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The feature is called "unified inbox" - faxes appear as a PDF attachment in an email inbox somewhere. If the government department had a unified inbox for emai

by canucker2016 7mo ago

The feature is called "unified inbox" - faxes appear as a PDF attachment in an email inbox somewhere. If the government department had a unified inbox for emails/faxes accessible by workers, then there wouldn't have been any "pain" in the form of consumables by the fax machine. That was my worry. Luckily for the author, the article says the fax number was handled by an old-school, real-life fax machine: It was Karen. She sounded breathless. She sounded like she was standing next to a machine that was hyperventilating. In the background, I could hear a rhythmic whir-chunk, whir-chunk. "Yes?" I answered, my voice the picture of innocent helpfulness. "Sir, please. You have to stop the fax. It’s… it’s been printing for an hour. It’s jamming the machine. We’re out of toner."

TeMPOraL 7mo ago
Yup. Myself, I only saw one fax machine in actual operation in my life, some 15 years ago in a large government physics lab in United Kingdom. That machine sat on a desk near me, and would absolutely print anything and everything that would be sent to it. Since we were a small internal software team in a big physics lab (vs. front-line customer service), it wasn't used much - I only ever saw it print automobile ads, at the rate about one per day.
catapart 7mo ago
> Luckily for the author, the article says[...] >the giveaway was having the karen call back to request the person stop.[emphasis added] if you believe that a government employee called this person back - especially in a full panic, right next to the alleged machine - I've got a bridge to sell you. I mean, yikes. "Sir, please." - yeah; total defeat. this low-level government employee was in such a desperate place that they had to call the only person who could fix it and helplessly beg him to stop. the machine was simultaneously out of toner, but still trying to chug on with the print, making mechanical noises of helplessness? tl;dr - everybody clapped.

TeMPOraL 7mo ago

Yup. Myself, I only saw one fax machine in actual operation in my life, some 15 years ago in a large government physics lab in United Kingdom. That machine sat on a desk near me, and would absolutely print anything and everything that would be sent to it. Since we were a small internal software team in a big physics lab (vs. front-line customer service), it wasn't used much - I only ever saw it print automobile ads, at the rate about one per day.

catapart 7mo ago

> Luckily for the author, the article says[...] >the giveaway was having the karen call back to request the person stop.[emphasis added] if you believe that a government employee called this person back - especially in a full panic, right next to the alleged machine - I've got a bridge to sell you. I mean, yikes. "Sir, please." - yeah; total defeat. this low-level government employee was in such a desperate place that they had to call the only person who could fix it and helplessly beg him to stop. the machine was simultaneously out of toner, but still trying to chug on with the print, making mechanical noises of helplessness? tl;dr - everybody clapped.