That's Not Right

Last night at work, I took a call from one of our employees who with a rather serious problem. Her paycheck had bounced. Based on checks she had already written, she was now facing more than $85 in overdraft and finance charges. Unfortunately, this situation is common enough that I knew exactly how to deal with it. She's in the same boat with about 8 other employees from the last pay period.

Our copier has no toner. It's had no toner for almost a month now. Ever since November 22nd, we've been unable to run copies of our training manuals in-house or to take photocopies of new employees' identification. We've printed rather than duplicated any paperwork we needed, and we've used the fax machine when we absolutely had to make a copy of something. The main office keeps saying, "We'll get one to you soon." That's been the story for the last three weeks. No word yet on what "soon" actually means—other than "not now".

On Monday, the owner of our company is hosting a holiday party for all the managers, supervisors, and main office staff. We're having some sort of barbeque lunch, followed by a gift exchange. Then, as a sort of year-end bonus, he's taking the lot of us to see King Kong.

Can I trade my tickets for a reliable paycheck and a toner cartridge, please?