He did WHAT????????

[Jimbo1]

Ok this will be a variation on some of the other stuff. This is something another tech or a customer did that just defied imagination.

I will start us off.

Shortly after I started in this business there was a guy who got hired on where I was at. He had just retired from the Navy and fancied himself very good with electromechanics and soemthing of a wiz at field engineering.

You may start to guess where this is going.

This guy went on a call to a high profile car lot in the area (BMW). It was a Lanier 6745 that was having trouble with pages sticking to the belt in the document feeder.

Here was his solution: First he decided the problem was related to static, therefore he got out his roll of "metal impregnated tape" which he hooked to a screw on the back of the feeder and fed it down where he taped the other end to the glass.
Then he went and borrowed a can of hair spray from one of the women in the office there and proceeded to spray down the document feeder belt and the feed/seperation rollers.

All the while butting in on a conversation two of the women were having about one of their children who was a problem.

My supervisor had the sprayed parts in a baggie at our next tech meeting.
The guys name became a verb like "Googling" and we used the term often when someone did something really off.


Next....

[blackcat4866]

I won't use his name, in case he's still in the business (for the sake of the customers I hope not...).

This tech was always doing something mind boggling-ly stupid. Here's a few examples:

When cleaning optical light source #1, this person noticed that the light adjustment shutters made little cuts in the back of his finger. So on every machine he worked on, he slid all the light shutters all the way back, so there was lots of room to get ones fingers in there. Never mind that the light balance was all screwed up on every single machine....

One day he shows up at the office in need of an optical wire harnass. Off he goes to do the install. Ninety minutes later he shows up again, needing another harnass.
"What happened to the first one?"
"I was putting on the last wire tie, and accidentally cut it in half (the harnass, not the wire tie)."

He could not resist squirting oil into electromagnetic clutches, making every machine jam.

He was his own worst enemy. =^..^=

[TheOwl]

a dose of blindness anyone?

I know of a tech who decided to 'SEE' if the polygon motor was actually spinning up in an old Canon GP.

After removing the laser unit from the machine and jigging it up so that the copier would still run, looked through the shutter to check if the polygon mirror was indeed spinning.

Just like everything else, warning labels are only there to be ignored.

[Jimbo1]

Had another guy who decided he needed to adjust the doctor blade gap on every call.

Last I saw he was manager of a Mickey D's.

[prntrfxr]

He did WHAT????????

How about not putting the screws back to secure the covers on a laser printer, because he didnt have time...customer decided to move the printer to the table behind his desk...you guessed it covers came off in his hands and printer hit the floor in 101 pieces.

...or tech goes 2 hours away to fix a machine, but takes no parts and no tools to fix the job. Makes a temporary fix using a screwdriver borrowed from the customer and a spring from the customer's ink pen. Then came back to the office and had the audacity to argue with me when I told him he would not be paid mileage for 2 trips.

...or installing a roller clip end first and ramming it on the shaft. The roller tab was broken and I had to cut it off the shaft to get it off.

The problem is that this was the same technician. Half the time I couldn't find him cause he was at stripper bars instead where he was supposed to be, on site fixing a customer's problem.

When I fired him, he replied, "Aww, that's just not fair. I know we've had our differences, but can't we work something out?"

[Mr Spock]

The problem is that this was the same technician. Half the time I couldn't find him cause he was at stripper bars instead where he was supposed to be, on site fixing a customer's problem.

When I fired him, he replied, "Aww, that's just not fair. I know we've had our differences, but can't we work something out?"

I did not know you were my old boss

[TonerMunkeh]

Best ones I've seen:

Superglue used on a Russian C3's hot roller bearings because the engineer couldn't be arsed replacing the lower fuser frame.

An Adonis C4 being run with no dev filter.

A Russian C2 with a horrendously melted back and side cover which the engineer couldn't be bothered to order. Power supply exposed, customer asked "what's that" while poking their fingers around the hole.

Some of the stuff I've seen has made me laugh at the sheer idiocy. Mind you, I bet there's worse...

[Xrox]

I once worked with a guy on Xerox high/Mid volume 1090's.

They had a big main drive motor above a registration transport.
There was about a 4" open area between them.
Well as time goes on the motor starts to leak oil.
The common practice was to SECURELY tape a rag under the motor and wrap tape around it.

wellll, this guy decided to go into the womens room, and get a "sanitary napkin" and stick it under the motor.
about 2 weeks later the call comes in .... someone clearing a jam (Female of course) pulls out this brown dripping pad.

It was the best part of the next "tech meeting"

[Eric1968]

What about a customer who climbed onto the copier to replace a light bulb? And yes, the exposure glass broke and his feet were between the first and second scanner assembly...

Or a tech who decided to clean the CCD. He loosend the two screws with the red markings.

[prntrfxr]

He did WHAT????????

How 'bout when your boss hires a driver but never bothers to check his licence and insurance. He drove his uncle's van with expired tags, on an suspended licence, with no insurance, and he was carrying a customer's printer and a full load of toner cartridges when the police pull him over. You guessed it, he gets thrown in jail and the van impounded. After a 3 days the customer wants the status on their printer (which was supposed to be repaired in shop. we put in a loaner) and the guy has no one in his family with the money or desire to pay the fine needed to release the van from impound. My boss ended up bailing him out and paying the impound fee. Licence and insurance was absolutely checked thereafter. No one was allowed to discuss the boss's stupid mistake after either, but it still was very funny.

[Jimbo1]

Yeah we had a guy who was originally from further south. He went on a call one day, got pulled over and put in jail on an outstanding warrant from a time when he was just visiting.

I guess he was legal. He was the same guy who wanted to adjust the doctor blade gap on every call.

[mikadonovan]

I had a tech pull a dev unit out of a Mita 8585 during a pm and after dumping the developer, he stood in front of me holding the unit and asked if I would vacuum the mag roller. Well OF COURSE I would. As he was not grounded to the vacuum, or anything else he got the crap static shocked out of him. I was grinning and vacuuming, he was yelling STOP! STOP! STOP!. You could actually see the static discharge between the mag roller and his fingers. I give him this, though. He never did drop the unit.

[blackcat4866]

Funny, funny, funny!

I confess it took me a few years to discover that it's best to keep a thumb on the mag roller while vacuuming. Later on, I rigged my vac with a brass grounding strip at the tip of the hose. This mod almost completely kills the static buildup. =^..^=