Got mice?

I never thought I was a "techie" until this week...

Wednesday, 5:00 p.m. (a late day at the computer lab)
I am working on hooking up the laptops for students to use in the lab, when this big BIG guy comes in.  I have never seen him before in the building.

"You have some mice?" he asks.

"You mean, computer mice?" I say, holding up the one in my hand.

He looks at me.  "No, I mean mice."

I am shocked.  I know my school has icky critters like crickets, spiders and ants, but mice?!  "I haven't seen any," I answer, "but then again, I haven't always been here."

He looks at his paper. "It says here that one was spotted in the lab."

"When was the work order request put in?"  I'm thinking that maybe this is something from the summer, before I started the job.

"September 13th."

Once again, I'm shocked.  Just a day ago!  And I've been walking around the lab in bare feet because my shoes were killing me!!   "I haven't seen any but um..."

"Don't worry," the guys tells me.  "I'll just put down some poison to get rid of the mice."  He throws a plastic packet of poison behind my teacher wardrobe, walks around to another corner of the room and looks behind my two filing cabinets, decides there's no room for any mice back there and puts the second packet in his hand back in his bag.  He leaves the room.

I continue working in the lab, but I try to wear my shoes for as long as I can until I'm done.

This morning, I go down to the office and ask the secretary at the front desk, "Who spotted a mouse in the computer lab?"

The secretary looks really confused.  "You did."

"Me??  I never saw a mouse!"

The look on the secretary's face grows even more confused.  "You left me a note that said, 'I found a mouse!' You signed it "Karen H.' That's you, isn't it?"

At this point, I realize what happened.  I am about to die of laughter.  Another secretary in the office still doesn't understand and they tell me that this mouse note was the hot topic of discussion all day yesterday.  The secretary who I left the note for had asked me early Tuesday morning if I had any mice with the roller thingie in the middle.  I told her no, but later (much later) on in the day, I found an extra mouse with a wheel that worked well.  I went down to the office to give it to her but the office staff had left already, so I unplugged her old mouse, put in the new one, and left a note on her desk saying, "I found a mouse!"

I thought she'd be excited to see the note, but I guess I've become too "techie" now!