Once again, it's late on a Sunday night and my teenage son is finishing a report that's due in class tomorrow.
"Why does this stupid printer jam every time?" he screams. "Everything's broken and I have to finish this now! The paper's in right and it's just jamming for no reason at all except it's a piece of garbage!"
Ah, being the single mom of an always-at-the-last-minute, not-that-patient teenage son is so fun.
My firstborn has had the entire nine days of February break to do this project, but alas, here he is at 9:30 p.m. sitting down to throw together a report and, surprise, there are the inevitable glitches that he somehow never expects.
After a delightful episode of unjamming the printer with my son getting more exasperated by the minute ( to the tune of, "Oh my God, now we're almost out of stupid paper!"), another outburst ensued when he discovered that our stapler "is the worst stapler in the whole world! Look at this stupid thing! First it staples backwards, then it jams, now the stupid thing won't open!"
It's too late to run to the library and use their stapler; it's too late to hit Staples or Raindew for a new stapler, so he'll have to scotch tape the pages together.
"The stupid assignment says to staple the pages, not tape! Why do you buy the lousiest stuff? Everyone else has a normal stapler!"
I try to lighten the mood by reporting on a family in Akron, Ohio whose stapler, I've heard, is even worse than ours, but my son's in no mood for humor.
Single moms know: in addition to working, taking care of the kids, maintaining the house and car, shopping, cleaning, laundry, chauffering, et cetera, we're also expected to keep all computers, printers, and office supplies up to date and in good working condition. No excuses!
