Copy mom soggy

This is a really boring post. I mean REALLY. Don't bother to read it. It's so mundane, I was bored while writing it.

Still here? Okay, don't blame me when you get bored.


So I went to make the copies for the Kindergarten, like I do every Thursday.

The teachers have enough CRAP to do without having to stand in front of a cranky machine for...well, it would take each of them about 45 minutes to do it themselves.

That's 45 minutes they could use to do all the No Child Left Behind paperwork. Which is also CRAP but it's also the law, dammit.

I got there, got the folder of stuff to do, and started...say it together now:

"Makin' copies!"

'Cept I couldn't.

I usually use this big copier in the copy room that also houses the teachers' mailboxes. When I got there, there was a stack of about 3 reams of paper, sans wrappers, sitting on top of the machine with a note that a service call was in.

So back to Ms. Twain I went. Ms. Twain is my son's teacher. She very nicely called Mrs. Cloud for me. Mrs. Cloud is the person who's in charge of putting in service calls, unjamming the machine, and she takes all the flack for the crappy copier that usually is messed up by user error.

Mrs. Cloud gave her permission for me to use it anyway. Mrs. Cloud knows I can undo jams that others can't.

I had no problems with my copies.

Then the 1st grade copy volunteer came in and...she had problems. I took note that she was making 2-sided copies.

However, someone passing through claimed that it had jammed on 1-sided copies also.

I called bullshit. In my mind anyway.

So the 1st grade volunteer went away (good for me, because damn it, she was horning in my specified time!)

I kept copying. I had no problems.

And then...THE COPY TECHNICIAN SHOWED UP!

(Until today I had doubted his existence.)

I offered to go away. He said no, but he would do some eval while I coped.

He did this thing where he took the front door off the copier, and then stuck a plastic doohickey in the latch so the machine would think it was closed.

Then he sat there and watched the copies go through.

I made copies. I stapled stuff. I staple a LOT of stuff.

We chatted. The copy guy goes on vacation this week; he had to dismantle an entire copier and put it together earlier this morning; he plays classical guitar at Half Price Books down south of here, twice a month; people should never put lots of paper in the copier when it's about to rain; people should always make sure the paper supply is really straight when they put it in the copier.

He couldn't find anything wrong with the copier itself, until he did a duplex (2-sided) copy.

There was a little tiny torn piece of paper stuck in the duplexing rollers. I laughed and told him it was like the original computer bug.

He seemed to think the idea of keeping the "bug" (actually a moth) was kinda gross.

Which it is, come to think of it.

Anyway, the copies seemed to go off without a hitch after that. Which I figured would be the case.

(Hell, I coulda called bullshit out loud earlier!)

(Oh, wait. It's an elementary school, so, um...no.)

The 2nd grade copy moms finished their copies. I hope they made it to their lunch date! And then I finished mine. In fact, I did too many, damn it. (This has to do with which teacher tells me which and how many copies to make, and when.)

Two hours, 45 minutes. Say it together, now:

"Makin' copies!"

Days like this, I remind myself I have a Master's degree.

But at least I'm a copy goddess!