In April of 1989 I was waiting in line at our local copy shop. I needed 50 copies of a flyer that I had to take to an event that evening. Directly in front of me in line was a man who needed to fax a form to his insurance company.
“I would like you to make me a copy of this form and then fax it to this number please,” the man said to the copy shop employee.
The man behind the counter copied the form, placed the original in the fax machine, punched in the phone number, waited for the transmission to complete, and returned the original and the copy to the customer.
“No!” the customer stated firmly, “I need to send the copy to the insurance company”. “Yes”, replied the employee, “I just did that.” “No!” the customer said again, this time in a louder and firmer voice, “The copy has to be sent through the fax machine to the insurance company.” The employee opened his mouth to speak, and I could see that he was trying to figure out how he could explain to the customer the concept of how fax machines work.
“Oh, OK, he said, I will send this copy to the insurance company.” The customer seemed pleased, paid the bill, and left the store. The employee fed the extra copy of the form into the paper shredder.
“I would like you to make me a copy of this form and then fax it to this number please,” the man said to the copy shop employee.
The man behind the counter copied the form, placed the original in the fax machine, punched in the phone number, waited for the transmission to complete, and returned the original and the copy to the customer.
“No!” the customer stated firmly, “I need to send the copy to the insurance company”. “Yes”, replied the employee, “I just did that.” “No!” the customer said again, this time in a louder and firmer voice, “The copy has to be sent through the fax machine to the insurance company.” The employee opened his mouth to speak, and I could see that he was trying to figure out how he could explain to the customer the concept of how fax machines work.
“Oh, OK, he said, I will send this copy to the insurance company.” The customer seemed pleased, paid the bill, and left the store. The employee fed the extra copy of the form into the paper shredder.
