Audrey A McGee

Similar to the dishes, printer tasks were continually part of my internship.

Dissimilar to the dishes, I wasted SO MUCH TIME trying to figure this one out.

One of my hallmarks of problem-solving is going head-first into the solution. I can be a bold person when I need to be, and I kick my hardworking butt into gear when pressure hits.

I try to respect and appreciate my own boldness, even though it’s often gotten me into some stupid situations.

During my internship, there was so much printing to do: I would print scripts for a director’s perusal, resumes and headshots for hard-copy filing, audition forms and callback sides.

Now, if I couldn’t figure out how to print a document correctly — either it was formatted wrong or it wouldn’t scan properly — my immediate instinct would be to RETYPE THE ENTIRE THING INTO A SEPARATE DOCUMENT that I would then print.

That’s my headstrong, bold, proud nature saying “I can fix this! I have a typing speed of 70wpm, this will only take a couple of minutes!“

Sure. It did.

When it would have taken 5 seconds had I asked someone about the printer.

Often times, there was a printer function — something like a rescaling or resizing — or a printer trick with the scanner, that would have made my job so much easier.

Remember to ask for help when you need it.

Don’t always assume that your first instinct is the best one.

Think your solution through — is there an easier way to do this?

All due respect to hitting your head against a problem until it cracks open, I love some random extra effort, as it makes me feel like I’m doing something. But in an internship scenario, it literally pays to figure out how to do things more efficiently.

Printers can do a lot; get curious, educate yourself, and make work easier.