Printing Oops

This morning I made a printing mistake. I have a 100-page document that I am in the middle of editing. In the document are 10 chapters. I like to edit a chapter at a time. When I am done with the chapter, I like to print it out as sort of a backup. That way, If my computer dies, I will at least be able to retype or scan in the hard copy. This morning I went to print a single chapter but started printing the entire document.

The moment I clicked the "print" button, I knew I had made a mistake. Unfortunately I couldn't click the "cancel" button quick enough. My mind raced as to the quickest action I could take to keep from wasting paper. I already have enough scratch paper in my office from my wife and kids.

Ideally I should have gone into the print manager on the computer and stopped the print job. It would have printed out a couple of sheets, but that is not nearly as bad as having 100 wasted pages. However panic had already set in and I wasn't thinking too clearly. Instead I jumped up, ran to the printer, and turned it off. Luckily no paper had started to feed into the printer. Otherwise I would have had a nice paper jam to fix when I turned the printer back on.

With the printer off, I could think more clearly and was able to successfully cancel the print job from the computer. I then went back and turned on the printer. The printer's self-test verified it was ready to print and I was able to get my chapter printed.

It would not have been tragic if I had printed the entire document and so I was amazed at high intensity of the panic feeling I had. It was like my brain froze and I couldn't think clearly. I wonder if novice computer users feel that way all the time?