The Wonders of Technology

I don’t have much to do today, so this is a good opportunity to clear off my desk again. The end of the year is approaching, and some things still need to be on paper, so today I’ll be printing them out, filing them away, or sending them off. Good.

I turn on the equipment; the printer flashes cheerfully at me, signaling it’s ready to go, but the computer insists the printer is turned off. I love these newfangled wireless connections… when they actually work. After two reboots, communication was finally possible, so let’s get started.

Exactly one page was printed, and then the printer isn’t flashing quite so cheerfully anymore—it’s telling me the red cartridge is empty. So what? I’m only printing black text. But no, it’s acting up, so I’ll just replace the red cartridge and check right away to see if all the others still have enough ink. Great, let’s keep going.

This time I get a whopping three pages, then the paper tray is empty. Okay, I could have checked—it doesn’t take long, anyway—so let’s continue. And right before the last page, the black cartridge suddenly runs out, even though it still looked well-filled on the display just a moment ago. For a split second, I considered giving it a good hurl out the window, but then, gritting my teeth, I changed the cartridge—it’s only one more page, after all.

“Not a chance,” says the PC, claiming once again that the printer is turned off. Maybe a well-aimed kick....??? Well, this time just a restart—the desk is empty, everything’s done, and I’m completely exhausted. 🤣🤣

Yeah, Veronika, that’s exactly how it is! The annoying thing is that we “regular users” can’t really delve into the inner workings of our computers, printers, and so on. Sometimes I think there’s a cheeky AI imp sitting inside my computer who has a mind of his own… However, I can also clearly remember the days when I had to start a letter over on the typewriter for the umpteenth time because I’d made yet another typo. I don’t want those days back either.