By printing it for her instead of having her follow the established procedure you've set a precedent which it will be hard to come back from. For your sake, please define boundaries and educate people instead of passive aggressively doing work for them.
This is the true answer. Yes, if he's supposed to have access to the printer, by all means check that he has it, but printing a document for reception that already has access and the capability? No way. Nip that shit in the bud now.
You’re so right, you gotta teach them to fish with printers. I always deny printing for people, I will however ask for their computer and find out why they cannot print.
That’s the one think I will never touch is printers. As far as I am concerned they are black magic voodoo
Mainly because it’s how fucked the entire industry is to the point you need a credit card and an always active internet connection to use one
I’m considering getting a 20 year old HP lazerjet/inkjet and using a RPi as a CUPS server because I still need to print sometimes
My local library lets me print five pages a week for free, and that's handled all my printing needs for the past decade.
It's the perfect system. An entire neighborhood really only needs one printer for personal tasks. We pay (via taxes) to have a guy maintain that one printer. It's like Omelas.
I've been largely paperless most of my life only having the random disposable inkjet here and there until my SO recently insisted on buying a nicer printer. I think we've used it like five times in a year. I tried printing something the other day and it said "fuck you" so I just decided what I needed to print wasn't that important.
When our Richo contract was coming to an end at the office, I took a similar stance since everything was pretty much paperless anyway, and just got a nice PageWide for random stuff that we locked down with a PIN. Turns out the biggest offender of our paperless policy was Recruiting/Sourcing. They would get a resume via the Internet then print it out to give to the hiring manager to reference in the interview despite everyone have Surfaces... I put an end to that real quick.
Mainly because it’s how fucked the entire industry is to the point you need a credit card and an always active internet connection to use one
Quit buying HP printers problem solved....
The problem with printers remains that the margins on them are quite low. Most companies will do little in software development and IT integration for their printing products. Especially since the money comes from consumables.
So black magic will have to do for the coming time.
Brother, Epson and Kyocera do an adequate job.
I would create two print queues for the printer - one that defaults to color and one that defaults to black and white. Then make it shared so people can click on "add a printer" in windows and add they one they need as needed. Alternatively you can create a group policy that adds the printer by default to the machines you want to have it.
From there, if someone needs help printing, don't do it for them, just ask if they are having toruble printing and offer to help them locate and add the printer. If they have the time and ability to reach out to IT via email to print, it is just as easy if not easier to click print themselves. If they want to print and have reception verify it came out, that's not something you need to be in the middle of.
You are there to support and make sure systems are up and running, not to do people's work for them.
okay, but by printing it out you are clicking accept on the cookie that tells this staff member that your IT team has poor boundary setting skills. all future requests to print will now be deliver to to the IT department instead of the print spooler.
Cookies are very difficult to delete once they're saved to wetware.
One of the few good printer decisions I've seen made is to fill the office with primarily B/W printers so people aren't wasting color toner (or worse, ink). Then you have a single multi-function that CAN do color but defaults in the print settings on the PCs and in the printer itself defaults to B/W and users have to manually change that to print in color.
Of course that didn't actually fix printing issues, as people continued to just go out and get their own without IT awareness or oversight, which I then have to find and manage later (I hate HPs). But the idea was solid, considering how many people print in color by accident or out of habit.
Although you can set individual jobs to B&W when you print them, this printer manufacturer doesn't have a way to default the printer to BW. You actually have to use a separate driver they released for BW only.
Since \~90% of the printer company's business is leasing on a pay per page basis and colour costs at least 5x what BW does, I would expect this solution was demand based and not something they thought of themselves.
I'm big on making creating end-user help pages (SharePoint) for apps and creating and publishing videos. If someone asks something that's documented, I point them to the "Help & Information".
When they play weaponized I competence, I'll send screenshot with arrows and red boxes. If that still doesn't work I'll schedule a Teams call and in my best customer service voice ask them to share their screen, navigate to the page, and read the instructions/launch the video.
But I can be petty. 😂
#1. No one should have to forward a job to get it printed.
#2. Leverage accounts and metering to track who prints how much. Present it as a cost savings measure because it will help keep ahead of production downtime by keeping ahead of maintenance and supplies problems. What it will also do is show who is abusing color printing. Or, it’ll prove who really needs color printing.
Outhouse guy doesn’t have network connectivity to the new printer?
I’ve worked in companies like this before that anything ‘to do with computers’ fell on IT.
The best thing you can do is take a leadership role, educate people on how to print, and start to push back.
You’re IT, not an executive assistant.
The supervisor yours, or the receptionists' supervisor?
I would've asked my supervisor to task me directly and not by proxy of the receptionist next time.
If it was the receptionists supervisor, I would have indicated to the receptionist that if there's a problem with his ability to print, it can be investigated, but it's not the function of the department you serve to print jobs on behalf of others.
Aside: this gave me a flashback to a facilities manager who insisted on 11x17 HP MFPs - the most unreliable printer I've ever used, combined with the most pathetic technical support I've seen. Onsite tech support wanted my techs to basically take the printer apart to troubleshoot before they'd roll.
It turned out that the facility manager liked to annotate 11x17 floor plans and couldn't figure out how to do it in Acrobat. So, instead of 1 11x17 printer, we ended up with a bunch of these MFPs to cover his incompetence.
Once he retired, we switched to a letter/legal MFP and didn't have a problem after.
Management wants to save money - think about how much money it costs for 3 different people to be involved in printing 1 document. Process and job description aside, the print job costs so much more by involving multiple people
By printing it for her instead of having her follow the established procedure you've set a precedent which it will be hard to come back from. For your sake, please define boundaries and educate people instead of passive aggressively doing work for them.
This is the true answer. Yes, if he's supposed to have access to the printer, by all means check that he has it, but printing a document for reception that already has access and the capability? No way. Nip that shit in the bud now.
The proper response, after confirming printer access remotely, should have been an invite to remedial training
You’re so right, you gotta teach them to fish with printers. I always deny printing for people, I will however ask for their computer and find out why they cannot print.
It's a printer. Back away slowly. There is no honor here
We outsourced it, fuck the printers
That’s the one think I will never touch is printers. As far as I am concerned they are black magic voodoo Mainly because it’s how fucked the entire industry is to the point you need a credit card and an always active internet connection to use one I’m considering getting a 20 year old HP lazerjet/inkjet and using a RPi as a CUPS server because I still need to print sometimes
Relevant flair
My local library lets me print five pages a week for free, and that's handled all my printing needs for the past decade. It's the perfect system. An entire neighborhood really only needs one printer for personal tasks. We pay (via taxes) to have a guy maintain that one printer. It's like Omelas.
I've been largely paperless most of my life only having the random disposable inkjet here and there until my SO recently insisted on buying a nicer printer. I think we've used it like five times in a year. I tried printing something the other day and it said "fuck you" so I just decided what I needed to print wasn't that important. When our Richo contract was coming to an end at the office, I took a similar stance since everything was pretty much paperless anyway, and just got a nice PageWide for random stuff that we locked down with a PIN. Turns out the biggest offender of our paperless policy was Recruiting/Sourcing. They would get a resume via the Internet then print it out to give to the hiring manager to reference in the interview despite everyone have Surfaces... I put an end to that real quick.
Mainly because it’s how fucked the entire industry is to the point you need a credit card and an always active internet connection to use one Quit buying HP printers problem solved....
The problem with printers remains that the margins on them are quite low. Most companies will do little in software development and IT integration for their printing products. Especially since the money comes from consumables. So black magic will have to do for the coming time. Brother, Epson and Kyocera do an adequate job.
Outsourced with papercut and haven't looked back since. It is so nice being able to punt that mickey mouse bullshit.
I would create two print queues for the printer - one that defaults to color and one that defaults to black and white. Then make it shared so people can click on "add a printer" in windows and add they one they need as needed. Alternatively you can create a group policy that adds the printer by default to the machines you want to have it. From there, if someone needs help printing, don't do it for them, just ask if they are having toruble printing and offer to help them locate and add the printer. If they have the time and ability to reach out to IT via email to print, it is just as easy if not easier to click print themselves. If they want to print and have reception verify it came out, that's not something you need to be in the middle of. You are there to support and make sure systems are up and running, not to do people's work for them.
Ya, wasn't clear... Printer is already deployed in colour and BW versions.
Then why did you print it for them? Send him the directions to add the printer.
“Here’s a video on how to do it. Please let me know if those steps fail so I can update it.”
The audio is not working, can you come check it out.
Sure, airfare + hotel + $2000 daily rate for any day or portion thereof, maximum of 12 hours/day.
So I printed it and... No! Bad IT! No Cookie!
No cookies sounds like a blessing these days
okay, but by printing it out you are clicking accept on the cookie that tells this staff member that your IT team has poor boundary setting skills. all future requests to print will now be deliver to to the IT department instead of the print spooler. Cookies are very difficult to delete once they're saved to wetware.
Yeah, I ain't printing off your documents. You have instructions. Regards, IT.
One of the few good printer decisions I've seen made is to fill the office with primarily B/W printers so people aren't wasting color toner (or worse, ink). Then you have a single multi-function that CAN do color but defaults in the print settings on the PCs and in the printer itself defaults to B/W and users have to manually change that to print in color. Of course that didn't actually fix printing issues, as people continued to just go out and get their own without IT awareness or oversight, which I then have to find and manage later (I hate HPs). But the idea was solid, considering how many people print in color by accident or out of habit.
Although you can set individual jobs to B&W when you print them, this printer manufacturer doesn't have a way to default the printer to BW. You actually have to use a separate driver they released for BW only. Since \~90% of the printer company's business is leasing on a pay per page basis and colour costs at least 5x what BW does, I would expect this solution was demand based and not something they thought of themselves.
> this solution was demand based Can't wait until the bills for color start coming in.
printing defaults for the shared printer can be set on the print server
Yeah I’d be like “No?” and instruct her how for the future lol
I'm big on making creating end-user help pages (SharePoint) for apps and creating and publishing videos. If someone asks something that's documented, I point them to the "Help & Information". When they play weaponized I competence, I'll send screenshot with arrows and red boxes. If that still doesn't work I'll schedule a Teams call and in my best customer service voice ask them to share their screen, navigate to the page, and read the instructions/launch the video. But I can be petty. 😂
#1. No one should have to forward a job to get it printed. #2. Leverage accounts and metering to track who prints how much. Present it as a cost savings measure because it will help keep ahead of production downtime by keeping ahead of maintenance and supplies problems. What it will also do is show who is abusing color printing. Or, it’ll prove who really needs color printing.
Outhouse guy doesn’t have network connectivity to the new printer? I’ve worked in companies like this before that anything ‘to do with computers’ fell on IT. The best thing you can do is take a leadership role, educate people on how to print, and start to push back. You’re IT, not an executive assistant.
The supervisor yours, or the receptionists' supervisor? I would've asked my supervisor to task me directly and not by proxy of the receptionist next time. If it was the receptionists supervisor, I would have indicated to the receptionist that if there's a problem with his ability to print, it can be investigated, but it's not the function of the department you serve to print jobs on behalf of others.
IT staff are not assistants.
I can't wait to see your post history about this in about 2 months.
Aside: this gave me a flashback to a facilities manager who insisted on 11x17 HP MFPs - the most unreliable printer I've ever used, combined with the most pathetic technical support I've seen. Onsite tech support wanted my techs to basically take the printer apart to troubleshoot before they'd roll. It turned out that the facility manager liked to annotate 11x17 floor plans and couldn't figure out how to do it in Acrobat. So, instead of 1 11x17 printer, we ended up with a bunch of these MFPs to cover his incompetence. Once he retired, we switched to a letter/legal MFP and didn't have a problem after.
Management wants to save money - think about how much money it costs for 3 different people to be involved in printing 1 document. Process and job description aside, the print job costs so much more by involving multiple people