Guess That Noise

When I saw this challenge, I got excited. Really excited. Now this is a challenge I stand a chance at winning, I thought. I am a professional at embarrassing moments, putting my foot in my mouth etc. I had so many stories to write about I didn't know which one to start with. What about the time I was wearing high heels and somehow slipped on the sidewalk and slid as if on a snowboard for almost a meter in front of a line-up of people waiting for the bus only to fall over at the beginning of the line with my backpack over my head. What about the time I was doing one of my first flights as a flight attendant ever and forgot that my retractable jumpseat at the front of a very small, yet full of passengers airplane, would retract if I didn't hold it down and I fell back into the airplane door with my feet up in the air as I tried to sit down? Or the other evening when I entered a school PTA Zoom meeting yelling at my kids to stop playing and eat their dinners, forgetting to mute my mic (I left that meeting quick and probably won't be attending the next few).

I'm the kind of person that should be wearing my prescription eye glasses all the time instead of just when I feel like it. How many times have I waved at people I thought I knew or because I thought they were waving to me. You know, the classic realize you don't know that person, turn around and see they are waving at someone behind you so you just kind of pretend you are fixing your hair or stretching mid step. I used to do that one a lot at the airport when I was working. We all kind of look the same in our uniforms, plus add the bad eyesight and voila! lots and lots of material to write in a challenge such as this one.

But my most original blunder to date has to be this one here. Our crew had finally arrived in London after working a long red-eye flight (that's aviation lingo for all night flight) and we were all tired. As I walked into the noisy lobby with the rest of my crew I could hear a bit of a buzzing noise. This hotel was famous for construction and ghosts (another story I will get into at another time). Hmm I thought, as the lobby became a little quieter since our crew were trickling out after getting their room keys, I really hope I don't get a room next to any construction areas. After getting my room key, I stepped into the elevator and walked the halls to my room. Uh oh, there's that noise again, a buzzing hum. As I entered my seemingly quiet room and the door closed behind me, the buzz became louder. I left my suitcase by the window for my usual inspection of the room to find any hiding people, bed bugs, dead bodies and ghosts. Satisfied my room was safe, I turned my attention back to the noise. It was still there and louder as I got to the window to stand by my suitcase. So, I opened the window and realized the noise was not coming from outside. I even checked the heating/air conditioning to see if that might be the cause to no avail. I’m never going to be able to sleep, I thought. I decided I should call the front desk and politely asked if I may change rooms to which the lady at reception obliges. I head down to the lobby once again to switch room keys, noticing that the noise has diminished, yet not altogether disappeared. Once there, the lady sets me up with a new room. I ask her if she hears the buzzing noise that is still hanging around. She answers that she does actually hear a noise and asks the gentleman working beside her if there is any construction going on. Not that he knows of, he answers. A few more workers in the lobby are asked and become slightly concerned. Now they are all somewhat curious as to what is going on in the hotel. Feeling exhausted, I take my leave to let them figure it out. I once again leave the lobby and get to my new room, and there is that noise again. At this point, I start to get annoyed. Where is that coming from? I decide it most probably will go away eventually or I will get used to it enough that I will not hear it any more, plus the fact that I don’t want to bother the hotel staff to switch rooms again! So I start settling into my new room. I pick up my suitcase to set it on the suitcase stand and something is very strange. My suitcase seems to be vibrating. I open it and start searching through my whole suitcase frantically. Do I have someone else's phone by accident? Has someone planted a bomb in my suitcase? Is my husband playing a trick on me? I finally locate the source of the vibration and that same buzzing noise, the zippered pocket at the back. I open it. There inside, is my toothbrush case, with my electric toothbrush turned on, buzzing away. I usually pack my toothbrush inside my lunchbox but since I had been in a rush on my last layover, I had put it in the first place I could see and forgot all about it. The pressure from the other suitcases piled on top in the shuttle bus turned it on since the toothbrush was not properly packed inside. I must be more tired than I think as I pull it out and head to the washroom to brush my teeth. That electric toothbrush sure is powerful!

I laughed uncontrollably all by myself until I fell asleep for my nap that day, and on and off for the rest of my stay every time I thought about how silly I had been. Maybe my room neighbors thought it was the ghost of a girl gone insane that had been locked up in the asylum (which is what the hotel is rumored to have been long ago). The next morning I wondered if I should tell the lady at the front desk about the source of the noise and apologize for having worried them a little the day before. But then I thought, what if they don't believe it was a toothbrush?? There are other things that “vibrate” that just might make my embarrassing moment even more embarrassing. ‘Good morning’ I say as I hand in my room key, ‘Thank you and have a great day’. I manage to scurry off to the shuttle bus outside as the desk agent is busy collecting other room keys and has no time to ask how my stay was. Maybe I’ll tell her another time, when she is alone and not so busy. Then again, maybe not….