October 28, 2004

The Perfect Timing

It's been a while since I wrote a post that was purely anecdotal, and even longer since it was a post not dealing with bums, but I had an experience tonight that I have to share.

I was sitting at my desk earlier this evening, simultaneously preparing for an interview, reading the latest news, and listening to my parents yell at me on the phone (I don't really know about what - they rarely need an excuse, anyway) when I suddenly felt really thirsty. I got up and suddenly felt a sharp, piercing prick in my middle toe on my right foot. Yelling out in pain, I looked down, shocked to see blood freely flowing from the as of yet unseen wound, spilling all over my foot and onto the carpet. I yelled again and ran looking for cotton balls. Of course, it was me, and I didn't even have food in my apartment, let alone medical supplies, so I got the bright idea of using toilet paper to attempt to contain the blood. Bear in mind, I was still on the phone with my parents at this point.

I ran to the kitchen (so I wouldn't ruin the carpet further), soaking up the bloody wound with toilet paper, with my cell phone implanted between my neck and shoulder, and tried desperately to look for something that would serve as disinfectant. Just as I had cleaned up enough of the blood to note that a staple had ripped a deep gash in my toe and then pierced into it almost entirely, my apartment phone rang. But that's not the best part - the best part is, it wasn't a telemarketer

Seriously, who would call me on a Thursday night at 9pm on my apartment line, which almost no one knows, besides a telemarketer, right? Well, as my luck would have it, this time it was a recruiter telling me I'd been offered a second round interview and calling to discuss some of the logistics. So, there I was, standing on one foot, with my cell phone between my neck and shoulder, holding bloody makeshift bandages composed of toilet paper, and trying to pull a staple fully implanted in my toe, all the while trying to sound professional, excited, and not in total agonizing pain.

Obviously, I wasn't about to say, Can I call you back, since I've just stabbed myself with a staple, and am in tremendous pain, and a slight danger of passing out from blood loss, so instead, I did the next best thing. I hung up on my parents, yanked the staple out in one clean motion (which only served to increase the rate of blood flow), and hurriedly discussed the logistics. All in all, I have to say, it couldn't have been more perfect timing.