No kidding, once when I was working in Egypt we got a brand new IBM multiplex, thing was huge. We had a new General Manager, a proper up-tight public school Brit who had never worked overseas before. Well someone had been sloppy loading toner, and the chap got some toner on the cuff of his starched white shirt - so he instructed the cleaner, a barely literate, subservient young Egyptian man to clean the machine properly so that not a speck of toner would be found out of place. He conveyed the instructions in the much the same was as you would expect that kind of Brit to do in those circumstances, and the Egyptian was of course terrified.
So that night the young man did as he was told; He stretched a garden hose into the alcove and went to work with a scrub brush, and the next morning it was sparkling - and sparking.
I once heard a story somewhere -- or maybe I read it in a book -- about some engineers who tried to fix a copier and ended up completely disassembling it before giving up, leaving it in parts for the repairman with their notes about potential problems they'd discovered along the way.
There was a short story about a guy who had learned to repair a few different brands of copier applying for college and getting condescended to but then asked if he could fix the machine in office after office. One guy finally got smart and called the admissions office and explained that they needed to give the kid a copier-repair scholarship and get him on board ASAP.
I met a few IBM reps who had started as hardware service people back in the white shirt and tie days. In theory there was a pair of paper coveralls you could wear to PM a copier but none if them remembered wearing them...
I became the designated copier-whisperer at Day Job until we replaced the beast. There was talk of trying holy water (religious school) and an exorcism, but the Headmaster, Fr. Pax [Franciscan] pointed out that doing so might lead to the copier disappearing in a puff of brimstone. If so, it would void the lease and we'd have to buy it.
LMAO
ReplyDeletehey, at least he didn't load it into the feeder tray.
ReplyDeleteNo kidding, once when I was working in Egypt we got a brand new IBM multiplex, thing was huge. We had a new General Manager, a proper up-tight public school Brit who had never worked overseas before. Well someone had been sloppy loading toner, and the chap got some toner on the cuff of his starched white shirt - so he instructed the cleaner, a barely literate, subservient young Egyptian man to clean the machine properly so that not a speck of toner would be found out of place. He conveyed the instructions in the much the same was as you would expect that kind of Brit to do in those circumstances, and the Egyptian was of course terrified.
ReplyDeleteSo that night the young man did as he was told; He stretched a garden hose into the alcove and went to work with a scrub brush, and the next morning it was sparkling - and sparking.
I once heard a story somewhere -- or maybe I read it in a book -- about some engineers who tried to fix a copier and ended up completely disassembling it before giving up, leaving it in parts for the repairman with their notes about potential problems they'd discovered along the way.
ReplyDeleteThere was a short story about a guy who had learned to repair a few different brands of copier applying for college and getting condescended to but then asked if he could fix the machine in office after office. One guy finally got smart and called the admissions office and explained that they needed to give the kid a copier-repair scholarship and get him on board ASAP.
ReplyDeleteIt was a story....
I met a few IBM reps who had started as hardware service people back in the white shirt and tie days. In theory there was a pair of paper coveralls you could wear to PM a copier but none if them remembered wearing them...
ReplyDeleteI became the designated copier-whisperer at Day Job until we replaced the beast. There was talk of trying holy water (religious school) and an exorcism, but the Headmaster, Fr. Pax [Franciscan] pointed out that doing so might lead to the copier disappearing in a puff of brimstone. If so, it would void the lease and we'd have to buy it.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1