printing imbroglio

Subject: printing imbroglio
From: John Prince <Tech_Writer -at- WEBTV -dot- NET>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 15:51:40 -0500

First, please forgive me for venting; however, today I felt like I
walked into the twilight zone when trying to get some Frame documents
printed.

We are going to beta for a new software on Monday; therfore, I was asked
to do a rush job on three documents (a 180 page, a 176 page, and a 40
page document). Because I only had two days to work with getting this
printed, and because we are only printing a few of each, my only opition
was to take it to a generic "printing" place. I won't mention the name,
I'll just tell you it's open 24 hours (hint-hint). I normally go to
Johnson Printing in Dallas (who do a *great* job BTW), but because I
only had a only had a one-day turnaround, I was *forced* to go to this
place. "No biggie" I thought.

Anway, the first thing I did was phone to make sure this place had Frame
5.5. I was told they did. I then asked if they have someone on-site who
*knows* Frame. My contact said he wasn't sure, but I could work with
their "computer expert" and show they anything they may need to know. I
then asked if would be plausible to have these docs printed in my
allocated time-frame. I was told they can.

When I first got there, I was taken to the "computer expert's" office.
I handed him my zip disk and began explaining what I needed performed.

He then tried to open my files in POWER POINT (PP). I (nervously) asked
what he was doing, and he stated that he was going to print my files
through PP.

Me: "Uhm, don't you have FrameMaker?"

Computer expert: "No. Can't you open Frame files in PP?"

Me: (with clenched teeth) "I was told you had Frame here."

Computer expert: "They asked me, and I told them we could open them in
PP."

Me: "Go ahead."

Computer expert: (after trying) "Hmmm . . . that didn't work. What *is*
FrameMaker anyway?"

Me: "Are you serious?"

Computer expert: "I've been working here four years and we have never
had anyone request anything in Frame. Nobody uses it."

By this point you can imagine the state in which I was. I had thoughts
of how these documents where not going to make it to the beta (and they
are very important), how I was in complete charge of this, and well . .
.

I came up with the idea to go to my office, get my Frame CD and install
it on the "computer expert's" PC. This is a no-no, I know. But hey -
you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. (I did uninstall it BTW.)

Anyway, after installing it and explaining to the "computer expert"
about book files and such (no easy task I assure you), we proceeded.
The "computer expert," who obviously likes to play Technical Writer,
continued to tell me how because he had never heard of Frame, that it
can't possibly be a popular of a program.

I just smiled and kept asking, "Are you sure you understand how to print
this now?"




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