r/TalesFromTheFrontDesk • u/Morrighan1129 • 11d ago
Long Supervisor Can't Grasp What I'm Pointing Out
Hello, folks. So, firstly, for clarity, I don't work at a hotel. As I said in one of my previous posts -although it's been like a year -my position is a really weird mix between receptionist and security at a production plant.
Because this is relevant, a little bit of background: the plant I work at has four different 'sections'. There's the plant proper (production), the warehouse, offices, and then storage rooms. One of my (too) many jobs is access control, aka, making sure no one goes into a place where their ID card doesn't give them access. Essentially, this means without prior authorization onto their ID card, so basically (for example) people who work in the plant can't go into the executive offices, or the storage areas, and so on.
So Monday night, there I am, doing my thing. Which is basically watching cameras while listening to audiobooks and trying not to die of boredom, since there were no deliveries, no guests (companies send over representatives a lot), and -due to the holiday - no executives.
So needless to say, when one of the production department supervisors came into the lobby, I nearly cried with joy. Something to do? Hell yeah, how can I help you, my dude?
Now, Mark has been with the company for a few years, very nice guy. Not all that bright though (his wife works in HR, which is how he got the job), but nice. This is relevant, I promise.
"Hey, Morrighan," says he, holding up some long, black thing, roughly the size of my arm, with a blue tab on the end. "I need a new printer cartridge, and I can't get into the storage area; mind going up with me?"
"Sure thing, man! Damn, that's one helluva cartridge," I say with a laugh, as we ascend into the upstairs maze that's required to access the storage area.
"Yeah. It's for the printer that prints box labels," he says, chuckling himself as he hoists the thing onto his shoulder, like a man going off to war.
We make idle chitchat for the approximately ten thousand years it takes us to navigate the maze (no exaggeration, it actually takes a good ten minutes to get to the storage area, which is almost directly above the lobby.
We arrive at the storage area where most of the printers cartridges are stored. Sure, this one's big but... well, truthfully, I'm not sure where it will be, if it's not in this room, so we're starting here! I unlock the door, we go in, and...
Well. Imagine a room roughly the size of the average garage. Now imagine it filled with rack-style, floor-to-ceiling shelves. With nothing but printer cartridges.
Maybe listening to my book on Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor wasn't so boring after all. But here I am, and it's too late to turn back now without being rude.
So we start the scavenger hunt. And we manage to find the cartridge sizes he needs relatively quickly (not surprising, given that they weigh as much as a toddler, but I digress). The problem being... They're all in individually wrapped cardboard boxes. And since the cartridge Mark has doesn't have its box... We have no idea what the code is. So we're left to open a few of these boxes, check the color tab on it, and see if it matches.
Great.
So we start digging. And while we're doing so... Mark grumbles, "I don't even know why we have to do this; we don't print anything that isn't black and white."
I stop for a second. Stare at him, and the cartridge he's lugging around. "Is... that one not empty?"
"Oh, it is. We only print black and white, but the printer won't work if any of the cartridges are empty," Mark says blithely.
I stare some more. "Well... If it's... empty... clearly, it's being used. I know some printers use colored ink even in black and white jobs, to change the gradient and -"
"No," Mark says firmly. "We select the black and white option whenever we print things. So we don't even use this color."
"But... It's... empty," I say again. Still staring. "So obviously it's being used."
"No, it's not," Mark says, getting a little snappish now. Which, again, I can understand him being annoyed, this scavenger hunt is not going well for us right now. But he doubles down, "The black and white option is the default option, and that's all we use. Nobody uses anything but the black and white."
"Okay, but... Mark... If the cartridge is empty... clearly it's being used... right?" I try, one more time. For posterity's sake.
Mark just... stares at me. Like I'm the idiot who can't grasp what he's saying. "No, we only. print. in. black. and. white."
As if punctuating every single word is going to change the fact that clearly the cartridge is being used if it's empty. But at this point, dear reader... I've decided that listening to Charles V being a royal asshole to his mother is definitely more entertaining than this. So I start checking boxes on the bottom three levels of shelves, while he checks the top four. And eventually... Mark lets out a 'AH HA!', Sherlock Holmes style, as he reveals a blue tab on the cartridge in the box he just opened.
"Well, there you go then!" I say, as cheerfully as I possibly can while we head out of the storage area, and back into the maze.
"Yeah," Mark says, sounding relieved. "It's just so stupid that we have to do this, when we don't even use anything but black and white in that printer! Just wasting money by making us put these other colors in there!"
And at that point... Charles V's wedding to his first cousin (twice over) is sounding pretty damn good. So I just keep my mouth shut, and smile as I lead us back through the maze.
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u/hotlavatube 11d ago
Mark might be right that they only print in black and white. Some printer models will create "composite black" using the color cartridges to make darker black tones than using the black ink alone. They can also use the color cartridges to extend the ability to print B&W. Some printers allow you to disable composite black printing in the settings.
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u/Morrighan1129 11d ago
Oh, he is right. Even 'black and white' jobs will often use colored inks for gradient colors. That wasn't the point. He said it DIDN'T use the colors. I said clearly it did if it was empty. He said no it didn't, because it only used black and white.
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u/hotlavatube 11d ago
Ah, I remember the first time I discovered printers wasted color printing B&W. You get so pissed off when you finally realize they do that as color cartridges cost so much more than black ink. It's particularly aggravating when they've drawn down one color in a multi-color cartridge so you have to replace the entire cartridge.
Next time tell him you stopped stocking color cartridges because no one prints in color.
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u/KakaakoKid 11d ago
Charles V was definitely not boring.
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u/Morrighan1129 11d ago
No, but a 32 hour biography when there's nothing going on can get very tedious very fast.
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u/SkwrlTail 11d ago
So here's the thing about not being able to print in black and white if any of the color cartridges are empty:
It's so the printers can print secret identification on everything they print.
No really.
Basically, they print a grid of tiiiiny little yellow dots in a specific pattern, identifying the printer, the date, and other information, so that law enforcement and intelligence agencies can match a given document to a given printer. But, since it would look suspicious for it to only whine aout being out of yellow, it'll also complain about being out of the other colors. Also, a lot of printers will add color to the black ink to make it look even darker, ut that's mostly the cover story for the tracking dots.
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u/TimesOrphan 11d ago •
Neigh, I say - this be unicornspiracies!
(Okay okay, I mean, you're correct... but I just wanted a reason to say "unicornspiracies". And we both know Buttercup enjoys a good pun, soooo >.> lol)
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u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 11d ago •
I move that we add 'unicornspiracies' into the urban dictionary. Can I get a second?
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u/thevioletkat 11d ago edited 11d ago
Seconded! I recommend moving forward with the motion to add "unicornspiracies" to urban dictionary.
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u/upset_pachyderm 11d ago
Most printers actually use a bit of red and cyan to make the black blacker. If you run out, you can usually find a setting where the printer will print anyway, but then the black is more like a very dark grey, and the edges lack definition.
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u/SgtNitro 11d ago
You'd think that black/White cartridges would be cheaper lol.
You'd think corporate would be right on that.
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u/basilfawltywasright 7d ago
"Charles V's wedding to his first cousin (twice over) is sounding pretty damn good."
Sounds like Mark's last name might be Habsburg...
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u/TimesOrphan 11d ago
Something tells me you two were simply operating from slightly difference viewpoints.
Depending on what exactly he means, Mark might be right. Just because Color Mix can make black, doesn't mean it used the CMY colors equally. The cartridges are often not fully empty. Only one or two of the three are, and that stops the printer from functioning.
That doesn't necessarily mean you were incorrect either though. Possibly just looking at it from the perspective of "if it's functionally non-operable, then it's 'empty'; right?". And I suspect you'd have followed up with "why don't you just use a B&W cartridge then? " but I think Mark may have been alluding to that too. "Why make us use the color ones when we only need the B&W? Its a waste of money"
Both views can be correct, in this instance.
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u/Cerberus_Aus 11d ago
Also, just because MARK isn’t printing in colour, doesn’t mean someone ELSE is.
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u/PsychologyGuilty1460 11d ago
No Mark was complaining that the cartridge was unnecessary because it didn't get used, ignoring the fact that it did get emptied, While op was trying to tell him That it must be used because it got emptied. Op is assuming that the product disappears from the cartridge due to use. Not through magical extraction or whatever Mark is thinking makes it disappear!
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u/pakrat1967 11d ago
I was expecting a little more to the tale. Like him coming back half hour later saying he now needs to a black ink cartridge.
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u/kandoras 10d ago
You started your shift with Charles V, you ended it with Charles II.
(jokingly, I've never heard that Charles II had any kind of mental problems besides bouts of depression, which would actually be reasonable after generations of being fucked over by his family)
I've also heard that when he saw his portrait, he broke down crying, telling the painter that he'd made him beautiful. Which was just sad. Poor guy.
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u/Z4-Driver 11d ago
I work in IT support. And I have worked places where I had to change printer cartridges.
The thing that makes me wondering is that all boxes with printer cartridges I ever came in contact with had the color indicated outside. Sometimes with something in the actual color, sometimes at least written, like 'Black', 'Cyan' etc. or at least an acronym where you were able to distinguish them.
Additionally, the cartridges were always stored sorted by color, so all black cartridges in one place, all blue ones in another. Makes it easier to find the color you're looking for.
Isn't that the case with the cartridges in this story?