Sunday, March 25, 2012

Weekend Reruns

Quick! What is It?




Looks like a soap dispenser, huh? WRONG!

It's actually a battery-powered shower-cleaning device that sprays foaming suds around your shower after you're done. Of course, I know that NOW. I didn't know it yesterday.

While I was on call this weekend, Mrs. Grumpy installed one in our shower, and didn't mention it to me.

So yesterday morning, I was showering away in the dark (I get up early, and shower in the dark so the lights don't wake up the kids). In the dim glow of the night-lite I noticed this gadget hanging there, looking suspiciously like a soap dispenser. So, to lather up, I pressed the big blue button on the front, and put my hand under it.

Nothing came out. Instead the thing began beeping REALLY LOUD.

BEEP!

Holy shit! What the fuck kind of a soap dispenser is this?

BEEP!

Crap! Why is it beeping? It's going to wake up everybody! How the hell do I make it stop?

BEEP!

Fuck! There has to be a button or switch or something to turn it off! I'll press the blue button again!

BEEP!

That didn't do anything. Shit, I can't see if there's another button to make it stop!

I leaned forward, feeling it all over to try and find a switch.

BEEP!

After the 5th BEEP! the little blue thing on the bottom suddenly spun around, spraying shower-cleaning foamy stuff in a circle around it, covering the shower, the tiles, and my eyes, which were about 2 inches in front of it as I frantically tried to find a way to make it stop beeping.

It burned like hell. I screamed and fell backwards, and some shampoo bottles fell on me with a loud clatter. Snowball started barking. In the panic I tried to get to a sink to wash my eyes out, before I realized that I was already in a shower with water pouring down.

As I rinsed my eyes out the lights went on, and I became aware that I'd woken up the whole house. Wife, kids, dogs, and all.

I'm going to stick with bar soap from now on.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your getting old... :P

Anonymous said...

i was crying while reading this post. we had one of those useless gadgets a few years back......and you lived what i was afraid of. hope your eyes are OK, thanks for the laugh.

Anonymous said...

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto- the bukkake edition.

bobbie said...

Yikes!!!!!!!! How are your eyes?

Anonymous said...

This is my favorite post so far! I laughed harder than I have in quite a while!

Ole Phat Stu said...

Kindergarten Rule #4 : Never, EVER, play with a thing you don't understand!

Except a GF, of course. And you can get badly burned even doing that ;-)

Silliyak said...

Has your wife displayed passive aggressive tendencies in the past?

Anonymous said...

omg..i just got in from an almost near deadly car accident due to a gramma on the highway..yikes! i have tears sreaming down my face! i hope your eyes are ok.

Shmendrik said...

What I don't get is why your kids are sleeping in your bathroom.

Dee said...

OMG fucking hilarious!!!!!! I have a serious migraine right now from viral meningitis and you made my pain worse because of my laughing.... but soooooo worth it!!!! BRILLIANT Dr!

aek said...

I can't decide if this is SNL or movie material... Either way, I hope you make a bundle, because it's priceless! Laughing until it hurts and then some! Agree with the others - hope your eyes are OK!

Solitary Diner (Also Known as The Frugalish Physician) said...

I was feeling like a bad person for laughing at your pain, but judging from the comments I'm not alone.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, I needed that.....

Anonymous said...

I too was wondering why when the bathroom door is closed, it would matter if the light in the bathroom was turned on.

Also hope your eyes are OK, oh this was a retun, so I'm assuming that they are. I laughed so hard nearly peed my pants though. TMI I know. The beeping is too weird.

A note about this thing, taped to the bathroom mirror would have been an asset. Hilarious.

Anonymous said...

didn't you post THIS a couple of years ago, Dr grumpy?

heterodyne said...

I'm thinking: bad design, very bad design
Hope the eyes are OK...

Anonymous said...

Laying in bed at 5am, giggling like a 7 year old. That was freakin' epic!

Suze said...

Oh that is the best laugh I have had in a long while. I admire someone who can laugh at their antics. I have the opposite problem. I get in late and try not to wake anyone.

I wonder what silly device they will develop next?

Anonymous said...

Would that qualify as a douchebag?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Yes, it was published in 2010. That's why the title says "Weekend Reruns."

Packer said...

I wonder if that product is still available. Would go well with the roomba.

Chris said...

oh dear God, I'm trying to get over a bad case of bronchitis and I'm wheezing away laughing my ass off......funniest thing ever, even the second time around. I think it might have gotten funnier....

Anonymous said...

it's an artisanal shower cleaner. duh.

Patrick said...

That story never gets old; thanks for posting again.

However, it beeps 15 times, at least mine does. So there is the little matter of you losing consciousness for at least ten seconds during this episode.

Trish said...

OMG, that was hilarious. I have one and love it, cuts down on the constant need to scrub away soap scum. I'm sure it was hell on the eyes, though. I recommend not showering in the dark anymore, you never know what new gadget the missus will install next :D

Em said...

ahahahahahahhaaa i cannot stop laughing!!! this is the funniest post ever!!!!

Morris said...

Dr G, are you sure your wife didn't set you up for that? LOL!

Milla said...

I am laughing sooo hard! That was the best laugh in a long time! :)

Anonymous said...

That was really funny. Really, really funny. Sorry about your eyes. Reminds me of Mike's New Car (a short animated film included with Monsters Inc.) I am a user interface designer and will use this at my next presentation.

k smith said...

Wonderful!! What a good laugh!! Haha!

Taryn said...

I read this post before but it still remains absolutely HILARIOUS! It's a snort-outloud, tears streaming down great laugh! It may well be your piece de resistance. Thanks for re-posting it. It's a gem!

Tee said...

Oh, I really needed a good laugh tonight! Thanks for giving it to me at your expense!

Unknown said...

Oh God! Dr. Grumpy, I've never laughed this loud being postcall! Hope you're eyes are ok

Anonymous said...

Yes, a rerun. And Dr. G seems to be OK, so it IS laugh-out-loud funny. Wouldn't be if he were badly hurt. I have one of those things in my shower, and as another poster said, it helps keep the shower muck down.
However, when I first got it, one of my cats, 9-months old at the time, liked to get in the shower after I got out. That was fine, she did not hurt anything, but I would coax her out before I turned the thing on.
One day, she snuck back in.
BEEEP BEEP BEEP SPRRRRRRRRAY
The next thing I saw was a streak of gray fur fleeing the bathroom. To this day, and she is a fine, mature cat now, when she hears that BEEP she flees to the fartherst corner of the house.
I know it's mean to laugh, but ...

Half a doc said...

oh wow thats brilliant!! (tho that gadget also sounds kind of time savingly useful..hmm!)

BobbyCdPT said...

I can relate. We got one a few months ago and i was the first to take it for a test drive. Needless to say, when i pressed the button i started to wonder why it was beeping and not covering my shower with soap? So i decided to crack open the curtain, all in an attempt to investigate... Yup it burns like the flames of hell LOL. I take comfort in knowing that EVEN a physician can screw up such a simple device :)

Anonymous said...

Oh god, that thing. I tried to re-purpose the mechanism as a remote-cat-discipline aid... It's not sealed and there's nothing inside to protect anything, so after a month, the entire thing turns to rust.

Crazed Nitwit said...

Laughing so hard I am crying!

Anonymous said...

Necroing this thread, just wanted to comment on the similarity to a scene in the movie Fly Away Home.

 
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