Blake Messick is an 18-year-old living in Houston. Recently, he told BuzzFeed News he was printing some memes when he noticed his neighbor apparently got a new — and unsecured — wireless printer.
Messick decided to play a little prank on his neighbor, à la Jim from The Office, and send him a message from his "printer."
"Hello. I am your printer. I have become self-aware. Run," he wrote.
Messick said he decided to try the prank to "make people laugh."
"Honestly I didn't think it would even go through to his printer," he said. But he thought it was worth a try.
On Saturday, Messick noticed something strange. One of his neighbors had thrown out their printer.
Messick said he isn't sure that the printer on the curb was the same one, but "it would be a scary coincidence if it wasn't."
He added he isn't sure why the neighbor, whom he said he doesn't really know, threw out his printer.
"It's possible that he threw it out for just thinking it was faulty, or maybe he didn't know how to turn off the Bluetooth," he said.
Regardless, Messick decided to take the discarded printer off the curb. He said it's out of ink but seems to work.
Messick decided to tweet out the whole saga, concluding "that's the story of how I got a free printer." People thought it was totally savage.
my neighbor just got an unsecured wireless printer, so I sent this to him
They called him a scammer.
@blakemessick a scammer.
And of course, shared Joanne GIFs.
@blakemessick
Other people said they do the same thing all the time.
@blakemessick I usually send this to unsecured wireless printers: https://t.co/xlaCJ8KCom
In fact, others pointed out some people have come up with other ~creative~ messages.
My neighbor has an unsecured, wireless printer. I just sent this document to it.
This guy said it was great lesson to always use a password.
This is hilarious. But seriously, protect yourself in 2017, people. https://t.co/wazF4EGLqN
Messick said his new internet fame has been "exciting."
However, he said he probably won't keep the printer.
"I'll probably just return it once all of this blows over," he said. "I'm sure my neighbor will have a laugh about it once he sees what a sensation it's become."