Working the Printer

I have often seen the cliché of office workers gathering around the water cooler to discuss their weekends, which team lost, or how their days were going on television office shows. When I entered my office, I expected nothing different. I made my way to the kitchen at the first break in the day I got, but to my disappointment the kitchen was empty. Not only that, but there was no water cooler to be found. Instead, I was shown to a small, black machine that provided both ice cold, and near boiling water sitting on the counter in the corner of the kitchen. I thanked my guide with a smile, prepared some tea and solemnly returned to my desk. I had expected to meet new people from around the office, or at the very least hear some office gossip, instead I found an empty room.

Later that day, I was sent to the copier to prepare packets for an orientation program that we were getting ready to host. As I stood next to the printer in the mail room waiting on the 700 copies to finish printing, I noticed an influx of people. Around 100 pages in, I struck up a conversation with a woman who happened to be from Ohio. Around 320 pages, I met another intern from a different department. At 475 pages, I learned about a co-worker’s Peace Corp trip to Kazakhstan. At 600 pages, the printer jammed and I got to meet the man who kept the office functioning properly, and before I could press the start button another woman walked in. At this point I decided to be brave and struck up a conversation with her in Russian about her childhood and her life in Russia. I was almost disappointed when the printer finished all 700 pages.

It turns out you cannot believe everything you see on television. The common water hole where I was expecting to strike up conversations with other people in my office in an effort to network while I was in D.C. did not take place next to the water cooler, but instead the printer. I learned operating the printer did not just mean learning which buttons to push but also the office rules, the rights of the employees of D.C. (naturally hung above the printer), office gossip, how the different departments interacted within the organization, and perhaps most importantly: how to work the printer in more than one way.

-ES