Thursday, February 27, 2014

10th anniversary of the Great Plate Explosion

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the great plate explosion of 2004. Exactly 10 years ago I was working at a place where we were about to have a client wander in to check us out. A note was passed around giving us workers a heads up and suggested that we tidy up our workstations to make the place a bit more presentable. Even the secretary sent us an email telling us that we should clean out our communal refrigerator of all foods that we had forgotten about (and might be going moldy).

We all got together to make the office something to be proud of and by the next day the office was clean and the kitchen was sparkling white. It kind of looked like one of the sets of 2001, it was so white and uncluttered.

It was that day that I brought a rubbermaid container of pasta with tomato sauce in for lunch. I emptied the contents into a bowl and stuck it into the microwave oven. I was about to press the start button while I realized I should cover the bowl with something so that the sauce wouldn`t splatter getting the insides of the newly cleaned microwave messy. So I found a plate and covered the bowl.

I started the microwave and 3 minutes later I had successfully heated up my lunch. The plate was smothered with tomato sauce. I decided I`d wash the dish and put it away. I would leave zero dirty dishes. I went over to the sink to wash the sauce from the plate.

As soon as the water from the tap hit the plate, BOOM, the plate exploded slicing a part of my finger off. Blood started squirting out. I went around the kitchen looking for the first aid kit but couldn`t find it. I went back into the office to ask the receptionist where she moved it to. It was under the sink in a cabinet. So I went back and looked for it. It didn`t take long to find the red container and I opened it up to grab a band-aid.


Cut finger

Darkness crept into the edges of my eyes. I fainted. When I came to I was staring up at the ceiling. The receptionist`s head came into view. I looked down to see my finger had been bandaged. I also noticed that there was a trail of blood sprayed all over the kitchen. That`s when the clients walked in.


Tip of the finger sliced off