The Extra Key

Photo credit: Robsalot (that's me!)

Have you ever looked between the keys of your computer’s keyboard? If not, then I suggest you don’t, because it isn’t going to be pretty, especially if you tend to eat a lot of sad desk lunches, like me.

So one day I was on a particularly boring Friday afternoon conference call when I became obsessed with the cleanliness of my keyboard. It all started off innocently enough, I peeled off post it notes one by one and ran them between the spaces of the keyboard. The amount of gunk and crumbs that came out was amazing, and yet, when I peered back between the crevices, it didn’t look like I had made a dent in the yuck at all. 30 minutes had passed and the call was still droning on, but it didn’t matter anymore, because on my desk was a pile of keys, and I was vigorously shaking my now key-less keyboard over my trashcan. By the time the call was over the keyboard was spotless, only now I had to remember where all the keys went. It is really hard to Google the layout of a keyboard when you have to type on a keyboard that has no keys. Still, I managed to get it back together, only the strangest thing happened, there was an extra “ENTER” key. I didn’t puzzle over it for long though, because by the time I got the whole keyboard reassembled and working it was 5 pm so I tossed the extra key in my desk drawer and hightailed it out of there.

Monday morning came all too soon, because that is what Monday mornings do. After procuring a coffee and catching up on the weekend gossip, I returned to my desk and found that extra ENTER key right where I had left it. I considered it a moment, and then I knew what to do, I grabbed my company issued glue stick (for sealing envelopes, duh!), slathered a healthy dollop on the back of the key, and stuck it to a blank spot on they keyboard. With a giggle I pressed down on my “new” key, but when my index finger touched it I was surprised that it depressed just like a real key would. I was even more shocked to discover I was no longer in my cube, but was instead back at home in bed, which was exactly where I had been wishing I was just seconds before… odd. Unfortunately I was still in my work clothes, and my bedside clock still reported it was 9:48 AM on Monday morning. I also had the sinking feeling that if I looked outside I would find my car was not in my driveway, but was instead most likely sitting in the parking lot work. Also, of course, I had a check-in meeting with my boss in exactly 12… oh, wait, now 11 minutes. If this wasn’t the most Monday morning thing to ever happen, then I don’t know what was.