Break It Up
I haven't really been updating this week, because truthfully...it's been a strange one.
The paramount of the oddity had to be Thursday afternoon, when a client brought me an HP printer he needed help with. Here's the thing, while HP's website lists my company as a service centre, we aren't one. While most customers respond to the "can't-help-you" strong arm with only mild grumpiness, this guy wasn't up for it. He had me call HP's support number, and proceeded to ask for the phone and start screaming at the poor schmoe on the other end. AFter being told there was almost nowhere he could take the thing, he demanded to be contacted and threatened to sue.
Once he hung up the phone, he told me what HP had told him to do. I nodded and told him "I figured they'd say that".
At this point, he picked up his printer off my desk, hoisted it over his head and smashed it on the ground into pieces.
He quickly apologized, told me he wasn't mad at me or my company and left.
The damned thing must have cost him $800 when he bought it. And the dude threw a hissy fit like a four year old and destroyed it. I'll admit, the whole thing has a touch of OFFICE SPACE beating-up-the-fax-machine to it...but he's a high priced lawyer. He's the man. Not some poor schmoe getting underpaid to work for the man.
The aftermath is this...a digital photo of the wreckage which got emailed around the company at break-neck speed. Me howling with laughter when he walked out the door, and then again when I noticed my co-worker had set the photo as his wallpaper. And a story which just takes the cake as far as the strangest thing I have ever encountered in my career.
By the by...take a peek at my latest mix over on AOTM. It didn't get a whole lot of feedback when I posted it.