"I Don't Know"

I have said lots of nice things about Lebanon lately; time for some venting. I had to run some errands today. Running errands in this town is a never-ending source of blog inspiration. Today is about people's inability to say "I don't know," when they do not know something. And this excuse of 'it's not polite in our culture,' I do not buy.

Today, I had to buy a photo printer. But I am not really sure what the difference is between all these one million inkjet, laser jet and photo printers. Maybe a good color printer does the same job as a cheap photo printer? And can a photo printer also printer documents? And which one is the best choice when I take quality versus economics into considerations? I thought I might as well ask the salesperson.

And so I got to Virgin. I look around. I see loads of printers, but only one with the label ‘photo printer’. It’s a $99 Canon. I thought they’d be more expensive. And what about these $300 color laser jets on the side? Do they do a better or worse job when printing a photo? So I get salesman #1.

“You know about photo printers?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says, with a friendly smile.

“Is it a good photo printer?” I ask.
“Canon is a very good brand,” he replies.

I have a regular Canon printer at home, and I find it a mediocre machine. Clean out of the box and something broke off, before I had even started printing. The ink cartridges are expensive and not everywhere available, the driver seems to clash with my computer system and needs to be reinstalled frequently.

"Do you have other photo printers?”
“Yes”, and he points at a nice looking color printer.

“It doesn’t say it is a photo printer.”
“No. But it can print photos if you want.”
“You are sure you know about photo printers?”, I ask again.
He nods.
“What about these laser jets?”
“They’re good too.”
“So why shouldn’t I buy a laser jet?”
“You can do that too. Here, HP, is a very good brand.”

“If a laser jet is good too, then why would I pay more for a photo printer?”
“Because it is for photos.”
“But a laser jet will also print photos?”
“Yes.”
“So what is the difference?”
He’s at a loss here. Although I have asked him twice now, it is clear I probably know more about printers then he does. He doesn’t know, but he cannot say it. He cannot say: “I don’t know.”
“Do you have someone who knows about photo printers?”

Reluctantly he leaves, slightly irritated (probably thinking, 'what a bitch') , looking for a colleague higher in the picking order.
Salesman #2 comes in, with a tad bit of an arrogant swagger.

“Do you know about photo printers?” I ask.
“Of course,” he says.
"Do you have photo printers?”"
“No”, he says, while looking around.
“Well, actually you do. That one,” and I point to the $99 Canon.
“Oh, yes, we have that one.”
“Well what about those color laser jets? Can they not print nice pictures?”
“No,” he replies with authority. “No, they’re not good.”
“Why not,” I want to know.
“They cannot print on photo paper.”
That’s a new one for me. I’ve always been able to drag photo paper through any of my printers.
“Why not?”
“The paper is too thick,” he replies.
So he doesn’t know either. But he can’t say it. He just can’t say it. "I don't know, m'am." He can't say it.

That’s it. I’ve dealt with two morons, whose combined knowledge about printers does not equal the accumulated knowledge of a housewife who’s been Googling consumer reports all morning about the pros and cons of photo printers that morning.

I’ll try again tomorrow. Now if anyone could tell me the difference between a photo printer and a color printer, that would be nice.

Venting done. Much better.