while on the topic of toner...

i don't like to brag, but i have a printer in my office. not just any printer--a color printer. this is not the case for all six (6) employees of this madhouse. the truth is i have one because i print a lot, and yes, a lot in color. somewhere in a small village in south america, children are losing their ancestral land so i can print an exorbitant number of color copies for this organization.

as m has touched on before, each of us has a very distinctive roll in this organization, so if you were to ask anyone who works here why i print so many of these precious color copies, the answer would be pretty obvious. but not to special k.

and so it goes that while working on a very large project we are launching, i had quite a bit to print. there were multiple edits of my work, the switching of dates, and other integral changes before the final shiny product was born. and then i printed some more. as per s's observation, special k has acquired the toner and ink ordering duties, so i have to go to her--and often--to order my ink. lucky for me they come in a 2-pack--one tri-color and one black. just what i need!

during this print-a-palooza of late, i happened to order two of these 2-packs. why not plan ahead in case i run out? why not, indeed. k took my order, delivered the product the very next day (thanks, staples!!) and off i went destroying native villages, raping sacred grounds, and printing my color copies. as it happened, i ran out of just the color cartridges that very week. crazy!! but given the nature of our business, it all makes sense. i decide to just order color cartridges, instead of the color/black combo. dear god, what a mistake!

i went to k's desk, and gingerly requested new ink cartridges.

"k, i need two color ink cartridges. i somehow managed to run out of just the color ones and not the black, so i won't need those." see how i make reference to the earlier order, thus making it obvious that i know i just ordered some??

her face falls, and her eyes narrow. she says, "well what happened to the ones in the cabinet?" she has a point. i did not check the office supply cabinet, because although there are ink cartridges for 17 different printers, there are none for mine.

"well, i've never seen the correct size for my printer there, so i didn't check."

frustrated, k rolls her eyes and pushes past me to walk--i presume--to the office supply cabinet. i follow in line, but instead of going to the supply cabinet, we go into my office, where k whisks open my cabinet and pulls out the half empty boxes (remember, the black ink is still there) and asks, "what about these?"

"uh. i used those. that's why i was ordering more. i only used the color. those are black. i need more color cartridges."

i see the light bulb of recognition go off, and then k, incredulous, takes one more inquisitive look in my cabinet-- lest i hoard office supplies--and goes back to her desk.

i got my color cartridges two days later.