It's Broken!!!

I had been working with IT for the Gosford Hospital redevelopment, several weeks, I’d learnt that the covers on the back of a HP all in-one PC's were secured through different methods. The newer models had clips at the bottom which slide out and the cover slide down. The older PCs were secured with a security screw.

This one particular day I was helping with setting up PCs on the maternity ward. I was setting up this one, its cords were a mess. I went to remove the cover only to discover that it was tightly fastened

My colleague and friend Pete walks onto the ward as I’m struggling with the cover. "Hey Cass, what’s up?" He asks.

"I can't get the back off." Pete walks over and examines the cover.

"Ah, we need Bruce's screwdriver. His in-birthing suite."

We both walk off to go get Bruce's screwdriver. We arrive on the ward to find Bruce and Mike deep on conversation, which Pete quickly joins without giving me the screwdriver.

Now, I’m not the most patient person, so I snatch the screwdriver from Pete. "I'll do it." I say, "I don't need a man." Taking the screwdriver, I head back down to the maternity ward.

I walk back to the computer, turning the back to face me. I stick the screwdriver into the back of the PC and twist. Nothing... I try again, still nothing. I finally remove the screwdriver from the back and look at it. No pointing thing.

"Hmmm." I say as I look at the screwdriver "What have they given me?"

I take another look at the screw-diver, and then at the screw in the back of the computer. "Ahhh. It must be a wrench."

I put the wrench in the back of the PC and twist again. I still couldn't loosen the screw. I try for the next 10 minutes without any luck. I am called away by a nurse to assist her.

Once I resolve the issue, I head back to the PC I was working on, determined that I would not let it beat me. I try for the next 5 minutes, with no luck. Finally, I give up.

I send Pete a text...

So... The screwdriver thingy you gave me is broken! Clearly designed by a man! I need one of you guys to come and help me please. I wait for another 5 minutes, no response. I text Mike the same message.

Finally, Pete comes down to find me. "What's wrong Cass?" Pete asks me, coming around to where I am sitting at the front desk.

"It's broken?" I say shrugging my shoulders.

"What do you mean it is broken?" Pete asks.

"I'll show you." I say ready to demonstrate.

I then put the screwdriver in the back of the PC and turn it. Pete watches on in amazement as I rotate the screw-drive. Pete watches me patiently as I demonstrate how broken the screwdriver is.

He roars with laughter. Before taking the screwdriver from me and presses the two buttons on either side of the handle. Which I had been playing with earlier but confused about what they did, and why there were buttons on a handle in the first place. Next minute a hidden compartment ejects from the bottom of the handle revealing all the pointy things (which I later found out where called bits).

"Nooo!" I say, putting both my hands on my cheeks.

Pete then removes the pointy thing we need placing it in the top of the screwdriver. Once we have sorted the computer, we head back to the special care nursery ward.

We find Mike standing at the front desk. "So, Cass. You couldn't work a screwdriver?"

Pete rounds the desk and sits in-front of the computer.

"Ummm. It was broken!" I say indignantly

"Broken?" Mike sceptically asks. I nod

"Here, I will show you." Pete chimes in, demonstrating how "Broken" it was. Next minute both men start roaring with laughter.

“It was BROKEN!!!” I say in a huff.

It turns out that the screwdriver wasn’t real world broken, it was what my friends call Cassi-broken. Cassi- broken is where something doesn’t work for me but works for everyone else, which I believe it is luck.