Do Not Copy, Do You Copy?

(I am a service representative for a large copier company. I’m at an office doing maintenance on their copier. It’s a large, ten-foot-long machine with a sorter and stapler module. I have covers removed, new and old parts here and there, my toolbox wide open, and tools scattered over the floor and on the machine. The machine is turned on, but the display shows, “Diagnostics,” instead of, “Enter number of copies,” with interlock cheaters to compensate for the open panels. I’ve just finished the main maintenance and the copier is ready to be put back in normal mode, but I have to go back to my car to get some more parts to finish the job properly and clean everything up. I’m gone five minutes. When I come back, I hear the copier cycling down as I enter the room and find a secretary about to make copies.)

Secretary: “Oh, sorry… Were you working on it?”

Me: “Er… Yes… Didn’t you see the display with ‘diagnostics’ instead of ‘ready to copy?'”

Secretary: “Yes, but I simply turned the copier off, then on, and it cleared. You should put a sign not to use it when you do this.”

Me: *politely* “You mean to tell me that the open doors, the missing panels, the open tool box, the tools on top of the copiers and on the floor, old parts, rags everywhere on and around the copier, and the diagnostic display… all of those were not enough of a sign?”

(She grunted, took her papers, and stormed out.)