Four Droplets of Coffee Ruined Everything: A Lesson For You (And Me)

Ahem.

My laptop is about to be placed in a box with stamps on it. It’s about to embark on a journey into the unknown of postal service and laptop manufacturers. All of the documents, pictures, music, apps, everything are going to be deleted and erased forever. Do you know why? Because of a tiny bug and four droplets of coffee. Now I’m writing this article.

Let me explain.

It’s a beautiful morning, I’m editing articles on my laptop and drinking my morning coffee. A bug flies onto my arm, jostling me, causing me to jump. Coffee flies into the air. Four droplets of coffee land on my keyboard. Keyboard is working fine for twenty minutes that follow.

I’m not concerned—my iPhone fell in a toilet and SURVIVED with no damage whatsoever. I’m so lucky! My electronics are unbreakable they’re like army tanks with pretty cases and glitter stuck under the screens.

My laptop is working smooth as always until I try to reply to a comment.

And then it isn’t. It’s like it grew possessed. Keyboard are basically pressing themselves, the “/” button won’t stop holding itself down. When I click, the “U” button appears. My mouse is a “U” button now. The buttons won’t stop. The keyboard is shot. I can’t type. I can’t do anything.

I do what any mature teen would do in this situation–restarted the computer (with no success), took the battery out (to prevent further damage? IDK don’t try to make a crying female have logic) and then started crying. It was definitely broken if the restart button couldn’t fix it.

So now my laptop is in the mail to the manufacturer and, even though it’s only the keyboard, they are deleting EVERYTHING. They’re rebooting the entire system! LOL all of my stuff is going to be deleted. I’m in the phase of grief where I pretend it’s not actually happening and laugh about it.

My Major Problem: Spilling a drink and ruining your computer/phone.

My Tiny Tip That Will Save Your Life: Stop drinking anything near your electronics.

It’s an obvious tip, but seriously. If you must drink near your electronics, keep your beverage at least a foot away and sip very cautiously. Don’t type and sip your iced tea. Don’t place your cup of coffee right near your laptop. Use my horrific morning as a learning point. “I’m so careful!” you say, “I do it all of the time!” you also say. Same, I said those things once. You know where that got me? MY PRECIOUS LAPTOP CHILD IS IN THE MAIL AND I AM NOW USING A BORROWED LAPTOP AND MOPING OVER LOST FILES. This brings me to lesson numero dos.

Major Problem #2: Losing precious files from your computer.

Tiny Tip #2: Start backing up your files on an external hard drive

Invest in a hard drive ESPECIALLY if you’re an artist or writer or have a lot of important things on your computer that take up lots of space. Copy all of your most important things (music, pictures, documents) onto them. Do this as often as you’d like–preferably monthly. BACK UP YOUR CRAP. If I hadn’t backed up my documents and photos an entire year and a half of my life would have vanished due to a few drops of coffee. Sigh.

I’m more bitter than the coffee I spilled (apparently not bitter enough to not make this into a metaphor) and I hope you all rethink your morning or life routine. If you must hydrate, do so FAR AWAY from your expensive and precious electronics. Amen.

What’s a lesson you had to learn the hard way?