POPCORN ANYONE?

POPCORN ANYONE?

It was my fifth day on my new job/placement and I had been given 2 new keys and instructions as to what to work on, etc. No-one was working Friday but me. I was excited as I used the first new key to open up the outside door into the new building. I didn’t see any cars outside and as it turned out, the other 3 or 4 offices were closed all day. Just as well……….

I inserted the 2nd new key into our office door lock and it would not turn left or right. After five minutes, I went to ask one of the cleaning ladies to help. She couldn’t get it to turn the lock either. I had no choice but to call my immediate supervisor, Shawna but she had left for their other office and I had no choice but to call her boss.

Joan said to let her know what happened so I returned to my office to try again. Voila! It worked! I called Joan to give her the good news. But after testing it numerous times, I knew better than to go anywhere as I’d be locked out again.

So at lunch time (noon) I had nothing to eat but a bag of popcorn which needed microwaving. The directions said 2 minutes so I set it and went back to work. Mistake #1…………..

I was on the phone when I heard the timer go off after 2 minutes and that’s when I saw the black smoke! Then I SMELT smoke! I hung up the phone and excitedly rushed into the small kitchen where I saw thick, black smoke pouring out of the tiny microwave!

I opened the door to retrieve the saddest, TINIEST, black burnt bag of popcorn imaginable. The room was full of smoke which immediately burnt my eyes so I ran to the window to open it but the handle fell off in my hands. It would not open!

I rushed into Brenda and Joan’s offices to open their windows but they were locked and in my haste, I did not see why they would not open at first. So I ran into my office to open that window; same problem. I finally had to open the door to our office and it kept slamming shut so I found a heavy chair to place in front of it.

Thick, black, disgusting smoke was pouring out into the hall. I knew that soon all of the smoke detectors would go off and the Fire Dept. would arrive. I was embarrassed, scared and humiliated! Surely I’d be fired!

I finally got a few of the other windows opened but not the one with the broken handle in the kitchen. A lady from the new Library came down to ask what was burning. She wondered why the alarms had not yet sounded? It started to get very cold inside so I put my coat back on; I hoped to God no-one would come walking in.

I had to call Shawna, my supervisor to tell her what had happened. She assured me not to worry and made me feel better. My eyes were burning and I smelled like smoke. I went in to scrub the microwave but the air stunk so badly, I could not. It was at least an hour later before I could go back in there to try to clean it. It was scorched a darkened yellow colour!

I went to the washroom to wash the soot out of my eyes; they looked bloodshot. I was so hungry but found a piece of candy in my purse. I had to turn the heat up as it was freezing inside.

I heard back from Shawna that the smoke detectors are ‘heat’ activated, not smoke activated. Thank God!! I could just see the headlines in the local paper: “Old Lady Almost Burns Down New Library Building!”

When the computer repairman from Yarmouth arrived to do some minor work, he asked: “What’s cooking? Smells terrible!”