When you work for a company, you sometimes have to do stupid things because the CEO demands them.

What would you do if you purchased a new printer for the company, but the CEO didn’t like its color (of the printer, not the color it printed)?

That is what happened to the tech guy in this story, so he paid a contractor to paint the outside of the printer to make the CEO happy.

That time I had a photocopier repainted

I work for a medium sized company. For our 200 or so coworkers we have about a dozen printers and one photocopier. It’s an old machine, 17-18 years old, but works as it should.

Printers can be notoriously difficult to work with, so this guy sounds invaluable.

It’s been maintained by the same contractor for it’s whole lifespan, a guy who I just call the Printer Whisperer (as he really knows printers).

He informed me that the copier reached it’s end-of-life, as parts that needs to be replaced in the near future has been phased out, so when they break, he won’t be able to replace them. We should get a new one soon.

Sounds like a great option to me.

Okay, I asked for suggestions, he send me a few, I choose one. The new machine is from the same manufacturer, is able to do everything the old one did, has a similar UI, has lower a cost-per-page, and because we are a loyal costumer of him, he can give us a bit of a discount.

Sounds good, I forwarded this to upper management, they gave thumbs up, so I ordered it.

Everything is going smoothly.

It arrived, the Printer Whisperer assembled it, did the initial setup, so far so good.

The next day I was out of office, when I got a short email from the CTO (who was one of the approvers): “The new copier has to be sent back immediately and before the next order, the CEO must be consulted”

Why would he say that?

– Yyyyyeeeah, that’s not how it works. – I thought.

You see it was a custom order, the machine was manufactured for us, and besides the Printer Whisperer is a one man show, his “company” would be hit hard if I just return this many thousand dollars worth of equipment, which he isn’t legally required to take back, but our 20 year professional relationship would definitely suffer.

You don’t want to hurt that relationship.

In a small city like ours, it’s hard to find a good contractor, and the Printer Whisperer REALLY knows printers

(Once paper constantly jammed in the old copier. I called him, explained the problem on the phone:
– Yeah, here and here there’s a plastic panel, one screw holds it in place on it’s left side, take it down. Behind it, in the upper right corner there will be a plastic gear, that probably missing a few teeth – he told me and exactly it was. On the phone. And he was there in an hour with a replacement.)

It will be interesting to hear what the CEO says.

The next day I sought out the CEO.
– Soooo, what exactly is the problem with the new copier?
– It’s ugly

He has got to be kidding.

WHAT? It looks like every photocopier ever made.
– I’m sorry, what?
– It’s ugly. Couldn’t you bought a prettier one?
– Looks weren’t on my requirement list when I choose this. Lower cost, brand new, similar UI, high availability, etc.

How is this guy the CEO?

– But it looks hideous.
– It’s a photocopier, it doesn’t matter how is it looking. It’s in the Backoffice, only our coworkers will ever see it.
– If you buy a car, you also choose a nicer one over an uglier.
– Yes, there are things bought based on looks and there are photocopiers.
– It’s dark. The previous one was lighter.

A grey printer seems pretty inoffensive to me.

It had a beige front, you know, the color every photocopier were made since photocopiers were invented. The new one is dark grey.
– Don’t they have a lighter version?
– No, it’s being made in this one color

I just can’t believe this guy.

– Can we repaint it?
WHAT!?
– Sssssuuuuure… I dunno

I called the Printer Whisperer:

Honestly, I would be embarrassed to even ask.

– About our new copier… Is it available in lighter colors?
– Wha… Why? No, it isn’t, why?
I summarized the story to him.
– Can we repaint it?
His brain threw a kernel exception trying to compile this. Finally, he sighed:
– Whatever. Just don’t mess with it’s insides.

How many hours of work were wasted on this insanity.

So we made a new design for the copier, similar to the old one. Luckily only the openable trays and panels were light colored on the old one, the side was darker and we retained this style, so I could remove the same panels from the new, threw them in my trunk, and gone to a decorative company.

How much will this cost them.

Put the panels on their desk, and asked if they could repaint them
– What are these?
– Front panels of a photocopier
– Wha… What?
– Our CEO would like it in a lighter color but it’s only available in this one.

Well, at least the CEO will be happy.

They manage to hold pokerface while I was in there, and accepted the challenge. Got the panels back a few days later, assembled the thing, and…

I admit it looks kinda better, but since then all my coworkers tease me about what should I repaint next time.

It is unbelievable what some companies will spend time and money on to make the CEO happy.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

And this is why they get paid millions.

How do they move up so high being this dumb?

Hey, this is actually a great idea.

This commenter is exactly right.

Yup, make it very clear.

And this is the guy in charge of the whole company.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.