He Was Tasked with Training Lazy Replacements In the Printer Room, But When the Machines Jammed, He Knew Just What To Say.

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In the bustling printer room of a major company during the 1990s, the Original Poster (OP) found himself battling temperamental machines and tasked with training two insufferable replacements. As OP meticulously documented their every failure, the fateful day arrived when these two were left to handle the printer room on their own. But when the machinery began to jam, chaos unfolded, leaving the company on the brink of a catastrophic financial loss.

Printer Room Kingdom

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OP managed the printer room of a major company during the ‘90s. It was crucial for shipping orders since everything required printed labels. Without these labels, the company’s products couldn’t be shipped out.

Machines with Personalities

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The company had seven large dot matrix printers, each with its own quirks. They were known to be temperamental and wouldn’t stop printing even if jammed. It was imperative to handle them with precision to avoid major malfunctions.

Dance of the Printers

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Working the room was a two-person job due to the unique characteristics of each printer. While the job had quiet moments, it would explode into chaos every hour as batches of orders came through. If mishandled, the printers would jam, causing backlogs.

Two Weeks of Hell

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When OP started, training lasted two grueling weeks alongside two veteran employees. The training was intense due to the intricate nature of the job and the peculiarities of each printer. The dynamics made the job extremely challenging and demanding.

Alone in the Storm

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OP’s coworker suddenly quit, leaving OP to manage the room alone. The new recruit turned out to be incredibly lazy and was fired shortly after training. This left OP as the sole guardian of the printer room.

The Replacement Fiasco

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Management decided to phase out OP’s position and replace him with two transfers from another department. The catch was OP had to train his own replacements while knowing he’d be out of a job soon. And for his future endeavors, he needed a good recommendation from the company.

A Pair of Nightmares

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The two replacements turned out to be downright lazy and arrogant, having been with the company for years and feeling secure due to their connections at the top. They blatantly disregarded OP’s training, often laughing off instructions or disappearing entirely. This left OP shouldering a job meant for two.

Paper Trail of Laziness

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Considering the necessity of a good recommendation, OP began documenting every failure and refusal of the new employees. This meticulous record was shared with his supervisor and entered into official company files. Still, the head office remained apathetic.

Day of Reckoning

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On OP’s last day, the training plan called for the new recruits to run the printer room solo without assistance. As the inevitable chaos began to unfold, OP was specifically instructed, in writing, not to intervene under any circumstances.

Crash, Bang, Boom

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Predictably, minutes into their solo stint, the replacements caused the biggest printer to jam. Completely clueless about resolving the jam, they looked to OP for help. Mimicking their earlier arrogance, OP declined assistance.

The Domino Effect

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The printer room descended into mayhem as a second printer jammed, followed swiftly by a third. As paper spilled out and alarms sounded, OP cheerily announced he was off to the cafeteria, leaving the replacements to their own devices.

Supervisory Vindication

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Informed of the chaos, OP’s supervisor confirmed he had foreseen this disaster. Despite the escalating crisis, he reemphasized to OP the directive to stay away from the printer room. With an entire day off, OP settled down in the cafeteria.

A Costly Downfall

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The news reached OP that all the printers in the room were jammed or broken. With every passing minute, the company lost thousands. The gravity of the situation became increasingly palpable.

Please and Panic

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As the hours ticked by, shipper/receiving supervisors approached OP in desperation, begging him to intervene. But OP, hands tied by the directive, could only refuse. Panic began to ripple throughout the company.

The Memo Shield

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Whenever someone attempted to blame OP for the fiasco, his supervisor would step in, presenting the memo from top management that forbade OP from intervening. This shielded OP from any direct responsibility for the day’s disaster.

Was The Man’s Behavior Appropriate?

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OP posted his story online for feedback and validation from the internet community. The readers in the forum had a lot of mixed views on the matter.

Forum Responds

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One reader said, “These sound like older high-capacity dot matrix printers. If you think printers are annoying now, you would be shocked.”

Another Commenter Thinks

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Another responder wrote, “I had to train someone in making big reels of paper into small reels, and how to load these small reels onto The Machine That Must Always Run. It was a big task and vital to the business.”

A Third View on The Story

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A different person stated, “Anyone who’s worked with even small desktop unit dot matrix printers knows exactly how temperamental those things are, and they can smell fear and weakness.”

A Final Perspective on the Matter

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Another reader commented, “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I used to repair large format and high-speed Okidata printers. Reading this gave me some PTSD. But this line hit home: ‘a problem in one printer could have a different fix than the same problem in another.’ So true.”