Friday the 13th Office Chaos: A Day of Printer Wars and Elevator Woes
At 29, I found myself on the unluckiest day of the year: Friday the 13th. Normally, superstition didn’t bother me, but that particular day felt like the universe was in a mood. It all started when I walked into my favorite coffee shop and noticed my usual spot was taken—by a cat. A literal, fluffy black cat just lounging on my table like it owned the place. I mean, who lets a cat just hang out in a public coffee shop? But whatever, I had bigger things to handle that day.
The real challenge came when I strolled into the office and noticed that the printer had decided to mimic a Vegas slot machine, spitting out papers in every direction but the one that made sense. I calmly approached it, thinking, “How hard can it be? It’s a printer, not rocket science.” Turns out, the printer had other plans. It jammed, screeched, and somehow printed an entire sheet of tiny, angry faces. I just stared at it, trying to figure out if this was a tech glitch or if the printer knew it was Friday the 13th, too.
So, I did what any entitled 29-year-old with a flair for drama would do: I called IT, convinced them it was a crisis of epic proportions, and when they didn’t show up in the next five minutes, I gave the printer a very motivational speech about how it was letting the entire office down. The IT guy eventually showed up, took one look at me, and said, “Did you try turning it off and on again?” Classic. The printer miraculously worked after that, leaving me to face my own sense of overreaction.
Later, I had to attend a meeting, which, of course, was on the 13th floor. As the elevator doors opened, there was a big sign: “Out of Order.” Fantastic. So, I decided to take the stairs, making sure to loudly announce that no one should be making us walk 13 floors on the worst day of the year. Halfway up, I tripped on nothing, like the universe just wanted to add insult to injury. I picked myself up, dignity slightly bruised, and soldiered on.
The meeting itself was about as useful as a chocolate teapot. The projector failed, the presentation wouldn’t load, and the Wi-Fi gave up completely. I suggested we all just call it a day, citing Friday the 13th as a legitimate reason to avoid work, but that didn’t fly with management. So we fumbled through, trying to read graphs from a laptop screen while everyone squinted like they were solving a mystery.
The consequence? I spent the rest of the day fielding questions about my attitude toward office equipment and whether I needed to see “someone” about my printer vendetta. Lesson learned? Even on the most cursed day of the year, maybe I could dial down the drama a notch—or at least not declare war on inanimate objects. And if something goes wrong, maybe just turn it off and on again… metaphorically and literally.
