26 October 2007

Face up or Face Down?

I received some blank faxes and then got a phone call from an apologetic manager saying she was sorry for the faxes but she rarely had to send a fax and when she did she was never quite sure whether to feed the paper face up or face down. I suggested a simple solution would be to get her staff to put a label on the fax machine to indicate "Feed face up" or "Feed face down", whichever was appropriate. She was very appreciative.

I understood her frustration as at one place I worked you had to feed the paper face up in the photocopier and face down on one fax machine and face up on the other two fax machines.

The label solution was something I saw in our Mailroom. Simple, but if nobody thinks to do it then blanks will be sent by those less familiar with the equipment.

Another good idea is to post instructions on how to send a fax and how use the photocopier. This is especially helpful for those who may need to use it after hours or on weekends.

1 comment:

Lynn said...

There are usually small pictures on the fax (and photocopier) machine to indicate which way to put the paper. Sometimes you don't notice these, but they are usually there. Locate them on your machine so you can show others. But putting a label is a good idea to make it more visible.

Also, putting instructions is a good thing on how to use the fax and photocopier, but keep them simple otherwise people will just ask you how to do it...instead of reading the instructions.

As usual, your blog is very informative.