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The day I had to choose between the copier and the cake
I worked at a small office in Cleveland about 5 years ago and we had this potluck for a coworker's retirement. My boss told me I could either fix the jammed copier in time for a 2pm deadline or go pick up the sheet cake from the bakery down the street. I chose the cake thinking it was an easy win but when I got back the copier had blown a fuse and the whole office blamed me for the delay. Has anyone else been stuck between a dumb job task and something that seemed harmless?
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sageross3d ago
Wait, the copier blew a fuse because of a JAM? That doesn't even make sense to me unless it was some ancient machine held together with tape and hope. I can't believe your boss put you in that position in the first place. Like, who makes someone choose between fixing office equipment and picking up cake for a retirement party? That's a setup for failure if I ever heard one. And then the whole office blamed YOU for the copier breaking down? That's INSANE. You got punished for making the obviously right call to get the cake for the party.
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nelson.nancy3d ago
@sageross that's exactly what I told my friend Jen when she had a similar thing happen. She worked at a print shop and her manager told her to either fix the binding machine or go grab lunch for a client meeting. She grabbed lunch and came back to the binding machine smoking and the whole team acting like she'd set it on fire on purpose.
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hannahw301d ago
Wait, did anyone else ever have a boss who just threw two impossible choices at you like that and then acted surprised when you didn't magically fix both? @nelson.nancy your friend Jen's story reminds me of the time I worked at a summer camp and the director told me to either calm down a kid having a meltdown or run and grab the inflatable slide for the end-of-camp party. I grabbed the slide because the kid's counselor was right there, and came back to find the kid had thrown a chair through a window. The director told everyone I "chose a bounce house over safety" and I got blamed for the whole mess. It's like some managers just set you up to fail so they have someone to point at when stuff goes wrong. Honestly, I think it's a power move to make you feel small and keep you from questioning their bad decisions. Your friend Jen deserves a medal for picking lunch and not walking out that day.
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