Building death camps for our dreams

A true tale of the Systems Librarian's lot; a 'phone call from the Reference Library:

"Hi, we've got a lady up here who wants to print back-to-front."

"Printing the back page first or printing a mirror image?"

"Printing a mirror image."

"What's she using?"

"Can I put her on to you so that she can tell you?"

"No. You find out then I'll explain it to you so that if you get asked again you'll know what to do. Is she trying to print a web page or a Word document?"

"...I think she's using Word."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, she's using Word."

"OK... Ctrl and P to get the print menu [our security settings lock out the File Menu], then click on 'options'..."

"Here's Mary, she says she knows about this, I'll pass you on to her."

"Hello? Hello?"

"Kevin, it's Mary. I can do this on my printer at home."

"Each printer does it slightly differently. Can you see the 'options' button?"

"On my printer at home I just click on a button that says 'Mirror.'"

"That's what we're looking for. If it's available it might be in a different place to..."

"I can't find what I'm looking for. I can do this on my printer at home."

"Each printer does it slightly differently. What are you looking at at the moment?"

"I'm looking at the printer properties."

"Is it the laser printer that's on the desk?"

"It probably is."

"Is it? If we're looking at the wrong printer we're wasting our..."

"I can do this at home."

"I know. Each printer does things differently."

And so on for ten minutes. Sigh...

Any time you hear the person on the other end of a support call say:

"It's going to be somewhere around there someplace. I'll leave you to it then."

You'll know what you've been guilty of.