Flaming paper towel

I wanted to heat up a bagel, so I went to the kitchen area at work. I stick the bagel into the toaster oven and wait two or three minutes. A woman walks in and starts to use the copier at the other end of the kitchen break area.

I use a paper towel and pull out the bagel. My paper towel must have touched the burner because it caught on fire!!

There I was holding a flaming paper towel. I look over to see if the other woman there will help but she doesn’t notice. The flames quickly gobbled up the paper towel, moving closer to my hand. I dropped the paper towel on the counter out of panic. The fire raged on. I screamed and threw the paper towel into the sink. The water from the faucet didn’t reach far enough and it was still on fire.

 I had to move the paper towel one more time to completely douse the fire. Now all I had were black paper towel wads in the sink. I stood there still breathing hard, trying to process what just happened.

The woman who was using the copier, gives me a “oh, silly girl” smile and walks away. Wtf! Did she realize that I had a flaming paper towel and choose to ignore me or was she just oblivious? Yes, it was shocking to me that the paper towel caught on fire, but more shocking to me was that the woman didn’t help me or acknowledge the situation.

Moral of the story: don’t use toaster ovens and help others when they are holding a flaming towel.