Artificial Intelligence Vs. Trained Monkeys.

See, I knew as soon as I wrote that I had nothing to blog about that the fates would conspire to do this. Here we go....something to blog about.

Seems there is some concern amongst the new generation that the world will eventually be taken over by artificial intelligence.
Machines doing the jobs that humans used to do with skill and precision, and automating it.
That fear is unfounded.
The world can't be taken over by machines, because it's already been taken over by trained monkeys - and the monkeys aren't real good at job sharing.
Case in point:
A friend of mine has long lamented over the apes that control her shipping department at work. Having been a victim of said apes and their shoddy attention to detail, inability to choose appropriate box size relative to shipping item and poor listening skills, I must concur.
I still held out hope though that my corner of earth had not yet been invaded by said monkeys - except that I was proven wrong today. They are here. They work in the photo lab where I get my pictures developed.

Here's the thing - I put my order in on Saturday. My carefully, edited photos - which look pristine on my properly calibrated monitor.
I even took into account that photos generally look darker in print than onscreen, so I again, carefully adjusted each picture so that it would result in print, exactly how I had envisioned them.
When I got them back today they were all washed out, far too light, and colours were way off.
Hmmm - Did I overdo it?
Silly me - to think that *I* might be responsible - after all, I'm a professional.
So I did what any professional would do - I took the same digital files over to Walmart - the trained monkey specialists - to see what they could put out.
Of course they put out perfectly exposed and lovely coloured prints. The problem being that Walmart prints are cheap for a reason - the paper is thin and while the colour and exposure were good - the actual quality of the print was.......well, Walmart.

You get what you pay for - and I didn't get what I payed for from the first photo lab - so back I went to tell them that I don't mind paying more for their prints but can they please bring *their* trained monkeys up to the quality and standards of the Walmart monkeys please.
Of course I didn't actually use the words "trained Monkey" - they like to be called 'lab technicians' - but I think theirs was eating a banana or something while my prints were going through, because honestly, they were really bad. One look and it was pretty obvious to see that the machine had gone a little wonky and the trained monk----er lab technician who is supposed to be checking each print for exposure and quality, well he must have been chatting on the phone or playing with something shiny.
I have given them a second chance though. The lovely girl in front was quick to point out that the whoever was working that day must have set the machine too high - since they tend to compensate most people's prints - because most people forget that prints are generally darker than they think they are - so the lab tries to make them happy by lightening them all. Forget actually looking at pictures - just lighten them all - and 80% of the people will be happy.
And 20% will ask them to redo the pictures properly.
We'll find out on Wednesday if the apes have had any additional training. Maybe I'll get the king Ape.
I just want my pictures back from a decent lab, on decent paper, with decent exposure. Is that so hard?
Apparently yes.