Last week it was the laminator, this week it was the shredder, next week the binder perhaps? Or one of the printers? Or the toaster in the tea room? Or maybe just a something small, like a door handle. In acts of breathtaking stupidity I keep breaking things at work.
Last week I put some paper in the laminator without any plastic sheeting. The paper got stuck and rapidly became glued to the runners. I waited patiently, hoping it would somehow come out, but instead it began to burn. I hurriedly turned the machine off at the wall and called my job share colleague (who works a couple of days at a different office for the same organisation) to panic. She told me not to worry, to remove it from the photocopier room and put it in our admin office so no one could use it. She would then have a look at it when she was in the next day.
I did as she said and a few minutes later one of my colleagues came marching down to the office for an envelope or some such. When he saw the laminator sitting on my colleague's desk he stood and stared at it, scratching his head, wondering how it had got there.
I suppressed the urge to tell him that gremlins had shifted it in the night, realising that I had to admit to what I had done. Sheepishly, I sidled over and said in a small voice, "I broked it."
"You've broken it?" he bellowed, in his ex-army boom. I felt my cheeks glow bright red. My colleagues down the other end of the corridor must have heard that... A big grin spread across his face. "No worries mate, I'll fix it. It'll be easy!"
At that moment another colleague burst into the room asking me where the laminator was. I pointed at it, explaining what had happened. He didn't look remotely annoyed, even though he clearly needed to use it. Instead he rubbed his hands together with glee at the chance to take the machine apart. So between the pair of them they found a couple of screwdrivers and dismantled it. I watched, feeling pathetic and helpless - like a damsel in distress only without the dragon. I was grateful for their help, but it was painful admitting that the reason the laminator was broken was not because a piece of paper had just got stuck, it was because I'd put it in there without the plastic cover.
The guys bantered with me as they fixed it, but never once did they treat me like I was stupid for the mistake I'd made. It was only me that berated myself for my idiocy. When they retrieved the final offending piece of paper, which now bore a scorch mark, they handed it to me as a symbol of their victory. I stuck it to my desk as a permanent reminder of my stupidity. It hasn't had much of a lasting effect on my memory though, obviously...
Because yesterday, clearly needing to maintain my reputation for destroying office equipment, I ended up shoving too much paper through the shredder, and of course the feed got clogged and stopped working. Why I chose to blatantly ignore the '18 Sheets Max' sign is beyond me. I pressed 'Reverse' and assumed all would be fine, but no, this is me we're talking about, so of course whole clumps of paper had become completely wedged in the feed. I was too embarrassed to seek help after the laminator incident. So turning the machine off and unplugging it at the wall I first used my pen to try to break the paper free, then a ruler. Neither was adequate enough. Panicking I undid a paperclip and began scraping at the clumps of paper. It worked but very slowly, and only small scraggly bits broke free at a time. I was going to be there all night...
In the end I admitted defeat, scurried back down to my desk to write an 'Out of Order' sign, and confided in my only other female colleague what had happened. She told me not to worry and clutching a screw driver she wandered down there to try and fix it. I followed her, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, how much more would it take for me to conform to the dumb blonde stereotype completely?
Then one of the 'laminator fixers' strode in to use the photocopier. "Is there anything in this office you haven't broken?" he laughed. He then declared that he would fix the shredder, and excitedly took the screw driver and began to aggressively tear at the chunks of paper until they were all free.
He then grabbed a piece of paper and put it through. All was tickety-boo once more. I feebly mumbled my thanks. He grinned and told me that although he would now be on leave for a week, if I broke anything else I could just give him a call. Ha ha ha.
On the way out that night he waved a stapler at me, saying, "This still works, if you want to break it." I narrowed my eyes at him and walked out with my head held high, although I couldn't stop a big smile spreading across my face, because to be honest, the whole thing was pretty damn funny.
I am really glad to be working with such good-natured people. I get on with my colleagues, and we have a good laugh. We all tease each other relentlessly but it's never nasty and it makes for a good working atmosphere.
It's funny how at the council, people were horrible to me whenever I said anything remotely intelligent. They laughed at me if I corrected a false statement, declaring that I had too much time on my hands to know stuff like that, yet I was also indirectly referred to as a 'dumb blonde.' Whereas in my current job, where clearly I've made a couple of foolish errors, the opposite is true. They appreciate the good work I do, and are grateful when I help them. If I say something 'intelligent' they value it. When I do something stupid, on the other hand, they help me out and lighten the situation. It's a breath of fresh air.
I am blonde, and sometimes I do stupid things. But doesn't everyone?
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| Yep, that's 'blonde who sometimes does stupid things' me! |
Photo my own.
I'm not an angry feminist type, but I feel that women in general often get unfair treatment when it comes to incidents like that, especially in mostly-male workplaces. It's okay if they make a little goofy mistake, but if we do it, then we often have to spend weeks redeeming ourselves and proving that we aren't totally "ditzy". If I made a small mistake at some of my past jobs, I would constantly be nagged and reminded about the way I did anything else - even tasks that they knew I could do well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that you had that problem in past jobs. It's horrible to be made to feel like that. It was actually women who made me feel 'ditzy' and rubbish at my work in my old job. A couple of the men were patronising too, but it was a more female heavy working environment and I actually found it worse (personally, I know that's not the case for a lot of people).
DeleteThankfully, in my current job, if one of the men makes a mistake the others don't let him forget it too easily, but like I said it's banter. They all work so hard that it's good to have some light relief sometimes :) And on the whole, I feel like one of the lads. It's just my own anxieties about myself that cause me to fear and feel that I come across as the 'dumb blonde'.
I've definately gotten that treatment from women, too.
DeleteThat's so great that your coworkers at your current job are so much nicer! That sounds like stuff I'd do though, and I don't even have the blonde part to blame hehe.
ReplyDeleteYeah it is, it makes such a huge difference to how I feel about my working day now. As for blaming my blonde hair for my mistakes, my parents used to always tell me off when I did that because apparently it's not very helpful! I thought it was the ideal excuse, but I guess I shouldn't really be perpetuating the old myth ;)
DeleteI loved reading the description of your work tale woes and that in the end everything worked out okay and your co-workers came to the rescue! What a relief! Women can be tough co-workers-I agree. I used to work predominantly with men in EMS as a paramedic. Men are easy to work with (if they respect you) which the ones I worked with usually did and it was always fun. Women, can be harder. I work now with mostly women nurses in the hospital and there is a lot more cattiness and gossip that goes on. But one can also form very encouraging supportive relationships with women as well in the workplace which has been nice for a change for me. I just steer clear of those who turn their nose up at others who aren't as good as them :)) Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteGood post! Don't be too hard on yourself. Everyone messes up at some point or another!
Jeanine :)