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March 1, 2013

Color Printer RIP

This is not how they really treated the printer.
So we have a fancy schmancy color printer in the Media Center that I've never liked.  It's expensive and a bother.  And for my first two years here, the printing it did looked like poo.  But I wasn't going to pay for expensive new cartridges out of my Media funds.  I have too many books I need to buy.  And since we hardly use it, I tried to convince the administration and book keeper that they should use some money out of a general education fund to fix it up.  Problem was, I also wanted to limit who could print off of it because people (and by people I mean little kids, parents, teachers, everybody) were printing goofy things and wasting paper and ink.  So they didn't want to limit it if they were paying for it for everybody and I certainly wasn't going to pay for it for everybody.  Then I said look, anybody can use it, but they just have to email us their print job and we will print it for them so we can keep an eye on things.  That worked.

It wasn't that big of a deal since there was a Teacher Color Printer in one of the computer labs that everyone could use anyway.

Well, now?  Not so much.  It's breathed it's last dusty printer breath.  The computer guys came to me the other day and said they were opening up our color printer to the staff.  I said that was a great idea if they just wanted to trash another printer, but maybe we should stick to the deal and let them go through the clerk and I  so we can keep it under at least a bit of control.  I mean we just spent a jillion dollars on new color cartridges for the thing earlier in the year, right?

The smirked and said fine (because they knew we'd be inundated with requests).  Yesterday was Day 1 and yes, we got many requests.  It wasn't too bad, but there were a couple "I gotta have this now!" things that always bug us, especially when they never come back to pick up their stuff!

So I sent the following email before I left yesterday and this morning my inbox was filled with "BEST EMAIL EVER" and "That was SO FUNNY!" type messages.  I don't think it's that funny, but I guess the bar is set pretty low when you're coming into work at an elementary school.

Here it is:


From: Jim Randolph
To:  Staff
Date: 02/28/2013 05:16 PM
Subject: Color Printing

Let's take a moment of silence to remember our fallen soldier, the Teacher Color Printer... 
...Ok, now there is another color printer which the staff has access to, but there are a few minor limits. 
It is in the Media Center and if you want something printed in color, you'll need to email the file (or bring it to) me or our wonderful clerk.  It's best to e-mail "Media Center" so it goes to both of us and whoever is available will be happy to take care of it. 
You'll also need to bring the right amount of paper for this print job.  And sorry,  no, you can't ask us to print it and "pay us back later."  We don't get any more paper than any other classroom and after just one day of doing this, we've already been on the wrong end of a couple big print jobs. 
Don't expect immediate turn-around.  We have a million other things to do and checking e-mail for a new print job isn't always one of them.  For now we will do this as the jobs come in and when we have a moment to spare.  If it becomes too much, we may limit it to certain days like we do the laminating.  Your patience is appreciated. 
You may be thinking, "But why don't they just add the Media Center Color Printer to our list of available printers and let us do it all ourselves?" 
Let's take another moment to remember the sad story of the Teacher Color Printer.  That's why. 
Thanks!
Jim
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"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift." -Kate DiCamillo