Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Stupid Client Conversation On Killing Print Jobs

This guy's printing a 180-page report on 6-page-a-minute printer (so you have a clue how long ago this was), and I was waiting for my turn at the printer.

Him: "The first page is wrong. I can't kill this print job because my PC's locked up, but the report's all wrong."

Me: "You want to kill the print job? But the system isn't letting you? And your PC's locked up so you're going to have to reboot anyway?"

Him: "Yeah, we'll just have to wait. Unless you have a better idea."

Me: "There's always the Offon Maneuver. I'll show you."

I turned the power switch Off.

Him: "Waaah! What are you doing? Don't do that! They told us never turn the power off! My print job will be lost."

Me: "Exactly".

I toggled the switch on. The problem was solved, with no harm to anything except that poor guy's brain. Luckily he was one of the smartest people on the project, by universal consensus (which shows you the value of consensus in technical matters).

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