don’t even crack the camera’s manual before they become expert shooters.
My first course of action is always to talk first – I ask many questions before I take over and begin troubleshooting. I listened well to my client, asked for the camera’s instruction manual and checked out the camera from stem to stern. Now being very familiar with the camera, I proceeded to follow the camera’s instructions to transfer the video footage. Oops – instructions were as clear as day and would have worked perfectly. If. Only. If only my client had loaded the “digital film” into the camera before she took the camera on its maiden video shoot. No film, no footage, no fun, no fair. She did put in the batteries and it was fully charged. No consolation.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on? And in this case, is the ¨digital film¨ card inside?
Unplugged
Here Kitty, Kitty
Plugging in...
I know how dearly pet owners LOVE their animals. My sister has two children, Sophie and Murray – both cats, who are deeply embedded in the daily lives of her and her significant other. I have nothing against pets, but I take great issue with where they are allowed to roam and roost.
Twice I was contacted by the same client to remove the “hair balls” that were causing her printer to sputter and choke – just like an animal does. First time, shame on the kitty, second time shame on the client. The solution wasn’t to prohibit the cat from entering the office, nor was it an issue of training the cat to park her purr-fect self on something else. I suggested a simple, inexpensive solution. Put a plastic dust cover or terry cloth towel over the printer. Really. That's it, that's all but it took TWO visits and TWO checks made out to yours truly to get the printer covered!
By the time I was paid to untangle the hair-balls inside the printer [twice], my client could have purchased a new printer, had the cat all gussied up at the groomers or gone out for some fine dining. Tis not for me to decide how a client spends their money… I was happy to apply the correct “printer conditioner” to de-tangle and remove the errant hairs. Don’t tell anyone in the cosmetology field that I’m working on hair without a license.
I know how dearly pet owners LOVE their animals. My sister has two children, Sophie and Murray – both cats, who are deeply embedded in the daily lives of her and her significant other. I have nothing against pets, but I take great issue with where they are allowed to roam and roost.
Twice I was contacted by the same client to remove the “hair balls” that were causing her printer to sputter and choke – just like an animal does. First time, shame on the kitty, second time shame on the client. The solution wasn’t to prohibit the cat from entering the office, nor was it an issue of training the cat to park her purr-fect self on something else. I suggested a simple, inexpensive solution. Put a plastic dust cover or terry cloth towel over the printer. Really. That's it, that's all but it took TWO visits and TWO checks made out to yours truly to get the printer covered!
By the time I was paid to untangle the hair-balls inside the printer [twice], my client could have purchased a new printer, had the cat all gussied up at the groomers or gone out for some fine dining. Tis not for me to decide how a client spends their money… I was happy to apply the correct “printer conditioner” to de-tangle and remove the errant hairs. Don’t tell anyone in the cosmetology field that I’m working on hair without a license.
ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it turned on?
Unplugged
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