I purchased two toasters recently - both of which didn’t work. I used the first toaster for a couple of weeks, then one day when I tried to push the lever down, it wouldn’t go down all the way. I couldn’t take that toaster back since I had already thrown away the box. So I stuffed the faulty toaster in the back of the kitchen cabinet.

I purchased another toaster – this time a little fancier. I decided to check the lever on this one before I used it to toast anything. I took it out of the box, pushed the lever down and to my frustration, it didn’t work. I returned it to the store immediately. When the clerk asked if there was something wrong with the product, I emphatically said, “Yes, the lever doesn’t go down all the way.”  

It wasn’t until my mom and I were walking through the mall and I saw a toaster at Sears that a light bulb went on. I mentioned how cute a little red toaster was. My mom pushed the lever down and softly mentioned the words that are still ringing in my ears…”Of course the lever won’t go all the way down until it is plugged in.”

I must have made an inappropriate noise or had some sort of blank stare because she followed up her statement with the following, “Please tell me that you didn’t take that toaster back because the lever didn’t go down.”

We both got a good laugh out of it. When I got home I pulled out the first toaster I purchased. Sure enough it worked after all. I just needed to plug it in before pushing the lever down.