Dear Woman Who Was In Too Much Of A Hurry To Stand In Line At The Two Working Xerox Machines With The Rest Of Us,

There was a reason the third machine had no line. There was a reason the third machine was turned off. There was a reason the third machine had the little “Do not use” sign taped over the on-off button.

If you hadn’t behaved like a spoiled selfish baby, flailing your arms around and waving your papers in the air and all-but-weeping real tears at the sight of the two lines, and complaining so loudly about how you didn’t have TIME to wait in a line, you needed your copies NOW, someone in one of the two lines might have said something to you before you placed your one copy of your test in that third machine, tore off the sign, pushed the ‘on’ button, and hit ‘copy.’

But then we wouldn’t have seen you dance or heard you shriek when that third machine shredded your only copy of your test into confetti.

And when you had the gall to blame the little office gal, I’m glad the dean of your department came out of one of the offices in the midst of your tirade and asked you to step inside.

And when you came out of that office all red-eyed, there was not a person in either of those two lines who felt sorry for you.

We felt sorry for your students, but not for you.

You had a lot of nerve, yelling at the secretary like that. For shame.

And by the way, the purple lipstick didn’t do a thing for you. Except match your face when you had your hissy fit.

Shame, shame, shame.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, after you left, nobody said a word about you or your public baby-tantrum. What was there to say?

Besides, the expressions on everyone’s faces said it all.