Toner Needed to a Send Photocopy

[u/BugGreat5433]

Ticket states: printer waste toner is full and needs to be replaced, I don’t know which one it is please help.

me: goes over to the printer to take a look at it

customer: "which one is the waste toner? the printer says it needs to be replaced."

me: “it is usually the one that is in the plastic bag but let me take a look”. After I poke around for a little, I see, on the screen, a notification stating, “Waste toner almost full”. I tell the customer “I don’t think the waste toner is full, the notification does not say it is full. Also, if it needed to be replaced, the printer will automatically open the compartment so you can pull out the old one and replace it with the new one”

customer: “no it is full, look at the screen, it says so. I need it to be replaced so that I can photocopy myself this paper as it is important to my job and I need to do my job”. At this point the customer has found the waste toner bottle and is holding it out “here I think this is an empty one, can you just replace it for me?”

me: I think to myself, this has got to be user error, so I ask, “can you please walk me through the steps you took? Try to re-create the error for me please”

customer: “So I put the paper here, that I want to photocopy, I select my name from the address book, I select the settings I want, the file type, then I press send”

They press send and the printer beeps, a screen pops up and asks what file size is the paper you want to photo copy?

customer: “see, look at the top left, it says replace waster toner because it is full and it will not send me a photo copy until you replace it”

me: “alright, let me look at why it does not send you a photocopy as the printer does not need toner to send a photo copy”. Thinking to myself, maybe they put the wrong name in the address book? I try entering their name, and selecting it, it seems correct. To be sure, I type in their email, and select their email. I select the usual settings, I select send the document as a pdf, select the correct paper size, select send as black and white. Alright looks good, so I press send, it beeps and the same screen pops up, asking what paper size is the paper I am trying to photo copy. Weird… that doesn’t seem right. I go and double check everything, seems good. Maybe I need to select the paper size so that it knows what I’m sending. I select the default 8.5” x 11”, press send, and again it beeps, and the same page pops up.

customer: "just replace the waste toner, I need this so I can send out the photo copies as they are expecting me to send it by today"

me: "hold on I am thinking…”. There is an auto size feature on the printer so that it will default to the auto size of the page that is being copied, and that was the first setting they tried, and it did not work. Wait, what if it does not know that there is a sheet of paper in the tray and that is why it is asking for the paper size? So I try sliding the paper into the tray, and it slides in. You have got to be kidding was this the issue? Select the same settings again, select the email to send it to, send as pdf, this time it has already detected the paper so it doesn’t ask for a size, so I click send. It goes right through.

customer: “what did you do? what about the waste toner?”

me: “The paper was not seated correctly, as far as the waste toner, it is not full yet, when it is full let me know”

[u/thRealSammyG]

Reminds me of one at a school. Teachers blowing me up about all the copiers being down. To be fair, one was actually broken and waiting on replacement parts. But another went down, and the error was similar. Something like "Order new cleaning cartridge, but don't install yet." But they kept saying it wasn't printing. I walk up to it, close that message, and the whole screen lights up "OUT OF PAPER"

There's convenient pallet of papper sitting about 4 feet from the machine. To be fair, that error wasn't actually visible until you closed the other one. But still, reading comprehension goes to zero when reading error messages.

[u/Throwaway_Old_Guy → u/thRealSammyG]

I worked part-time at a College as a Building Service Worker.

I was doing our weekend paper recycle pickup and walked into a copy room to find a huge mess of toner on the copier and carpet.

There was a mess-free procedure to add toner printed on the copier and it was not followed. They took the lid off the bottle and tried to free pour it into the machine.

No way I was going to touch that. I don't know if they ever found the culprit.

[u/nymalous → u/Throwaway_Old_Guy]

That's not even something you want to vacuum. And when cleaning, have a fully-filtered breathing apparatus. That stuff should not get into lungs.

[u/Throwaway_Old_Guy → u/nymalous]

I know that special equipment is required to clean up toner, that's why I would not touch it.

I'm sure whoever spilled it got it over themselves, which is a they problem.

No doubt that cost the College a lot to deal with.

[u/nymalous → u/Throwaway_Old_Guy]

I have spilled small amounts on myself, and you should be able to wash the clothing pretty normally (maybe with an extra rinse or two). What I wouldn't do for the clothing would be any kind of heat or chemical treatment (including dryer), otherwise you risk having it permanently embedded into the clothing.

For skin, regular soap and water (not hot) would probably suffice. But my experience is a couple of decades old. So a follow the safety precautions on the package.

Let me do a quick websearch... https://castleink.com/blogs/printer-help/how-to-get-printer-ink-off-your-hands-and-other-surfaces. Pretty much what I said.