You are free to continue down the road of being aggressive while not offering anything but riddle me this for a second: If this was not a color management issue how do you explain that test file I was given printed just fine as displayed while shot I have taken didn't when only difference between two is that first one has no color management info in it?
To claim I am being aggressive while not offering anything is absurd. I am very clearly pointing out that your original expectation (regardless of any color management issues) is flawed beyond comprehension and you need to clearly understand that. If your first print printed out just fine using color management through Photoshop, and your second print didn't using the same correct color management, then indeed that file needs adjusted. If you want it to match reality, you need to adjust it accordingly with reality in front of you. If you have taken pictures before and it happen to work, wonderful - that was coincidental.
You are trying to use a print as a method of determining whether or not your exposure is correct, perhaps similar to how a shooter might use polaroid to nail exposure of transparency film. They didn't do it with light meters etc. but by trial and error. If you want to "nail" your exposure by producing a print without modifications that matches the scene, you have to do two things. First you have to get some idea of color management and make sure you are following the steps. Don't take shortcuts, don't try to understand it (most don't), just make sure you understand how to do it.
Second, and this is where I think your methodology is completely out of touch with any realistic expectations, you will have to use a printer to base your exposure. Yes, you will have to take a shot, print it without modification, then adjust the exposure no matter what the meter says, until the print "matches". Of course, this ignores issues like the lighting on the print to be evaluated, as well as the fact with digital linear capture there is no point in this. There is nothing magic or special about 0ev. So logically instead of doing this, you could shoot 10 or 12 shots, ignoring the exposure meter and then print them out, picking the "correct" one. Neither of these makes any sense in a workflow involving digital capture. I would venture to say that 90% or more of the digital captures made require at least a small ev adjustment when printed to look correct. That's just the nature of photography (film and negatives were no different, exposure times and color settings of the light source varied with every single negative).
So despite all the other color management discussion in this forum and your attempts to get a grasp on that, you will be much better off if you quit trying to judge exposure based on matching reality to an unadjusted print.
good luck.
