This morning was the last day of Sunday School at my church. I am trading one volunteer job in for another — out goes the Sunday School teacher, in comes the VBS director. As I was making copies in the school office (our church also has a parochial day school) the touch screen was not working. I needed copies of the VBS flier and wanted to copy it back-to-back with the VBS registration form. I wanted to give it to the Sunday School students on our last day. Which was today.
Did you get all that?
tap tap tap…the setting for two sided copies just wasn’t showing up.
taptaptaptaptaptaptap
Still no luck.
“Let me try,” the Sunday School Superintendent told me.
She pressed the touch screen, and the setting came up. “Just press harder.”
I still needed to set the copier to copy one sided pages into a two-sided page.
taptaptaptaptap
I still can’t get the touch screen to work.
taptaptaptaptap
*PRESS*
*CRACK*
“SHIT!”
“Did you just say what I thought you said?”
“I just broke the copier.”
When I pressed down, the plastic covering the touch screen cracked.
Not just one crack, but a million cracks.
I was able to make single sided copies, and had to run to my class. I felt so guilty. I had to duck into the bathroom to get it together, and then I still couldn’t stop the tears from coming. I wrote a note for the principal and the school secretary, and then I emailed them.
Earlier this evening, I heard back from the principal. They have been having the same problem with the touch screen. This is a loaner, because the school’s original copier is in the shop, having the touch screen repaired. No problem.
Big sigh of relief!
(stupid technology)
(I still feel bad.)
Help me feel better…what’s something you feel guilty about?
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I can just imagine how you felt when that happened. So happy that it turned out okay.Hope you had a nice weekend.
I feel guilty for all the housework that DOESN'T get work – even when I have the time, but not the energy.I can just imagine how you must have felt 🙁
Thank goodness it was only a loaner – and how ironic the church's regular copy machine was in for repairs on the touch screen. 🙂
I would have felt bad too, but I'm glad you could breathe a sigh of relief.Now I need to wish you look on the immense job you took on–VBS director is HUGE!!!!
What a hectic way to start the day! I had a similar experience while I was still teaching when a transparency jammed on the copier roll – I really can't figure out what I did wrong, other than use that machine – but I felt terrible for the line of other teachers behind me who had their morning ruined too.
Aw, it was an honest mistake. Your fingers don't know their own strength. 😉 I ordered a statue for my husband a couple of years back as a birthday gift, when it came I was so excited I wrestled it out of the styrofoam packaging and promptly snapped one of its hands off. Whoops.
Eeeks…you poor thing! I'm glad to hear it was clearly not your fault but a sub-par piece of equipment. I feel a bit guilty over not sharing a single thin mint girl scout cookie with my son this year. I had three boxes but I kept them in the freezer and only ate them when he went to bed at night. He never even knew we had them! 🙂
Oh I so know how you felt!! I am either breaking things in our office or trying to fix things others have broken (and yes, it is the copy machine a lot!!). What do I feel guilty about? This made me think of a time long ago when I was a bartender at a Chili's in my area. I dropped the cordless phone in my dish washing sink!! The thing made weird sounds and beeps for hours after that, and sadly I don't think I ever fessed up to being the one that did the dirty deed! So see, yours wasn't so unusual after all!!
i try not to feel guilty. well, at least i try. but i tend to feel guilt over the most minute things. i love this story! something about the format you wrote it in, je ne sais pas, it was like following along on a radio show!
Oh, that is scary knowing that something big and expensive was broken but it totally wasn't your fault. Hmm, once I was in a hotel with my friend and her parents and we were being goofy jumping on the bed. Well, I put my foot on the ottoman next to the bed which for some reason had WHEELS and it flew into the mirrored closet doors and SMASH, glass everywhere. My friend's dad called the front desk and lied, saying that the doors were off track and it broke when he tried to open it and someone had better come clean up this mess because it could have hurt us. I felt so bad.