Thirty-one years ago, I started my career fixing copiers. In that time, I’ve met a lot of unique people, been to a lot of interesting places, and seen a lot of hilarious things. I’ve even caused a few of them myself.
Over the next few weeks, I’d like to share a few of the lessons I’ve learned from some of the more unique
TALES FROM THE COPIER!
This week, we’ll go way back to the beginning.
Back in the 90’s, I had to wear white shirts and a tie to service copiers. Yup, those shirts weren’t so white by the end of the day.
One of those days, I was working on a machine that recycled toner. Pretty advanced for the day, right?
Well, this day, it wasn’t so advanced. The toner was clogging up and throwing off the machine. So, I went in to investigate.
I detached the recycle pipe and popped it open.
If you’ve seen the TV show “Lost”, it was a lot like the “black cloud”. It enveloped my face, my tie, and yes, that no longer white shirt.
My customer laughed, until she saw her grey tinted carpet.
Maybe I should have been a little more careful.
Maybe I should have vacuumed off some of that built-up toner first.
Lesson learned, right?
Fast forward several years.
I was working on a small copier in a truck dealer’s parts department. It was a dirty environment, and the machine needed a good cleaning. I figured I could get this done quickly and move on to the next call.
I was wrong.
I popped off the glass like I’d done thousands of times. I flipped it over to clean the underside.
It decided it was a good time to prove the law of gravity.
Onto the concrete floor.
You would not believe how many tiny shards of glass can come from a single 11×17 pane.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been in a hurry that day.
Maybe I should have handled that glass a little more carefully.
Lesson learned.
I hope.
How often do we find ourselves rushing through life only to have our haste cost us?
Think about it.
We drive too fast only to get pulled over and given an expensive ticket.
We try to do too many things in the kitchen at once only to burn the main dish.
We rush through a busy day with our kids only to find that we never got any quality time with them.
What does haste make for you?
It makes me clumsy.
It makes me rude.
It makes me miss out on the important because I spent the whole day focused on the urgent.
What would it look like if we slowed down?
What if we could ignore some of those urgent things in favor of things or people that are more important?
Share your stories and thoughts, either here or on the social media posts.
Solano Writing 