The so-called Technology

It was Saturday morning. The sun was shining, birds were twittering, a cockerel was crowing, the sky was bright blue and my alarm clock went off at a convenient 9 o'clock. "I am not going anywhere", I thought to myself. I reached out to my alarm cum mobile phone and saw two messages (it was strange. I've never got messages very often. Especially in the morning). It was written: 'Attached are the queries that have been outstanding for more than 6 months. Please answer these queries and fax. Let me know if you have any problem in answering them. Thank you for your cooperation' (I copied and pasted them verbatim. It sounds quite serious but, believe me, it only looks like that because it was written in English. It is similar when you think the food is better if it is written in French). I hesitantly got up and after a minute or so haggling with myself over responsibility versus comfortability, I was on my way to my workplace. Oh, and the other message was an advert about a musical concert taking place on that day. I've told you, nobody texts me that often.

To be perfectly honest, I don't think my deed would do anything good. Firstly, I've just started working a month ago. My knowledge on answering queries is the same with my knowledge on North Korean nuclear policy. Secondly, nobody really works on Saturday. I had nobody to consult. My bosses went for oncology update something in the city. Well, they are pretty busy people who don't really have time to answer queries in six months. I only saw an immensely nice cleaning lady who always gives me leftover snack smiled at me when I entered the front door. So why I decided to come instead of enjoying my alluring bed in Saturday morning? Actually, my workplace is slightly more comfortable than my room. It is more spacious, has tea/coffee maker just around the corner, has well-functioned air conditioning, internet connection, telephone, fax machine, copier, printer and stationery. It's a perfect place when you are busy writing christmas cards and new year greetings. Double tape, check. Glue, check. Envelope, check. All size of paper, check. And on Saturdays, I have the whole room all for myself. No kidding. All I need to do is to fax some documents and then I can use all my spare time scribbling my glittering christmas cards. That was my perfect plan. Little did I know that some plan is just not as simple as it sounds.

To begin with, the copier refused my original document. It said: incorrect alignment. Please wait for adjustment ( I have no idea what it meant, I was feeding the very same size of paper for the whole month). Only later than a few relentless attempts (including hit and kick the backside of the machine, put the ink inside hot water and cut the paper into halves) to fix it, it worked again. Then the printer produced blank paper. I opened its case to find the cartridge was empty. I am certainly not the best person to deal with machines. The secretary lady who at normal day would sit in the next room doing paperwork was surely busy enjoying her weekend. I ran to front desk where I found a man (I guess he is the receptionist, I am not sure because I am a brand new employee) and asked for assistance. He kindly helped me refill the cartridge, but when we put it back, the printer somehow wasn't connected properly to the computer. We repaired the connection, restarted the computer. But it took a couple times of test-printing before it managed to print a line of letters. And again, the printer did not work for documents such 25 pages long. I gave up and start writing with hand. When I tried to fax, not to my surprise, it was also failed. I was thinking to go to post office (It happened that I also had a few christmas cards to send. What a coincidence!) when I found out that post office was closed on Saturday. So that day, namely this morning, all I had done is fixing the so-called technology. When did people stop using carrier pigeons or running messengers? This is what happens if I pay too much attention to my mobile.

I should have stayed in bed. Happy saturday, by the way.