Efficiency and Waste
I have a co-worker who's a little bit clueless about technology. I know, we all do. Here are some recent examples, though:
Until recently we printed out a daily schedule of classes held in our building to be posted for lost students (not that anybody looked at it, but that's another user issue). This thing normally took up one page. So this coworker was put in charge of printing out the schedule (which I used to do when I came in in the morning). After a few days, he came up to me and the following ensued:
Him: So I've been printing the schedule out at 70% normal size to save paper. I figure it's time we get more efficient around here.
Me: But it's still just one page, right?
Him: Yeah?
Me: Ah... okay, nevermind. What's the question?
Him: Well, it's a lot smaller on the page now, so I've been having to go downstairs and use the paper cutter to trim it down to size. And I was wondering, since we have all this technology...
Me: Oh no....
Him: ...I mean, printers are so amazing these days, is there a way we can set up the printer to automatically cut the page for me too? To save paper?
Me: [weep]
And then this brilliant exchange last week:
He was looking to order an adapter for some Apple video editing machines that we have--DVI to S-video, specifically. He comes into my office after ordering it, his eyes aglow with inspiration.
Him: ...And now we can get rid of all that messy equipment we have set up for importing video into the Macs!
Me: How do you figure?
Him: Well, I got that DVI to S-video adapter, right? And I know that every system has its inputs and outputs, and it does a little conversion in between. So all we have to do is turn it backwards and we can use it to capture video instead of going through those clunky VCRs! [We've got special VCRs with Firewire outputs feeding into our Macs.]
Me: Wait, you want to... use the display adapter to capture video?
Him: Yeah!
Me: By sending a video signal--backwards--into... the display card?
Him: Sure!
Me: I... I really don't... think they work that way.
I tried to explain the non-commutative nature of inputs and outputs in video adapters, but eventually had to just tell him "Well, then what would you hook the monitor up to? You wouldn't be able to see what you were capturing." to make him abandon the idea.
The kicker? This isn't just any coworker, this is a fellow member of our technical services team. He had a decade working as a radio engineer in the Navy. He knows technical stuff--"the inputs and outputs business". He's in charge of setting up these video editing machines.
Personally, I think he has a vendetta against my brain and is trying to kill it slowly.
Until recently we printed out a daily schedule of classes held in our building to be posted for lost students (not that anybody looked at it, but that's another user issue). This thing normally took up one page. So this coworker was put in charge of printing out the schedule (which I used to do when I came in in the morning). After a few days, he came up to me and the following ensued:
Him: So I've been printing the schedule out at 70% normal size to save paper. I figure it's time we get more efficient around here.
Me: But it's still just one page, right?
Him: Yeah?
Me: Ah... okay, nevermind. What's the question?
Him: Well, it's a lot smaller on the page now, so I've been having to go downstairs and use the paper cutter to trim it down to size. And I was wondering, since we have all this technology...
Me: Oh no....
Him: ...I mean, printers are so amazing these days, is there a way we can set up the printer to automatically cut the page for me too? To save paper?
Me: [weep]
And then this brilliant exchange last week:
He was looking to order an adapter for some Apple video editing machines that we have--DVI to S-video, specifically. He comes into my office after ordering it, his eyes aglow with inspiration.
Him: ...And now we can get rid of all that messy equipment we have set up for importing video into the Macs!
Me: How do you figure?
Him: Well, I got that DVI to S-video adapter, right? And I know that every system has its inputs and outputs, and it does a little conversion in between. So all we have to do is turn it backwards and we can use it to capture video instead of going through those clunky VCRs! [We've got special VCRs with Firewire outputs feeding into our Macs.]
Me: Wait, you want to... use the display adapter to capture video?
Him: Yeah!
Me: By sending a video signal--backwards--into... the display card?
Him: Sure!
Me: I... I really don't... think they work that way.
I tried to explain the non-commutative nature of inputs and outputs in video adapters, but eventually had to just tell him "Well, then what would you hook the monitor up to? You wouldn't be able to see what you were capturing." to make him abandon the idea.
The kicker? This isn't just any coworker, this is a fellow member of our technical services team. He had a decade working as a radio engineer in the Navy. He knows technical stuff--"the inputs and outputs business". He's in charge of setting up these video editing machines.
Personally, I think he has a vendetta against my brain and is trying to kill it slowly.
