STICKY SITUATIONS
The Time I Really Stepped in It: A Gum Saga
I stepped in gum and I had to get creative
I haven’t only stepped in gum only once in my life. It’s happened more times than I’d like to admit. I’ve stepped in all sorts of stuff and I’m usually able to get it out with a little effort but some frustration.
One time a few years ago while living in the motel, I had to go over to the front desk to get some towels and soap. I walked up the same way I went every day.
On this particular day, I wasn’t paying careful attention to the ground. I stepped on something then I hesitated as I lifted my foot. At the time, I didn’t know what had happened. I figured I had just stepped on something sticky or damp. I got up to the front desk and my boot was sticky on the tile.
I looked down and noticed that some gum had gotten stuck.
If I had called attention to it, it would’ve been embarrassing. I decided to wait until after I got what I needed to attend to it. No one else noticed it anyway. I figured that if they did notice it, they probably would’ve said something or told me but I’ll never know for sure.
I walked back as fast as I could. Before I went back into the room, I put the towels down next to my door but on the inside of the room. I went over to the grass in front of the room and started scraping my shoe across to get it wet and get enough friction on it to break it loose. It was stubborn, though. It wanted to stick to my boot.
I thought about picking at it with my hand but I didn’t know who had chewed that gum. That thought escaped my mind as quickly as it went in. I’d remembered all of the other things that were supposed to remove gum from boots as this had happened to me before. Ice? Peanut butter? A hairdryer? Well, at that point, without getting the gum out, I quickly took my boots off and ran into the room.
I grabbed the boot with the gum on it and tried the ice we just got from the ice machine. I took my sticky boot, stuck it in the tub, poured the ice in there, and plugged it up. It took a little bit but the gum appeared to start separating from my boot. Watching this was boring me out of my mind but I just wanted to make sure the steps I was taking would get the gum off.
I didn’t have any peanut butter or a working hairdryer after all. I had to get creative. Once I felt that it got enough of the gum to start separating, I then took a knife to it and just scraped the rest of it off. It was a hassle and an inconvenience but at least I got the gum off my boots. It taught me to always watch what is on the ground.
Not everyone is considerate enough to just throw their gum away. You can’t ensure that your path is going to be trash-free or non-sticky. Anyway, I want to say I learned my lesson but I likely didn’t as I’ve stepped into stuff that’s much nastier than gum since.
Have you ever stepped in gum? Or anything sticky? What did you do in that situation, if you did?
