Oops, I did it again.

Unreal. Just have to jot this down. I used to work at Montreal Trust in the securities cage: a position that last about a month ending when RBC Dominion offered me a position and, coincidentally, when Montreal Trust was sold to Scotiabank from BCE-basically making my department very expendable. But I digress. While there I came across an odd creature, the watercooler. It was out of water so I decided to replace the 18 litre tank. So far, so good; what a nice guy, eh?

Well, I had no idea how it worked so I peeled off the blue lid (there is a tear-strip in it) and removed it completely. Then, and only then, I realised that the blue cap was NOT to come off. You just take off a little sticker and ram the thing into a valve in the machine. Holy crap! Now what? The thing was already opened, but I still had the cap. How about if I put the cap back on and gingerly ram it on the valve? (As if that could be done.) Ok, I'll give it a try. It worked! The valve did its job and I could go back to mine...of course I had to check on my little project a few times, just in case the dam broke. When someone finally replaced it they noticed my little jerry-rig, but by then no one remembered who had done the deed.

Now, in Korea we always just ripped the top off them things and quickly (and I mean quickly) placed the open end in the dispenser, letting the pressure differential to stem the flow of water.

Of course, this morning when I found the cooler out in the office (my new office, where I have been only a few weeks and those who know me don't know me that well...you know my predicament) was empty. What did I do? Learn from my mistake 10 years ago? Hell no! I ripped that blue cap right off and went to place it and...oh crap: it's a sticker/valve one! Ok, here's where the memory gets less foggy. I replaced the cap and rammed it into the valve. The bubbles gurgled...and gurgled...and gurgled. I looked for water on the floor streaming toward my shoes, but found none. Finally the bubbles stopped surfacing. Success! I was shaking like a leaf. Bloody hell! If it was the first time I could excuse myself. But looks like it worked out alright.

So, if you're having a bad day, think...it could get worse. Now to take a look and see if Hoover has let loose its H2O...

UPDATE: Yay! The dam holds!