<p>my friends always ask, i say yes but they should really have their own printer or go to the computer lab. the thing is, they ALWAYS ask. if the printer won't work with their laptop, sometimes they'll ask to print with my laptop.</p>
<p>how can i say no every once in a while without looking like such a jerk? i don't wanna be mean since they're my friends.</p>
<p>Lie and say that the ink is running low. Or tell them that they will have to start contributing to fund money for the ink. Of course, tell them nicely :)</p>
<p>Also, they should really take advantage of going to the computer labs/libraries/etc. to print stuff out. That’s 30 bucks down the drain! Might as well take advantage of printing.</p>
<p>How about something along the lines of, “sorry guys, the printer is giving me problems too, maybe its because its being overused…”</p>
<p>You could just be honest and say it’s a pain having everyone use your printer. Don’t lie, tell them it’s going through too much ink because people keep using it, and you don’t want to be buying ink and paper all the time. If they are your friends they are not going to get offended.</p>
<p>Or you let them and when you ask for a ride or a favor you don’t need to reach for your wallet to pitch in for gas/parking or feel obligated to return the favor</p>
<p>That would really **** me off. How hard is it to go to the library and pay like 5 cents a page? Ink costs money, and you don’t have any obligation to let them use your printer every time they need something. Just tell them that you’re sorry, but they have to stop relying on you for your ink.</p>
<p>^ Yeah tell your friends that ink is costly. </p>
<p>And like I mentioned before, each student at school has paid 30 bucks worth of printing at the labs as a part of their tuition whether they plan to print or not. And it only costs 5 cents for every one-page double-sided sheet.</p>
<p>So tell your friends that they are wasting their money if they are not printing in the labs!!! There are plenty of labs and computers on campus.</p>
<p>I think what you should do is find out how much the paper and ink costs then find out how many sheets your printer prints. Then you can divide how many sheets you can print into the total of how much they cost and then you can find the price per page. Then times it by 2 at least and that is what you should charge them. I think that would be fair. Or like everyone else said tell them to go use the computer lab.</p>
<p>Calculating costs, chasing after your friends for 10c, storing big jars of nickels, and exchanging these jars for $10 at the bank is not worth it. Pretty silly suggestion. </p>
<p>I agree with batllo, these are small costs and you can easily even them out without calculating costs or punishing friends. Let them use your printer and expect to use their stuff when you need it. You won’t regret it when a friend has something you need badly.</p>
<p>It’s not mean to say No, it’s actually more rude to say Yes with a smug expression (because you actually is starting to despise it)… it’ll hurt your friendship more than help in a long run. Explain to your friends how ink is expensive, and about the resources they can turn to (relatively ‘cheap’ since it’s provided by the school) or maybe suggest them to invest in their own printers.</p>
<p>how much is this costing you? If you’re replacing a $20 cartridge once a semester or something then I’d let it go. Basically you need to come up with a dollar value that doesn’t matter to you; under that then do nothing, over that and you should act.</p>
<p>And in fact life may be handing you a good opportunity here, to practice being assertive; the things we learn in college are much more than just the material taught in class. You don’t want to be taken advantage of, and yet on the other hand you don’t want to alienate your friends. Your responses can range from passive-aggressive (leave a used-up cartridge in the printer) on up.</p>
<p>I let people use my printer because I don’t use it much myself. To me, it doesn’t matter. I share most of my things (food, alcohol, etc.) as long as people ask, are kind to me, and don’t abuse the privilege. Perhaps that’s because it’s more important to me to help people/let everyone have some of my stuff than to have a few extra dollars. Plus, I know I can always go to others if I need something without feeling like a burden, since I always share my stuff.</p>
<p>^See, Wisconsinites have common sense.</p>
<p>^That’s all fine and dandy, but if you’re living on a strict budget every dollar counts.</p>
<p>^That’s all fine and dandy, but soon enough OP’s friends will have something that the OP can use/borrow frequently rather than having to buy himself. It might even be something quite expensive.</p>
<p>When you live on a tight budget, you clamp it down on yourself not the people around you. When you aren’t counting dimes spent on others, others aren’t counting dimes spent on you.</p>
<p>I go through a cartridge which is good for 700 pages every two or three weeks, so I don’t share because it’s expensive as hell. It doesn’t matter what other people have to offer me if I can’t afford to use my own printer.</p>
<p>Place a little jar with a posted note 15 cents a page,the money will be used toward future purchases of ink,which is very expensive.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. The thing about sharing everything is that i am on a budget, and i don’t want ink and paper to keep popping up on my grocery list.</p>
<p>But to my good friends I’ll be generous. everyone else can walk to the computer lab and shell out 2 nickels, or find someone else on the floor with a printer :)</p>
<p>justtotalk- care to give an example?</p>
<p>In three years of college, I have yet to find something that I would need to borrow from a friend.
I have my own car, so don’t use gas.</p>
<p>Edit: and in some cases, it’s not just “counting dimes.” My old roommate allowed her new suitemates to use her printer last year. One of them went through one of her ink cartridges (on her own), in less than a month. $30 bucks for a new ink cartridge is not “countring dimes” - especially when said girl refused to buy her a new ink cartridge.</p>
<p>I guess that I’d prefer to exist in an environment where I can comfortably rely on others and allow others to rely on me, rather than worrying about getting everything myself. Not everyone is like that though, and that’s fine. That’s my own personal rationale, not how I think everyone needs to operate.</p>
<p>For the record, I very rarely have to get anything from anyone else. But I still share anyway, because it makes me happy. Now, if someone used my entire ink cartridge in less than a month and refused to buy another, I would be upset, but I would have talked to them before it came to that. I’m on a tight budget too, but I consider it something I’m willing to pay for, to be generous to others vs. going it alone.</p>