Printer Problems Produce Persisting Printer Problems

HawaiianShirts · #1 05-09-2012, 05:04 AM

Somebody tried to send a fax from the machine near my cubicle today. He put the original in, entered the number, hit the START button, and walked away. He missed a step, though. He forgot to switch it from "Copy" to "Facsimile" settings. Thus, the printer started producing 999 copies (because that's its maximum, not the tens of billions a long-distance phone number would indicate).

Somebody noticed around copy 100 and tried to cancel. The printer refused. This person kind of panicked and yanked the paper trays out... all of them. Another employee came by and helped cancel the copy job and put the printer back together. The guy who had tried to send the fax got scolded, and the rest of us went about our day.

Then cube-neighbor Jenny tried to print something on that printer. The printer made a funny noise, then beeped and flashed an error message of some kind. Jenny is fairly computer-savvy (most of the time). She opened various panels and drawers in the printer and found the problem. When the paper trays were yanked, some internal mechanism was pulled out of place. It's not something we can fix without special tools. Co-worker Kara called the IT guys to schedule a repair, then sent out an email to our floor to redirect people to one of the other printers available to us.

Jenny, wanting to prevent further problems, decided to create an out-of-order sign to put on the printer. This would normally be a good idea.

Jenny went back to her cubicle, created a quick out-of-order sign in Word, and clicked the Print icon.

Jenny went over to the broken printer and waited.

The printer did nothing.

Jenny scowled at it, went back to her computer, sent the print job again, and returned to the printer.

The printer still did nothing.

They repeated this dance twice more before Jenny exclaimed in frustration, "Gah! I hate this thing! You stupid printer! Print already! It's just a simple si..." She paused. Her face turned red. She quietly returned to her desk, printed the sign from another printer, taped the sign to the broken printer, and took an early lunch.

When co-worker Dee returned from a meeting, I told her, "Jenny just tried to use the broken printer to print an out-of-order sign for the broken printer." Dee almost choked on her coffee.

bhskittykatt · #2 05-09-2012, 10:44 AM

That is just excellent! Though...that's also exactly something I would do, too.

Ironclad Alibi · #3 05-09-2012, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Quoth HawaiianShirts

When co-worker Dee returned from a meeting, I told her, "Jenny just tried to use the broken printer to print an out-of-order sign for the broken printer." Dee almost choked on her coffee.

That's right up with being told to send IT an email telling them that your email doesn't work.

rose_metal_nz · #4 05-09-2012, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Quoth HawaiianShirts

When co-worker Dee returned from a meeting, I told her, "Jenny just tried to use the broken printer to print an out-of-order sign for the broken printer." Dee almost choked on her coffee.

Brilliant! Ah, I'm sure we've all done something like it

csquared · #5 05-09-2012, 10:04 PM

I don't suppose she canceled the print jobs? If she didn't, when the printer is fixed, gab them and leave them for her.

Merriweather · #6 05-11-2012, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Quoth Ironclad Alibi

That's right up with being told to send IT an email telling them that your email doesn't work.

Or being told the company website has FAQ's to address reasons & ways to fix the problems you're having - when the problem is that you can't get online

TheSHAD0W · #7 05-11-2012, 06:01 PM

Years ago, there was a prank program called "footinthebox" for mainframe computers...

First it would send a message to the system operator console, saying: "Quick! Put your foot in the box!"

Seconds later, while whomever was as the system console was scratching their heads, it would send 5000 form feeds to the line printer.

The operator would need to run over to the printer and either switch it offline, or stick their foot in the box of paper, tearing it and keeping it from feeding through the printer...

DGoddessChardonnay · #8 05-14-2012, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Quoth Merriweather

Or being told the company website has FAQ's to address reasons & ways to fix the problems you're having - when the problem is that you can't get online

Had that with the previous version of the HellSouth DSL software. Had what was supposed to be a nifty troubleshooting program you could click on to fix your connection issues.

We must have had the same ISP . . . and it's run by Homer Simpson.

Alryk · #9 05-31-2012, 04:56 PM

I work for a company that deals in fixing printer/copier problems as part of what we do. This is hilarious. I get to see stuff like this at least once a week.