I got to do one of my very favorite things at my day job today...fix the copier. I'm probably the only person who likes it when we get paper jams. I just love to take apart all the different sections and search out that little bit of crumpled paper that's gumming up the whole works. It's just that inside a copy machine everything looks complicated but it isn't. There are diagrams and little numbers on all the equipment to tell you how it all comes apart and goes back together again. There's really no subjectivity about it, no right or wrong -- there's paper stuck in there somewhere and to make the machine work again, you have to get it out. Period. I find most people just give up too soon, thinking the machine is just freaking out, that there really isn't paper stuck in there. I like the challenge of trying to find it, taking all the different sections out and then figuring out how it all goes back together again.
Plus, I think there's something close to magic the way that blank paper goes in and pages full of ideas, thoughts, and words come out the other side. The inside of the machine always looks far too complicated for the purpose of it (there's a name for machines like that, Rube Goldberg or something like that? Named, I think, after this guy who would create this huge gigantic machine that took up a whole room just to do something simple, staple two pages together or something. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?) A complicated mass of levers, rollers, twist knobs, pullouts, belts and the smell of overheated paper and metal. The fixing it of it appeals to the logical side of my brain, "try this one. If's not here, then maybe it's over there." Keep trying and you will find the piece of paper, hiding away in some little nook or underneath one of the rollers. Such fun!!! But I honestly haven't a clue why I like it so much and others hate it.
What odd things do you guys like to do that other people probably hate to do? Let me phrase, for all those who might spin this right into the gutter *grin*, what odd tasks do you enjoy doing that other people might not? Doesn't have to be at work, either. Just curious -- I'm pretty sure I'm not the only strange one out there, I probably just have my own brand of strange, that's all!
Talk to you tomorrow!
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2 comments:
I'm with you on the printer or copier jam. I enjoy fixing it for pretty much the same reasons. It's a break from the norm, it uses a different part of my brain, and others give up far too easily which makes me seem like some sort of hardware wizard.
I also don't mind filing because it frees me up to think about other things. And because it's pretty simple :)
Hardware wizard...yeah, I like that : ) I also like this kind of thing,I think, because it's immediate gratification. It's fixed and working right away. You can see the difference your effort has made, you know?
I would like filing more, but I'm prone to getting paper cuts on my cuticles *shudder*!
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