In college I had a job doing tech support for students in the dorms. It was a good job: part-time, respectable pay, the opportunity to meet lots of people, and the occasional "wow" story. This posting is about one of those stories.

I received a call that a student was having trouble with her printer. The ink printed onto the paper just fine, but the paper came out wrinkled and mashed up. I went out to her dorm room and examined the situation. The paper loaded into the printer was fine, the print tray looked fine. I opened the lid on the printer, squinting to see any potential problems -- nothing. Then I looked into the paper output in the back of the printer, still not seeing anything. On a hunch I held the printer upside-down and gave it a soft shake. Out fell several small pieces of a Pop-Tart.

Problem solved, I thought! I set the printer back where it belonged, and noticed a box of Pop-Tarts on the shelf immediately above the printer. After printing a test page, I explained to the student what had happened, and how she might not want to have her Pop-Tarts directly over her printer. She laughed, thanked me, and I went on my way. When I returned to the office, I regaled the other techs with my tale.

After that call, I started taking on other printer-related calls, specifically grabbing them from the stack of call tickets. About a month later, there was another ticket about a printer that printed fine but wrinkled all the paper. Hey, I've done this kind of call before, give me that one! I went to the student's room and looked at the printer. I thought I saw something in the back of the printer at the paper output. As I went to shake the printer upside down, my eyes drifted upward and saw a box of Pop-Tarts. I turned to the girl and said "That's funny, I had a call just like this a month ago." She formed a sheepish smile and I realized "Hey -- it was you!"