by Jerry Guarino
hot chocolate
It was raining, as usual in
November, in the Pacific Northwest.
School children didn’t mind. They
joyfully jumped into puddles with their yellow, green and red boots. Outside their classroom, the boots lined up
in a rainbow of colors below the coat hooks.
Miss Chang’s second-grade classroom was always so colorful inside too,
with dozens of art projects adorning the walls.
Her students loved to make new projects to show off in class and during
parent night. But child boots don’t ever
cause a problem, no not like the little rubber feet in this story.
No, I’m talking about the little
rubber boots, shoes and pads that you find on dozens of household and
electronic devices. I’ll bet you don’t
realize how many objects have little rubber feet on their bottom, in order to
cushion and balance the device quietly in place.
You can find them on portable
speakers, laptops, computer keyboards, lamps, stools and even on a kitchen food
scale. When one falls off, the object
doesn’t balance. It wobbles and can
drive you crazy, like a table that is too short on one leg.
Mrs. Johnson spent hours on the
phone and her computer trying to find replacement rubber feet for the various
ones missing. Of course, it isn’t as
simple as it might seem. First of all,
you can’t go back to the store where you purchased it. The product isn’t damaged and no store keeps
an inventory of little rubber feet.
Then, if you do find the manufacturer, they usually put you on hold
(they’re laughing at this time) and give you an 800 number or website to
follow. Once online it’s impossible to
find the little rubber feet in the product description. Calling technical support won’t help; they say
little rubber feet are not a technical problem.
Mrs. Johnson finally found a contact us button where she could describe
her problem. Embarrassed, she asked if
she could purchase a replacement little rubber foot for the item in
question. When she tried to submit the
question, the stupid “I’m not a robot” gotcha made her select street signs,
chimneys and other objects in the grid of squares. A few days later, she received an email. The company would repair the unit if she
would mail it back to them. At that
point, she gave up. Mrs. Johnson was
forced to repeat this process for the half dozen objects in her house that had
missing little rubber feet. She
estimated that it took her over twenty hours and a couple bottles of wine to
find the missing feet.
While she was on the phone, her
daughter Heather tugged on her mom’s sleeve.
“Mom, will you help me with my art project?”
“Dear, it’s more important that you
do it yourself.”
“But mom, I want mine to look good.”
“Heather, I’m sure your dad and I
will love it, as well as your teacher.
Just do your best.”
Heather walked away sadly. “All right.”
“Come back here.” Her mom gave Heather a big hug. “We love you and whatever you do will be
perfect. Now have fun with your
project.”
t was parent’s night at
school. Heather held her mom’s hand and
pulled her into the classroom. Mrs.
Johnson greeted Miss Chang warmly.
“Miss Chang, your room is
fantastic. How do you find the time to
get all these wonderful projects done?”
“Well, most of these on the back wall were done at home, an assignment.”
“Well, most of these on the back wall were done at home, an assignment.”
“Lovely. What was the theme?”
“Students were encouraged to find
bits of junk and objects thrown away at home and create a project about our
town. You can see many of the kids have
depictions of the harbor, some of the state park and even a few showing shops
where their parents work.”
“Mommy, come see mine.”
“Just a minute Heather. I’m talking with your teacher.”
“They are all so well done. Are you sure the parents didn’t create some
of these?”
Miss Chang smiled. “Well, we have a don’t ask, don’t tell
policy.”
Heather finally got her mother’s
attention. She pointed at her project.
“Look Mommy, I made this one for
you.”
Her mother looked at the art project
with a mix of love and regret. On the
page was a decoration with a half dozen little rubber feet, in a landscape of
the town harbor. Little rubber feet for
car tires and boat life preservers.
Little rubber feet on school buses and flower pots.
She gave Heather a big hug. “It’s wonderful. You did great.”
Heather smiled at her mom. “And I did it by myself without help.”
“Yes, you did dear.”
About the author
Jerry
Guarino’s short stories have been published by dozens of magazines
in the United States, Canada, Australia and Great Britain. His latest
book, "The Best of Café Stories", is available on Amazon.com and as a
Kindle eBook. Please visit his website at http://cafestories.net
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