Rick was a scanner operator that was hired two weeks after I started. He seemed very knowledgeable, quiet and no-nonsense. A tall man of average build with thinning hair and small wire framed glasses, Rick had been hired because of his extensive knowledge and work experience. His father, now deceased, was a titan of the printing industry. Rick, in his mid-forties, was certain to be just as good.

He worked third shift so I didn’t work with him until I spent a month on 3^rd shift. I’d heard the buzz in the building though, he was a master at color correction and was untouchable in the arena of scanning information. I said hello to him in the break room once or twice but never talked to him until he showed up in my domain, the proofing room.

Rick popped his head into the room and said, “Hey, want to come learn how to do some scanning work?” I was bored out of my mind and had nothing to do at the time. I’d actually been fighting sleep. I said sure and followed him to the scanning room.

We sat there in the darkened room as he showed me how to line things up on the scanner and explained how to decide what dpi to scan in at, etc. He showed me how to touch up images, cut a silhouette around something. He started to make color corrections to a job as I watched. Things got quiet. At that moment I REALLY met Rick.

“Have you ever seen Deep Throat?”

“What?!?” I snapped back.

“Deep Throat. The porno with Linda Lovelace where she’s going down on all of those guys?”

I was frozen in place. It wasn’t like working in the print shop I’d never heard anyone say anything like that. I was a 20-year-old girl surrounded by people in their late 30s to mid fifties. Most of them were men. The majority of the men were dirty old men. I was used to their attempts to shock me, to “knock the newbie for a loop”. I just wasn’t it expecting that from Rick. And not on the first day.

“No, Rick. I haven’t seen that movie. I must have missed it at Blockbuster. Sorry.”

He lost interest in the subject after that. Who wants to talk about his or her favorite movie to someone who has never seen it? The real outcome of this incident was the foundation for my Mac and scanning experience and learning what to expect from Rick.

… previous print shop stories …