Manuscript shredded instead of copied

[snopes]

Comment: I heard a story that a man walked into a Kinko's with a
manuscript and asked for a copy to be made, as it was his only copy of his
life's work and it was accidentally put into the paper shredder instead of
the copier.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

I don't think I have ever seen a paper shredder at a Kinko's. Why would they have one around? You're more likely to find one at a veterinarian's office - maybe this tale should be rewritten to substitute a kitten taken to a vet for the manuscript taken to Kinko's.

[SpaceRobot5]

How would one even confuse a paper shredder for a copier? They look absolutely nothing alike.

And how many pages was this manuscript? Many shredders can only take about 10 pages at a time. They also make load shredding noises and have easy to reach off buttons. Even if you accidentally put a bundle of papers in a shredder by mistake, you should be able to turn off the shredder before your papers are completely shredded.

This seems like a common joke in office situated comedies. I think I've seen at least one Dilbert strip where the boss confuses a fax machine and paper shredder.

[Horse Chestnut]

Or maybe substitute "publisher"?

[Floater]

It has happened to Swedish business consultant Ulf af Trolle. IIRC someone eventually managed to reconstruct the script.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by SpaceRobot5

How would one even confuse a paper shredder for a copier? They look absolutely nothing alike.

No, but unless the stack of papers has a very big label that says "Copy Me!" on it, it may look just like a bunch of stuff needing disposal. I would imagine that documents get inadvertently tossed all the time because they're left near the garbage stack. That said, I agree with ATNM, in that I've never seen a shredder at a Kinko's, not that they may not have one in the back office for store use, but I don't think they offer confidential document disposal, do they?

-RB

[Jenn]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

I don't think I have ever seen a paper shredder at a Kinko's.

Kinko's does serve as a drop-off location for shredding service pickup.

Originally Posted by SpaceRobot5

Many shredders can only take about 10 pages at a time.

That's true of the small shredders you'd get for a home or very small office. You don't find many of those in larger business that need to destroy documents but don't want to outsource, however. Industrial shredders that can handle anywhere between 40 and 600 pages at once are available.