I am choosing this opportune (?) moment to post a revised edition of the review of my printer’s user manual I did in the early days of this blog. As I attempt to complete the paper counterpart to my master’s project, ye olde printer is causing me no end of grief.
Welcome to hell
—User Manual (translated)
Epson. (The 21st century, one would hope). Quick Guide and User Manual. Somewhere, Hellifiknow: Printed in Thailand.
Although fiction seems to have a monopoly on literature that makes its readers go ‘WTF’, the realms of nonfiction are fully capable of holding their own—case in point, the user manual for my printer. I was re-reminded of this fact while attempting to print a formatting proof of my master’s paper in black and white. When I was unsuccessful, I naturally consulted my useless—excuse me, user manual, as well as the (not actually) quick-start guide. Neither document offered any help whatsoever, leaving me to my own devices. Behold, a summary:
- Hitting the printer with a middling-size textbook proved ineffective.
- Hitting the printer with a larger textbook proved equally ineffective.
- Updating the drivers resolved the problem.
- A new problem soon arose.
- And by soon, I mean immediately.
- It still would not print black.
- Also, it was guzzling through yellow and magenta cartridges.
- Attempting to clean the black print head was unsuccessful.
- Attempting to jimmy a black ink cartridge into the cyan slot was unsuccessful.
- It was at this point that I gave up in disgust and printed my paper from the campus print stop.
How it got published: Bare minimum of effort
Rating: Worse than nothing
Originally published: 08.18.2016
Revised: 11.19.2019
Revision published: 11.21.2019
Short and Sweet WTF 