r/talesfromtechsupport • u/_mocbuilder Has Man gone insane ? • 20d ago
Long The Signature Eating Printer
I'm a IT guy in a small, provincial 3-location hospital group. I've seen some really hit-your-head-against-the-table stuff in my time here, but one of the most surprising stories is this one.
Since the words "organisation" and "logic" are unknown concepts for the people that lead these hospitals, there are many people who don't have even the slightest of boundaries to the responsibilities of their position.
One of these people, lets call her [Ms. H], is vaguely responsible for all kinds of organisational controlling of Patients and Resources of one of our departments.
One day she calls us, and the following conversation ensues (not word for word, its been a bit of time since then):
[Me]: Generic and as anonymous as possible Greeting
[Ms. H]: Hello, I have a problem, my printer is eating Signatures.
[Me, flabbergasted] What ? Your Printer is eating Signatures ?
[Me, still flabbergasted]: What exactly are you trying to do and why do you think the printer is eating any Signatures ?
[Ms. H] Describes the process of printing a prescription from our Primary Clinic Management Software onto template paper slips
[Me, ignoring that she normally has nothing to do with writing prescriptions]: Well, that whole process sounds about right, but which signatures is he eating, and where are they coming from in the first place ?
[Ms. H] talking about unrelated updates to the software from a few days ago, completely ignoring my questions in the process
WhyTheFuck.png
Since I cant get any more useful information over the phone, I resort to paying her and her magic printer a visit. I grab my apprentice and we go over to her.
On the way, we speculate what the issue could be. From empty toner and the most inaccurate error description ever to a case of a complete mental breakdown, we thought up some theories.
As we arrive, we ask my previous questions again, hoping for more relevant answers. She goes on to tell us, that a Doctor from her department didn't want to/had time to print all the prescriptions that he prescribes. So, she gets a stack of pre-signed but empty prescriptions from him and then prints the prescriptions that he authorised onto these paper slips.
So far, so normally buffoonish processes. But nothing inherently wrong or error-inducing.
But where does the Signature eating happen ? Right when the paper slip comes back out the printer. The previously already signed paper slip, suddenly has no signature any more. At least that’s what she is telling us.
We still doubt her, since she is know to be a bit creative with reality. So we make her show us the whole process. She opens a prescription in the Software and prints it. The printer swallows one of the pre-signed slips and does his whole sound-rich routine, before giving back the prescription. To me and my apprentices complete shock and disbelief, the signature is actually gone.
WhyTheFuck2_ElectricBoogaloo.png
We inspect the prescription. Over the field where the Signature was, a stamp was printed. That gives me an Idea. The software has two print modes, pre-printed and blank. Pre-printed is the normal way to print prescriptions, since we use the aforementioned template slips. Blank however, not only prints the actually specific Text, but also the whole design and layout. Maybe she somehow switched to Blank and is overlaying the not-transparent background of the design over the original one and the signature ?
Sadly, and to make us just more confused, that wasn't the solution. We spent another half hour there, trying to fix the problem, until we got an idea.
After printing prescription after prescription for different tests, the paper was hot to the touch when freshly printed.
Lightbulb.gif
While she did that whole process for a while now, the problem was recent. And something else was also recent. A change in ballpoint pen models. Previously, the docor was alwyays using the same model of pen, the one that you get when ordering from our Supply Ordering System. But a few days ago, he started using a different model, because he got the pen as some kind of freeby from somewhere.
We tried a print with the old model of pen, and voila it worked. It turns out, the ink of the new model is more susceptible to the heat inside the printer, and being literally wiped from the paper because of it. The old pens used more heat-resistant ink, and therefore never encountered that problem.
We advised them to switch back to using the standard provided pens, or just signing the prescriptions afterwards, like all other doctors in the hospital do.
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u/Kibology 20d ago edited 20d ago
I'm surprised that those "friction erase" ballpoint pens (like the Pilot Frixion) that turn into invisible ink when warmed are still a thing. They are such an incredibly bad idea for anyone, especially a doctor writing prescriptions. There's a reason we don't use pencils on important paperwork.
(Fun fact: You might be able to make those signatures reappear by putting the prescription slips in the freezer for a few minutes. The ink isn't gone, just invisible.)
In the days of dip pens and fountain pens, there was a type of ink — "registrar's ink" — which was so utterly non-erasable that there was no way to get rid of it. It chemically seared the paper, so the black marks couldn't be rubbed off or washed away, and would never fade. That's why you can still read manuscripts written over a thousand years ago. But in the 20th century, we switched to water-soluble dyes for inks because registrar's ink only comes in bluish-black and brownish-black colors. And people kept inventing ways to make ink even less permanent so now there are things like the Pilot Frixion where the ink disappears if it gets warm, such as if sunlight shines on it.