The Aaah!gonizing Fax

Who would’ve thought that sending a fax could be so painful?
It started out as a simple idea, just running an errand. I needed to send a fax, and found out last night that my fax machine is no longer compatible with the phone service; because we recently switched to Comcast. So, this morning I got ready to go out, gathered up all the kids and headed for the DWS to use the fax machine there. Of course, as soon as I pulled out of the drive way Ati was starving; never mind the fact that she was at that moment eating some fruit snacks. Then, a little while later (while still whining about being starving) she was hot. I pretty much ignored her whining and went on my way. We got to DWS and had to wait just a few minutes for someone else to finish with the fax machine; no problem. Then, it was my turn. I put my fax in, and it was too big. So, I had to split it in half; ok, not a big deal. I dialed the number, and waited…and waited…and waited. The fax would not go through. It redialed 6 times, and then spit out a report that said the number was busy. I tried it again. Same thing. Third time, still busy. By then it had be at least 30 minutes of waiting for the fax to go through, I was getting extremely anxious and frustrated. In the meantime, Malachi decided he was tired (it was his naptime) so he was crying, Eli had pooed and was really stinky, Ati and Eli both had their shoes off and Eli took his shirt off. They were both running around the building in circles, while laughing and squealing really loudly. During my first attempts of faxing I was also having trouble with the machine pulling multiple pages through at once, so that of course made it even more annoying. Well, after being extremely annoyed, and having annoying kids, I finally realized that I had been doing it wrong! I was supposed to dial 9 to get out of the building! Who would’ve known that?! (who except for all the people who actually read the directions, that were in big print, taped to the desk, right next to the fax machine!) What a relief, though, because it meant I was just an idiot and the machine was fine and I could be almost done…relieving except that I felt like a big idiot, my kids were still being really crazy, and there were people waiting to use the fax machine. There was a lady (not in line, but just there, watching) holding a baby that I assume was her grandson, who was giving me pretty dirty looks. She seemed to be thinking that “some people shouldn’t have so many kids” (of course, I don’t really know what she was thinking, that’s just how she looked).
So, anyway, I put my first fax back in, followed the directions, and only had a slight problem when 2 sheets tried to go through at one time; the fax went through! On to the next fax. The first few pages went fine, then the machine jammed! I don’t even know what happened, just that I was annoyed. So, it spit out a report that said “jammed”. Grrr. I gathered up the pages that seemed to have gone through, and quickly shoved the rest in the machine, for hopefully one final fax. My fax cover sheets were all wrong because of the amount of pages, and I probably double faxed a few things; but, I still don’t even know if the 2nd fax actually went through (the one that said jammed). I hurried and got out of the way so the guy behind me (who was in a hurry) could take his turn. Ati had been bugging me about needing to go potty, so I rounded up their shoes, grabbed the crying Malachi and rushed to the bathroom. Eli was left behind screaming because he couldn’t get his shoe on and didn’t want to be left. I grabbed his shoes and had him put them on in the bathroom. I was going to change his diaper because he was really starting to stink up the place, but I didn’t bring the diaper bag in (it was only going to be a quick fax). So, I left the kids alone in the bathroom (just for 20 seconds) and ran to get the diapers from the car. Of course, in the 20 seconds I was gone another lady (the one giving me dirty looks) had to use the bathroom, but my kids had locked themselves in the stalls, and there was no room for her. She was visibly annoyed, but just left while we were in there. I put Eli on the changer, started to take off his diaper, and found out: no wipies! Ugh! So, I improvised and quickly ran to the sink to wet some paper towels. It worked ok. When we were done in the bathroom I thought I would quickly try to refax the 2nd fax, just to be sure...haha, yea right! As soon as I got to the fax machine again Malachi was crying, Ati was starving and thirsty, and Eli was just running around. I gave up. We left. Had to chase Eli around the car a bit, but finally got him buckled, and pulled out of the parking lot. Phew, glad that was over.