I think I did something stupid …

You just know that anytime something starts out that way, it can’t possibly be good … especially when it’s a 2:00 AM call to the boss

Our slushee machine at the store gets a lot of use, even in winter, so naturally we want to keep it in optimal running shape. While disinfecting the dispensers last night, I saw a blue-green substance in the nozzle, which I assumed was mold (in hindsight, it could have been older slush, but either way, fairly disgusting).

Deciding it needed to be cleaned, I shut off the auger and disconnected the syrup line, expecting there would be a solid plate between the cover plate and the auger … there wasn’t.

By removing the plate from the front of the machine (it comes off by undoing 4 bolts), the entire contents of the flavor chamber gushed out like a waterfall, splashing half-melted orange-pineapple slush all over the floor … amazingly, none hit me!

Figuring I could put it back together and leave it be, I did so, only to find that the auger wouldn’t turn. Fearful for damage to the machine, I had no choice but to call RJ, waking her up.

She didn’t seem mad, despite the wakeup and the problem, and said she’d call Coke in the morning … I however had to watch the machine like a hawk to make sure it didn’t auto-defrost, which would burn out the motor trying to turn a non-turning auger.

Add to all this the nicks to my left knuckle and right wrist, which i had to disinfect with alcohol-based sanitizer (a gel formed of 70% alcohol directly in a cut hurts like a BITCH!), the night was absolute shit! The only consolation was that despite finding that the keeper on my earring was missing, I managed to discover it before the earring itself got lost–to lose something that special would have killed me.

I wonder … do I get points for inadvertently helping to lower the stock totals by the amount of a box of slushee syrup? Newbie wanted the totals low anyway …