Technology Gone Awry

Today at work was an interesting day. Not 20 minutes after I arrived the printer decided to crap out on us with one big paper jam. After a call to our printer folks (which I think is the same as our software folks but don't quote me on that) and a step-by-step removal of printer sections, we were better able to get at the paper. Even then, removal of the jammed article was proved to be much like a poorly played game of Operation. In the meantime, customers were streaming into the place and, without label-making capability, we had to write Rx labels by hand (pretty cool I thought, if a bit time consuming). After about 5 hours, the printer was functional again...to a degree. The printer houses a compartment for Rx labels and for normal paper (for printing bills and information sheets). Printing from the latter caused a little toothpick-like lever to move which brought the printer to a halt. Labels were OK and since that is what is needed the most we were able to crawl across the finish line for the day. A new printer is on the way and hopefully will be at the store early in the morning (thank god I'm not working though).

I could segway nicely into a technology rant now but I'm not sure I feel like typing that much. Long story short, the more mechanized society gets, the more can go wrong. Sure, things will always break down at some point. But having more and more tech around just escalates that risk factor to an almost daily occurence. And what the hell did we do without our precious cell phones? People, let's use some common sense. When you're making a transaction somewhere, leave your phone call for after you leave the store. No one else wants to hear about where you are right now, what you're doing right now, or what you're about to do before you go home. You know what would be fun? Cell phones that explode if you run over 1 hour a day. Yeah, that's what I would like. No one needs to talk on the phone for over an hour a day unless it's their job. Superfluous use of cell phones is one of the many reason I think people are stupid. And, unfortunately, they're everywhere.