I finally admitted our office printer is smarter than my manager

So last Tuesday, I was in the supply closet at my insurance claims office in Springfield trying to refill the paper for the big Xerox machine. I loaded the tray wrong (the guide was bent) and it started spitting out 87 copies of the same claim form before jamming completely. My manager, who was on a call, just yelled 'figure it out' from his desk. I ended up unplugging the whole thing, finding the bent metal piece, and bending it back with a binder clip. The weird part? The printer's error screen gave me clearer step-by-step help than my boss ever has. Has anyone else had a piece of office equipment basically do your manager's job for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

wells.reese13d ago

So what's the actual job description for a manager if a printer can do the helpful part better? That "figure it out" line is just a fancy way of saying they don't know either lol.

jamiegreen13d ago

Spot this everywhere now, like with customer service bots that just send you a link to a help page. The manager's real job is just to take the blame when things go wrong, because the system is built to avoid giving clear answers. It's all about having a human face to point at when the automated stuff fails, but that face isn't allowed to actually know anything useful.

the_laura13d ago

Honestly, that's so true. It feels like their main job is just to be the person you're allowed to be mad at when the whole system is broken.