A consultant’s productivity is leveraged by reliable systems. When my office equipment chucks a tanti, I don’t respond well. But this time, I have loyalty on my side.
Over my 16 years working primarily from a home office, I have had 5 printers. Some have come and gone due to technical malfunctions and others necessitated by a change in country and power supply. This week, my 9 month old HP6830 has come down with a case of printer head alignment-itis which prevents it from printing more than 15 pages before refusing to print black ink. Black, seriously. The troubleshooting requires a 3 level deep print head clean…at least 3 times a day.
HP is all over it. It sounds like a huge problem and the resolution will be to send me a new printer. I’ve been told to chuck the old one, they don’t even want to see it. But between now and when the new one arrives in 3 business days (plus a weekend in between) I’m at a standstill.
Enter the HP Deskjet 812C. This little beauty was the first printer I bought myself in 2000. Through thick and thin, 4 cities, 2 countries, it has followed us – always on the verge of being left behind but so reliable it’s like that St Bernard from the Bugs Bunny cartoons who shows up just in time with the whiskey. It has to be hard wired via a USB cord but it’s all about 3 golden words – Plug And Play. No drivers to download, no wifi to configure, no scanner. Just turn it on and it responds like an old friend – time and distance melt away.
So here’s to you Old Faithful. There will always be an empty spot of my shelf for you. They’ll never make them like the 812C again.
As Chief Strategist of Analytic Perspectives, Audrey Ciccone consults in the area of workforce analytics partnering with companies to develop their HR analytics game plan. More about Audrey. Contact Audrey.
As Chief Strategist of Analytic Perspectives, Audrey Ciccone consults in the area of workforce analytics partnering with companies to develop their HR analytics game plan.