Sometimes, workplace problems have surprisingly simple solutions.

The following story involves an employee who was called to fix a printer that kept showing multiple error messages.

The user insisted the issue was serious and needed immediate attention.

But when she checked the printer, she discovered something oddly obvious was causing all the trouble.

Read the full story below for all the details.

I don’t know what the error means

I had a user come by my office.

She told me that the printer for her entire area was displaying some kind of error message she had never seen before.

She insisted I come by to fix it immediately.

I headed over there.

This employee saw 4 error messages.

I found the errors on the screen of the very large printer.

“Load paper in Tray 1.”

“Load paper in Tray 2.”

“Load paper in Tray 3.”

“Load paper in Tray 4.”

She saw a paper ream that was not placed in the right tray, so she fixed it.

But wait, it gets better. I opened up Tray 1.

I discovered a full ream of paper still in packaging.

It was sitting off to the side next to where the paper is supposed to be.

I opened up the ream. I put it in the spot it was supposed to be.

The error for Tray 1 disappeared.

She did the same thing for all paper trays.

Tray 2 was the same thing.

Someone put the entire ream still in packaging beside the space where it was supposed to be.

I had to rinse and repeat for Trays 3 and 4.

Lo and behold, all the remaining errors disappeared.

A couple of jobs that were pending printed out.

She told the user the issue was fixed.

I went to the lady and said the issue was fixed.

When she asked, completely innocently I may add, what the issue was.

I told her that all I did was put paper in the printer.

She was surprised. She insisted that someone had just put paper in the printer.

I just shook my head. I walked away.

Some technical errors are not that complicated as long as you understand the problem.

But then again, since the user did not know what to do, the next best thing was to look for someone who could fix it.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a woman who reports her creepy coworker to HR after he calls himself her “work uncle” and leaves his number.

And she did… and voila! Good as new! Let’s find out what others have to say about this.

This user shares their personal experience.

This one shares their thoughts, too.

Here’s a valid point from this person.

Short and sensible.

Finally, here’s another honest opinion.

Some problems are not as difficult as you think.