I never get tired of observing how humans have severe difficulties at staying on the logical path.
Friday, 14:03. I call the print shop to find out about how I can get my project report printed. "Hi, I would like to print a lengthy text in book format, it’s about 315 pages and I’ll be needing it in 4 copies." "Well is it black&white or is it in color?" "Most of it is in black&white, a few pages are in color." "A few pages? What does that mean, a few? That doesn’t tell me anything." So I try to make up for the ‘appaling blunder’. "Okay, let’s say 30 are in color. Do you know how long it will take to print?" "Well that’s pretty straightforward." Yeah, great answer there, chief. But that doesn’t tell me anything, so I keep trying. "What if I bring it by in half an hour, how long do you think it will take?" "You can’t bring it in on a Friday afternoon and expect to get it done immediately." Oh my god, really?? I understand it’s gonna take some time but I’d like to know what kind of time we’re talking about. Time for a coffee? Time for a long nap? Or for a two month vacation? "Yes, I realize that, but do you think you can get it done today?" They’re open until 18. "I can’t say, if you bring it in, we’ll put it in the queue and we’ll see how long it takes." What is the queue a black box? Don’t you know what’s in it? Don’t you work at a printer? Don’t you have any idea of how long it will take to process what’s in the queue? "If you’re lucky, maybe we can get some of it done today." I realized this is all I was gonna get.

Friday, June 24th, 2005