As Easy As 2-1-3

(A customer in the self-serve copy area calls over for help.)

Me: “What is it that you need help with?”

Customer: “I don’t know how to make double-sided copies.”

(I see that he has two single-sided sheets.)

Me: “Okay, so first, put your pages in the feeder, face up. Then, under double-sided copying, we’re going to select 1-sided to 2-sided.”

Customer: “No, it should be 2-sided to 1 since we have 2 pages and want to make 1 page.”

Me: “No, the numbers tell the copier how many sides the paper is, not how many pieces of paper you want. We have a single-sided original and we want to make a double-sided copy. 1-2.”

Customer: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Yes.”

Customer: “No, it’s 2-1.”

(The customer presses 2-1 and hits start. The copier scans both sides of this single-sided originals and charges him for 4 copies instead of 2.)

Me: “Wait, no–”

Customer: “Yes, see? I was right!”

Me: “No, look… you weren’t.”

(The customer picks up his copies to see 4 pieces of paper, two of which are blank.)

Customer: “Hey, they came out wrong.”

Me: “Yep, because the setting was supposed to be 1-2.”

Customer: “Can I get a refund for them?”

Me: “No.”

Customer: “Why not?”

Me: “Because you asked me for help. When I told you how to do it, you didn’t listen to me.”

Customer: “But they came out wrong!”

Me: “They came out wrong because you used the wrong setting after I told you what the correct setting was. I’m sorry, I can’t refund you.”

Customer: “So the setting is 1-2 then?”