You’re at work and you print something personal (and sensitive). Unfortunately, you’ve sent it to the wrong printer and, by the time you realize it, somebody else has already scooped it up.

In the first place, you ought not to be printing something personal and sensitive at your workplace. Secondly, if you have to, you should do it at an early hour when no one is in or when everyone has left for the day. Printing sensitive personal documents in the middle of the day is just asking for trouble unless you can make a dash for it before anyone else gets to the machine.

But if you do it and something like the above happens, you can hope that the person scooping it up realizes that it’s not his or hers and returns it to you, politely pretending that he or she did not read a single iota of your unfortunate printing blooper. Of course, if it’s your boss, it depends on what’s your equation with him or her. He or she could just ignore it i.e. turn a blind eye or could decide on a chat with you. It all depends on what the sensitive printed matter is.

Can it get you in trouble at work or is it merely embarrassing that someone else is privy to your secret?

Help me out here. Do folks really need to print out personal stuff at  work?

Besides, could it be that the real blooper was not your material being sent to the wrong printer but your secret now public?

A picture taken, of a Wastepaper bin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)