One Thing Leads to Another

Why do simple, mundane tasks become the ones I despise the most?

Here I am, busy at work, preparing files, organizing hard copies into their respective folders, paying bills, etc. when I reach for the stapler for one quick 'snap', and all I get is a limp recoil. The damn thing is out of staples. This immediately puts an oversize speed-bump in the middle of my workflow.

"Where the hell do I keep the staples?" I mutter to myself, or maybe out loud because the dog sleeping behind me lifts her head to see what the commotion is all about. She tilts her furry face listening for a clue word as to why she has been rudely shaken from her rabbit-chase dream.

I open and close drawers in my local cabinets. I get up and enter my closet to dig for a familiar blue, white, and yellow box of tiny strips of metal. Frustration grows and surfaces immediately. Not finding it, I pull apart the strewn papers on my desk. Move some magazines and junk mail. Shuffle through various items; paper clips, thumb tacks, CD sleeves, only to be rewarded with a blank stare.

I draw a deep sigh and slump back into my chair recalling that the last time I had to refill the blasted tool, I encountered the same dilemma.

"I know I put it somewhere that I could easily get to it." I blurt out. The dog gets up with her ears down and quickly leaves the room.

I abruptly yank open the tiny little drawer on one of my "organizers" to my immediate right. The heavy box I have been in search of falls forward and conveniently prevents the drawer from opening any further. In anger, I pull harder on the plastic slider and stray items begin to fall off of the box onto the floor. After closing and gingerly re-opening the drawer, I am finally able to reload the stapler. I place the scattered items back into place and reset myself at my desk.

"Now, what the hell was I doing?"