Today, the credit card machine at the school I teach at started printing blank receipts.
It’s a problem I’ve never solved before and my instinct was to pass it off to the person who set the machines up in the first place.
…That person, however, is out of town.
And we obviously can’t take credit card transactions without being able to print receipts, so back into my court the problem came.
My initial troubleshooting resulted in me not even knowing how to open the damn thing. So, needless to say, I was off to a blazing start.
Fortunately, there was a support number. So, I called and she walked me through the process of getting it fixed, which, of course, was hair-pullingly simple.
But you know what? Now I know.
And it’s a good reminder that time invested into solving problems—even when they’re not yours—are exactly that: investments.
…Investments into building skillsets and knowledge that save you time long-run and make people very much appreciate having someone like you around.
…Before you go dishing off problems onto someone else’s lap… ask yourself, is there an opportunity for investment that you actually might prefer to have versus just giving it to someone else?