When we moved into the office, a new copier was delivered. She was beautiful. Large, glossy touch-screen with color duplex stapling. And it even collated correctly.

Which was all well and good, until she died. Violently, and taking a good ream of paper with her.

Mourning went on for about three minutes, at which point a loaner copier was ordered. This copier wasn’t quite as nice, and some sort of insect was living under the glass of the display. We think it escaped since then.

But yes – this copier worked splendidly, until just after the guy from the copier place left. As Murphy’s Law would have it, it as at this point that it died. The document tray, the paper feeder, all that jazz. It wasn’t cool.

Since then, things have calmed down. Both copiers are relatively functional, though the loaner does spazz out more often.

I also think it hates me.

Paper jams generally are that – instances where a sheet (or several) will get jammed in the copier somewhere. Despite this, the loaner printer, with a knavish grin, consistently pretends to jam. And only when I’m the one using it. It’ll sneak the first document sheet under the roller for about half an inch, and then quit. I don’t understand how that constitutes a jam, but it won’t listen. This happened five times in a row today, actually, and it only stopped when our local messianic master of copiers laid his hands upon it. Bah.

A pox upon copiers.