Can I Call You Back on That?

So one of my directors volunteered me to print and bind all their presentations for a meeting on the West coast. Thanks buddy. Really appreciate that.

I'm being sarcastic about that but I probably shouldn't be, as work has been slower than molasses in January lately. I'm bored off my ample a**.

Anyway, they email me the presentation. I substantially revise and reformat it, since it obviously came from client services and thus, looks horrible because that department is given very little skilled administrative support. I send it back.

Two days later I receive the presentation back with the cheerful little note that so and so volunteered me to do the printing and binding. Joy! *insert Secretary skipping through field of daisies here*

So I call up this incredibly perky account manager to find out some basic information, like, for example, how many copies do they want? She pops off with 18.

"Eighteen?"

"Yes, that'll cover the client's attendees and us too."

Good gravy. Do you have any idea how heavy 18 color presentations on the heavy color paper is going to be? And how much more work that is? It's also quite spendy, young lady. Like I care about the spendy part.

I try to perk up so I don't sound lazy. "Hmmm…did you want black and white for the ABC Nuts and Bolts Co. (that's us) attendees?"

"Oh. That would be cheaper, huh?" A little lesson for you guys -- if you don't want to do something, but you don't want to sound lazy, try sounding cheap instead. In any corporation, managers appreciate cheap people. My manager's a total cheap skate, and so is Twiggy (proof of this would be their encouragement to go through ginormous boxes of old files and remove  the binder clips and paper clips so we can recycle them). They seem to be highly esteemed so it must work for them, right?

Instead of saying, "Yes, fool." I decided to take the Nanny McPhee route and say, "Mmm."

Miss Chipper went on. "Well, this is going to sound really silly, but can you give me like two seconds on that so I can check with my director?"

"Sure, no problem dear." I think to myself, "wow. Does he help you wipe your a** too? Does he instruct you on how to fold the TP and in which direction you should wipe in?"

"Ok, great, I'll call you back!"

"Ok, great!"

Five minutes later, not only are they only going to need 10 color copies, but they also are doing the black and whites at their location on the West Coast.