Last week, a fourth-grade lesson in the science lab meant that the regularly scheduled writing lesson I was supposed to be part of was postponed. This freed me up to tackle my long to-do list. After a quick scan of the list and the week ahead, I decided that I should no longer put off photocopying the test prep units, scheduled to be unpacked at grade-level meetings next week.

As I stuck the thick packet of papers into the top of the copier to feed through the machine, I said a silent prayer that all the papers would make it through and that the copious amounts of copies that I needed to make would make it out…without any drama.

Everything was going smoothly. I was copying, sorting, labeling, and placing the packets directly into binders I swiped from the main office. “How many binders are you taking?” the secretary asked as I walked out with eleven. Like I said, everything was going smoothly until…

The machine abruptly stopped and an alert popped up on the screen. “The hole punch receptor is full,” I read aloud from the screen. I poked my head into Dawn’s room, which happens to be right next to the copier. I relayed the message to her. “The hole punch receptor is full…remember that time we changed the toner?” I laughed remembering how I had roped Dawn into helping me with the task of fixing the machine…promising we could slice about it afterwards.

Dawn told me she had no time to help me…she was busy. So I stood at the machine, trying to figure out where the hole punch receptor might be located. I checked the screen again, trying to match the diagram it showed with what I saw in front of me inside the now open machine. No luck.

I checked the screen again. “Press here for video instructions,” I read. That’s new, I thought.

I started following the steps on the screen and when I held the toner cartridge in my hands, I knew this video was not helping me solve the problem I was facing.

That’s when Dawn walked out of her room, as I was replacing the toner cartridge back in it’s rightful spot.

“You’re still trying to find the hole punch receptor?” she asked…at this point, we were just trying to see how many times we could say hole punch receptor.

“Have you tried here?” she asked, opening the door clearly not represented in the diagram, the only door I had yet to open.

Sure enough, that’s where the hole punch receptor was located. An easy fix once located.

In no time, I was back to the peaceful hum of a working copy machine. Drama free.