Cleaning Lady Capers

Plugging in…

What do cleaning ladies and computers have in common? At first glance, not so much. We all wish we HAD cleaning ladies because they do such a good job keeping us orderly, that we have more time to spend doing the things that really interest us. Right?

Now that the house is spotless and you're ready to check your email, or transfer those digital pictures from the new pocket-size camera, or see how the weather is in oh, say, Timbuktu, you plunk yourself down with your faithful computer and WHAM - it doesn't turn on. No lights, no beeps, no nada.

First action: CALL THE COMPUTOR TUTOR. But it's a weekend, or late at night and the dreaded answering machine begins "thank you for calling the computor tutor...". You leave a message, sending out a major distress signal. No life raft coming soon, so you're on your own. You look back at your computer and put on your thinking cap. You begin to ask yourself, what has happened since the last time I turned my faithful computer on. It doesn't come right away, but eventually you snap your fingers and think: someone else has been near my computer and I know who!

You begin to do a tiny bit of math: one plus one = the cleaning ladies. They go where no person usually ventures - under the desk, the table, the area where you have old faithful plugged in. You check all the cords, they are all plugged in. Hmmm. I know the Computor Tutor always asks that question first and you've got that one covered. Hmmm. Ah ha! You look at the power strip that is home to that [lovable] tangle of cords that make your electronic gadgets sing. It looks the same, sort of.

It's an older style power strip, one that doesn't have a little led light to visibly display it's alive. Just for kicks, you press the rocker switch to the other side and the light on the desk goes on. You have an epiphany and you fall to your knees praising the computer Gods and Goddesses, IT'S A FALSE ALARM, you shriek, you get up and turn that computer on. It hums to life and you've never been so happy to hear those otherwise annoying beeps and whizzes that you usually curse everytime you turn it on.

You are so joyous that you even call the Computor Tutor back (thank you) and leave a message about the FALSE ALARM. You're laughing now, and you can imagine she might have a hint of a smile on her face too, knowing you solved your own problem. The Computor Tutor is very proud of her client and calls the client anyway, just to make sure that was indeed the only problem. It was.

So what do cleaning ladies and computers have in common? When they work, you LOVE them to pieces and when they don't, well, love is blind, right?

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, and is the power strip ON?

Unplugged