as it probably does to you right now. Called the head of maintenance and asked what's up with my papercutter and he told me he was told to get rid of it because the insurance carrier said it was too dangerous for students to operate. "But, they used it for 32 years when I taught school and never had one accident," I told him. "Not only that, I'm hired as an independent contractor now to do the school printing and I need the papercutter!" He said he would check and get right back to me. Five minutes later he told me it was sold by mistake. "Yeah, right," I said. "Well go get it back." A few minutes later I got another call and was told it was not destroyed yet, but the only way I was getting it back was to pay for it and I had to have it on my property. I had to pay $250 for something I had used for years without any problems, and I now have it in my garage, and every job I trim on it I charge an extra fee to the school district for it's use. That was over three years ago I bought it and many, many jobs trimmed on it. Guess who's getting the better end of that deal now? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The "Guillotine Debacle" Story
It was an ordinary day. I had just returned from school with a carton of paper that needed to be trimmed. I have a big, no make that a REALLY BIG, guillotine papercutter in my garage. Use it all the time for jobs I do at school. The papercutter used to be in room 308, the graphic arts room, at the high school. It was in the high school when I was a student there and then for the 32 years that I taught at the building and then for 6 more after I retired from teaching, but still did the in-house printing. Then, when the high school was renovated, it was moved to a single family house next to the campus which the school district owned and was planning on some day demolishing for more parking. The entire printing shop was moved along with the paper cutter. And then ........ one day during the summer I went to work at the building and noticed something different about the room when I walked in the door. There was no papercutter! OK, no one can steal something that takes a tow motor to move. I called the maintenance garage which was right next to the house and asked if they knew anything about the papercutter. Yep, they knew. The school district sold it for scrap!! Made as much sense to me as it probably does to you right now. Called the head of maintenance and asked what's up with my papercutter and he told me he was told to get rid of it because the insurance carrier said it was too dangerous for students to operate. "But, they used it for 32 years when I taught school and never had one accident," I told him. "Not only that, I'm hired as an independent contractor now to do the school printing and I need the papercutter!" He said he would check and get right back to me. Five minutes later he told me it was sold by mistake. "Yeah, right," I said. "Well go get it back." A few minutes later I got another call and was told it was not destroyed yet, but the only way I was getting it back was to pay for it and I had to have it on my property. I had to pay $250 for something I had used for years without any problems, and I now have it in my garage, and every job I trim on it I charge an extra fee to the school district for it's use. That was over three years ago I bought it and many, many jobs trimmed on it. Guess who's getting the better end of that deal now? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
as it probably does to you right now. Called the head of maintenance and asked what's up with my papercutter and he told me he was told to get rid of it because the insurance carrier said it was too dangerous for students to operate. "But, they used it for 32 years when I taught school and never had one accident," I told him. "Not only that, I'm hired as an independent contractor now to do the school printing and I need the papercutter!" He said he would check and get right back to me. Five minutes later he told me it was sold by mistake. "Yeah, right," I said. "Well go get it back." A few minutes later I got another call and was told it was not destroyed yet, but the only way I was getting it back was to pay for it and I had to have it on my property. I had to pay $250 for something I had used for years without any problems, and I now have it in my garage, and every job I trim on it I charge an extra fee to the school district for it's use. That was over three years ago I bought it and many, many jobs trimmed on it. Guess who's getting the better end of that deal now? It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment