new machines

Our lovely combination fax and answering machine died at work. All of you people who live in cities may laugh now. THIS town doesn't have such a thing in stock. Now, we may not be a large business, but we do get some faxes every day, so it seemed important to deal with our lack post haste. As in, not wait for the perfect model to be ordered and come in next week some time.

It's fairly easy, right? You buy a fax machine AND an answering machine. Very simple. Except. The fax machine directions say that the answering machine gets plugged into IT. The answering machine directions say that the fax machine gets plugged into IT. Okay, pick one. Wrong one. Wait, there IS NO right one. Honest. For the answering machine to pick up at all, it has to come in on the second ring. Just TRY to get to a phone on the second ring if you're not hovering over it, waiting for it to ring. I think my solution is to unplug the answering machine when I'm in the store. It's a nuisance, but I think it will work. Then I have four rings to get to the phone before the fax kicks in, and THAT I think I can do.

Any idea how many hours setting up two new machines takes? How about programming in something like forty phone/fax numbers? Yes, there went the day. Somewhere in the back of my head, the plot/outline problem for *Shann* is percolating, but I haven't had the time to devote to it today, to come up with a concrete solution. But, still...working at work? Right. That's what they pay me the big bucks for.