Speaking of engineering marvels, am I the very last one to notice the complete swizz that is printer cartridges?
I mean, I have a printer, and it won’t print anything any more because apparently the cartridges are out of ink. So, we have a pile of very expensive cartridges that we’ve bought over the years that seem like they ought to do the job nicely. Ink is ink, right? There’s certainly a wide variety of different numbers on all the wrappers and boxes, which aren’t the same as the numbers on the cartridges in the printer itself, but that’s probably just some sort of brand thing, surely? I’m still optimistic. And sure enough, when I peel the tape off and push the cartridge into the empty slot, it seems to fit in perfectly well. When I try to print off my French homework, initially everything looks good – it makes those chugging crashing noises that usually precede a printed bit of paper coming out , and there’s even a swirling circle on the screen saying “printing”…but it’s not to be. Even then it’s coy about what the problem is. The message on the screen isn’t “incompatible cartridge” or even “are you trying to pull a swifty by using a competitors cartridge? Shame on you”, but instead this:
Honestly, what does it even mean? What’s a printer carriage? I can’t see any paper jam or obstruction, I think the carriage could move perfectly well if it wants to, it’s just being obstructive.
At this rate, I’m going to have to print my homework off at work, which I know is naughty, but what can I do? Honestly, what can one person do against Big Tech?