Staples: That was [not] easy

Before heading off-Island for a week I needed to print 80 copies of something. I had a PDF of the something on my phone, and so I went out to Staples on the outskirts of Charlottetown hoping they’d be set up to let me email the PDF and then print it out.

The clerk at Staples gave me a business card with their email address on it, and asked me when I needed it. I said “right now.” She said “I’m taking bookings for next Tuesday.” I said “But I only need one copy and I can print the rest myself on the self-serve machines.” She said “I can’t put you in front of the other people with bookings.”

I can guarantee you that if I walked into a local independent print shop I would have walked out 10 minutes later with my 80 copies: simple human decency would have prevailed. By the “systems malaise” of Staples meant I left a disgruntled customer, frustrated enough to tell the world of my woe.

Solution to problem: next time plan better and go to a local independent print shop.