Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Iqaluit (Dec 18/00) - Evil photocopiers beware. Nasty paper jams be-gone.
Jeff Wood, Nunavut's knight in shining technical armour, just rode into town.
In all actuality, the fixer of all things technological -- computers, printers, fax machines, et al -- arrived in Iqaluit more than 11 years ago, but after a lengthy career at Tittaq Office Products, with a part-time Mr.Fix-it gig on the side, he left to set up shop for himself.
He called that enterprise Tech X Services and four months later, business is so brisk he said he needed to hire a second employee.
"It's hard to keep up with the constant paperwork and I'm always getting phone calls," said Wood, of the hectic pace.
"It would be nice to have someone to assist me," he said.
With the new employee scheduled to join the payroll in March, Wood said it would free him up to concentrate on the side of the business he loved -- fixing errant machines.
"The work keeps getting easier and it's easier to learn new things as you get more into it," he said.
Wood's skill at repairing office equipment began when he was still a small child. A fascination for taking apart machines eventually grew into the need to learn how to put them back together. That lured him back to school where he studied electronics.
"The main thing about servicing equipment is to stick to the basics," said Wood.
With a few exceptions, including older models and machines that have been badly damaged, Wood hasn't met a machine he couldn't fix. And for those pieces of technology too far gone to be helped, Wood said they were stripped of all working parts and then shipped off to the scrap heap.
"The most fun part of the job is taking the equipment out to the metal dump and bashing it with a hammer -- a sledge hammer," he said.
To further diversify the services his business offered, Wood said he also picked up the contract to sell Pitney Bowes' office products.
