Just a silly little diddy based on a few RL events that took place on April 1st.
April Fool's
She put her head in her hands and laughed. Then, she laughed some more. This was more like a proverbial full moon day, instead of April Fool's Day, but the jokes were certainly on her.
The day began normal enough, but the first stumbling block of the day came after she picked Chris up on her way in. Their journey included an eventful detour, as they'd both decided to splurge and get a cinnamon melt and flavored iced coffee from McDonald's. It was Friday, after all - and hey, they deserved a treat after the week they'd put in.
Only, she dropped her debit card and receipt at the drive-thru window and hadn't been able to retrieve them herself. She'd had to pull forward a bit, and when the young man behind her saw what she was attempting to do, he called to her that he'd get it for her. She thanked him and pulled up more—and promptly realized he was only retrieving her receipt and knew nothing about her debit card; the very one that his car was now parked on top of. Even more amusing, he got out, walked around to his trunk, and was presumably changing CDs in his rear disc player. CJ was sure the line of cars waiting behind them were probably cursing them both for holding the line up in what looked like playtime. At least, she had a good reason, she thought. Then, she smiled, again. Chris was standing outside the car, waiting to retrieve her debit card for her, and it was a silly sight, considering where they were. CJ had to stifle her laughter.
Chris eventually retrieved the card, and CJ let her know that breakfast was definitely on her. Most of the way into work, they laughed over what had transpired and how foolish it all had been. The best part was the young man stopping to change his music in the midst of the breakfast rush and making everyone wait, including them, for what they were after.
By the time the women made it into work, they were in really good moods, and CJ was certain the day was well on its way to good, again.
Until she was making the morning coffee. The filter paper wasn't correct and, fairly quickly, the entire filter was backing up and running all over the place. When she'd returned to check on aromatic brew, she saw that virtually none of the coffee had actually made it into the pot, and a large pool of dark brown liquid was running this way and that along the countertop. Fortunately, she'd been able to catch it before it ran onto the floor. Unfortunately, some of it wound up on her. This was due, in no small part, to the fact that all they had in the nook was institutional paper towel—which isn't exactly absorbent.
Sighing, she plodded on and gave up the whole idea of more coffee. She asked Chris to order more filters—careful to find the correct item number, this time—and no more institutional paper towels. If she had to pay for them herself, it's what they were going to have. Chris had laughed in total in agreement.
Later, when she realized that the water cooler was now empty, she sighed and set about changing the bottles. Going through the motions, she ran into a stumbling block, when she saw that the actual top of the bottle was different than every other bottle they'd had, since their water service began several years ago. Raising a brow, she set about trying to pry it off - with no luck. No matter what she tried, she couldn't get the cap to budge. So, she "lifted here," per the sticker instructions on the cap, and saw a little blue thing in the middle—a sunken stopper of sorts. Puzzled, because it had all been so simple before - simply pull off the plastic piece, pop off the cap - she called for Chris to come back, when she got a chance.
"Have you seen this before?" she asked.
Chris took a look and said, "Nope. That's different, alright." Then, she looked at CJ and smiled. "But, if I were you, I'd be afraid to touch it anymore," she teased.
"Ha-ha. I probably should be worried, but we're out of water, and I sure as heck don't want to call for one of the guys, as if this is too much for one of us to do. Especially when I've been doing it for years," she said.
"I hear ya. Well, good luck. Call me, if you need me," she said, tongue-in-cheek, as she walked away.
Grumbling to herself a bit, CJ looked around in the tool drawer for anything that might help get the little stopper out. Finding a screwdriver, she tried and tried to get the little plastic piece to pop out, but it was in there well and good. What she found odd—but funny—was how pliable both the blue stopper and the interior of the white cap surrounding it were; they reminded her of a scene in one of the Pet Detective movies, where Jim Carrey's character was being 'birthed' out of a fake rhino—the plastic moved along with the screwdriver in similar fashion. Laughing to herself, she kept at it but decided to try another tool. Maybe if she could get a pair of pliers in there and pull…. But, no such luck. The pliers were too big to be effective, so she went back to the screwdriver. After several more seconds of this, a sudden and shocking "pop" occurred and the little blue stopper was out—and now floating inside the water jug.
Standing there, she burst out laughing. They now had a bobber in their water. Some part of her hoped that a client would help him- or herself and wonder what the heck the floaty was. With that thought, she laughed all the more. Taking a couple of breaths, she picked up the bottle and set it atop the reservoir. The 'glug-glug' of the water flow let her know that, despite her troubles, she'd been successful in her refilling (ad)venture.
So, she called Chris back again.
"You got it! Very good. How'd you manage?" she asked.
CJ just pointed to the jug and said, "Look."
When Chris saw the little blue bobber, she burst out laughing, much as CJ had done previously.
"Oh, God. That's great. Now, when I get water, I can be entertained, too." And, she laughed all the way back to the front of the office.
CJ had a good laugh, too, and was finally able to go about her merry way.
At the end of the day, she and Chris were engaging in their nightly routine—elevator down to the 10th floor and stairs from that point on. Coupled with the same path up in the mornings, it was their way of supplementing a sedentary work week.
In the elevator on the way down, CJ asked, "You still have your iced coffee from this morning?" She was well and truly shocked. For her, it was hard to keep one around very long.
"Yep. I didn't mean to forget about it, but I was so busy from the get-go that I put mine in the fridge and never made my way back to it. Of course, I also spent quite a bit of time being amused at a fellow co-worker…." The inference to whom was obvious.
"Yes, well, at least my mishaps were all fairly harmless. Though, I thought I was gonna go nuts there for awhile. But, when that blue stopper hit the water, I lost it. I knew I'd be okay the rest of the day."
"I know it. I had a couple of 'Grrr' moments, but when I thought of our little bobber, it turned me right around. I should be thanking you," Chris teased.
"No need. I'm enjoying it, myself."
By now, they were in the stairwell and making their way down to the basement garage. Conversation lagged a little but the giggles were still present. Then, on the fourth floor, with CJ watching, Chris somehow managed to spill the rest of the contents of her large iced coffee. The plastic cup hit the metal platform and exploded. Neither of them could say how it happened, as Chris hadn't tripped, tipped, nor was she juggling anything that would have caused the cup to topple.
CJ bent to help her pick up the lid and straw, which had shot away from the cup. She looked up at Chris, and they both laughed. "That's what you get for giving me such a hard time, today. We'll have to call Maintenance and let them know about this, but don't forget to thank them profusely for cleaning up after you, Bumble Fingers."
"This from the woman who had her debit card rolled over, couldn't get a cap off of a water jug, and is still sporting her own coffee stains, today. Yet, I'm Bumble Fingers?"
The two women were having a lot of fun with this.
"Touché, but this is still funny, my friend."
They began walking down to the third floor, grateful that the stairwell was still empty, save for themselves.
"I'll call Maintenance, when we're outside," CJ offered.
"Thanks," Chris started to say but the word trailed off abruptly. CJ heard what sounded like running water at the same time Chris said, "Oh, no."
They stood halfway down the stairs and looked at a steady stream of iced coffee falling from the floor above. Somehow, it had found the path of least resistance and came down in a small but messy current.
Amused, CJ said, "Just keep walking. I'm calling Maintenance for help, remember?"
"But, look! It's coming down like rain from up there!"
"I know. Just go around it. There's a good-sized space to the left," CJ pointed out.
Chris sighed, "Oh, alright!"
"I swear. Just can't take you anywhere." CJ just had to get another teasing barb in.
When they were approaching the second floor landing, more coffee was raining down from the previous two floors. Though, the speed in which it was coming down was half that of third floor waterfall.
"I am so telling Houston what you've done." CJ almost couldn't contain herself over this one, but she was giving it a valiant effort to not lose it right here and now.
"You do, and I'm telling him who left the floaty in the water jug," Chris countered. "And, he'll have to look at that every day, until it's gone. He'll see a floaty anywhere, and he'll think of you."
CJ did laugh then. She had to stop walking for a few seconds. "Okay, okay. Truce. But, this is just too damned funny. We're dodging an iced coffee waterfall in the garage stairwell!" She grabbed her stomach because it was starting to hurt, after the workout she'd given it, today.
Down to the first floor they continued, and still, they were met with more coffee raining down. Again, it was a slower flow than the floor above, but it was still making its way down.
That did it. CJ leaned against the wall and doubled over. She laughed until she cried. Coffee drip-dripping nearby. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know it's embarrassing, Chris, but you know how funny this is!" she cried. Tears literally streamed down her cheeks. What a day.
Chris was laughing almost as hard, but at least she was still standing upright. "Come on. We need to get out of here before someone sees we're the culprits," she said, trying to get the urgency across.
That only made CJ laugh harder. "Chris, we're gonna call Maintenance, and they'll know!"
"Yes, but no one else in this building needs to witness us standing here with egg on our faces," she said.
"Don't you mean coffee on our pant legs?" CJ countered. Then, she laughed again.
Chris laughed, too, but she grabbed CJ by the arm and said, "Come on!"
They made their way to the car, careful to throw the plastic evidence away in a nearby trash can. And, once she'd started the engine, CJ made the call.
"Bob? Hey, it's CJ. Listen, we've got a situation in the garage stairwell. Beginning on floor four, there's a spill, and it's raining down all the way to the first floor. Would you mind sending someone to take care of it for me?" she asked.
Since he was on speaker phone, Chris was able to hear his reply, "Sure thing, Ms. Parsons. Actually, I've already sent someone to take care of it," he told her.
"Really?" Both women were surprised.
"Sure. As soon as I saw it happen on the cameras, I sent someone to take care of it," he replied, amusement heavy in his voice. He'd seen the whole thing, including the two women's antics.
Chris was embarrassed, but CJ belly-laughed. "Well, do you think we can keep it our little secret?" They'd both forgotten about the new cameras that had been installed in the stairwells.
"You 'betcha. No harm, no foul," he answered.
"Thanks, Bob. Chris owes you one."
Bob, for his part, laughed at that. "I'll take it easy on her, but I can't promise I won't watch that little clip every once-in-awhile for my own enjoyment," he admitted.
Soon thereafter, they disconnected their call.
"Funny," Chris replied.
"You bet it is. You should know better than to laugh at me all day long. The universe has a way of evening things out."
"I can see that."
"If only our coffee pot had dripped that well, this morning…."
They both looked at one another and erupted into laughter, again.