Friday, May 05, 2006

Red-faced but it wasn't MY fault!

A series of random events/inventions that bring on an embarrassing moment.
  1. Small cell phones, that we carry with us everywhere.
  2. Caller ID, great invention, a new way to screen calls, a way to see who has called, or who is calling, or to not have to remember a phone number.
  3. People who don't put the lid down on the toilet, I am a lid closer, all of the people I live with are not, in fact now that I think of it, no one I have ever lived with is, so don't know where that particular quirk in me came from, but I have it...
  4. The wonderful half-bath, you know the very small bathrooms that no matter which direction you stretch your arms out, you can touch the walls, everything nice and close together.


MY STORY

Once upon a time in the heartland of America (about a year ago) I finally graduated to the modern-age flip style cell phone.

I was very happy with my new toy. I would open and close the phone, just to watch all the little lights turn on, experimenting with the various tones that identified the opening up of the phone, and it came with the game Tetris on it (this alone made me very happy). Most importantly of all though, there were no more buttons accidently being pushed, no more random phone numbers being dialed, this happened to me all the time with my big nokia phone, 911 had even been accidentally called on the old phone, from just the right pressure of my briefcase sitting on top of the dial pad.

Anyway, so really happy with my thinner, more compact flip phone. Easier to carry with me, easier to slide into a pocket.

One day last summer, I was in the smaller bath preparing for bed---brushing teeth, washing face, etc.---- my cell phone was in the pocket of my jeans, and when I removed them to put on my favorite sleep shirt, the cell fell out, I picked it up and placed it on the edge of the sink. Went back to the next step in my nightly ritual, washing my face, when I feel my elbow hit something, and hear a splash, YEP, I had knocked the cell phone into the toilet....GRRRRR!!! I immediately grabbed it, opened it up and tried to dry it off. But too late, it was waterlogged.

I took it apart, left it open to dry, I hoped, and then the next morning, plugged it into the charger--big mistake--fried it big time!
Anyway, trip to the cell phone dealer, hoping against hope that I could replace it without telling them why it no longer worked, and if I did have to tell them, hoping they would not ask how it got wet, anyway was a no go, even though I gave them a nice chuckle over the how it got wet, they won't replace cell phones that have gotten wet, and even the pleasure of owning a flip phone was not worth 150 dollars to me. So I bought a cheap little model, with the number pad on the outside. It works, not the greatest sound quality, but it does what I need it to do.

Fast forward several months. Remember what I said about me and the exposed number pad?
I get a call from a friend, during our conversation, he mentions the laugh I gave him the other day....

(now this is not verbatim, because I cannot remember the exact conversation)
me: what? how did I give you a laugh?
him: is your cell phone a flip phone?
me: no, has the number pad on the outside
him: thought so
me: why
him: I heard you going to the rest room the other day
me: WHAT!
him: yes the whole thing, the flushing, everything, at least I know you wash your hands afterwards, I heard the faucet being turned on, the splashing, the paper towel dispenser
me: OH MY GOD!
him: it was quite funny! I even heard the conversation you had with someone right afterward.

At this point I am sure my face was an intense shade of red...... then I start thinking..... my gawd! the call could have been to anyone..... I was thinking of the location of the bathroom at work, right off the break room kitchen, a favorite spot to gossip, share complaints about our bosses, and so on. I soooo badly wanted to ask him what he overheard, but I was so embarrassed I couldn't, or didn't want to know. Then I started thinking of all the people the call could have gone to, what if it had been someone I had done a phone interview with? With caller ID any and everyone would KNOW it was me.

What caused this embarrassing moment? It certainly wasn't my fault!
It was hubby's-- for building a small half-bath in our house, the inventor of caller id and people who don't close the lid on the toilet seat.

Was I, me?? the cause of my embarrassment? Hell NO! It is everyone else's fault.

Yeah, yeah, I also suffer from delusions of grandeur.

The moral of this story?

CLOSE THE DAMN LID!!!

3 comments:

plan0 said...

There's a definite ranking in my mind, you know where you fit, I'm about 1 1/2:

1. Who cares about the lid
2. Lid down (a good idea for people clumsy like me and with toddlers)
3. Seat down (WFT? That half-baked middle-of-the-night-could-fall-in-because-I'm-too-lazy-to-look-to-see-if-the-seat-is-down-because-the-world-revolves-around-me thought process... nm)

Maybe the scale ranks from the top at all male to bottom at all female.

plan0 said...

OMG this reminded me of the time when I was away from home, my ass apparently has the ability to dial The Wife's cell without me knowing, and talking to a buddy about our wives. Don't ask me how, but I was actually being complimentary - a good thing for when she heard that voice mail

Sunny Delight said...

yes I would say that is a very very good thing, can only imagine life it had not been complimentary!