There are times when everything goes wrong. And when that happens, you have two ways of dealing with it – either you mope and feel sorry for yourself, or you heartily laugh at yourself and your predicament and keep moving forward.
The latter option is usually the best way to deal with it. Sure, some things need to be handled in a sincere and professional manner, but life is just so much easier if you don’t take it so seriously.
I never cease to be impressed by people who are able to laugh themselves through life – and the hilarious Norwegian Claus Jørstad is just one such person.
After having an embarrassing incident in the shower on his new IKEA stool, Claus decided to share his comical experience in an absolutely amazing Facebook post.
But he had no idea that his unique story would go viral and spread like wildfire across the internet.
What happened was that Claus Jørstad had a bad knee, so he decided that it would be a good idea to get a stool so he could sit down in the shower.
After looking at different alternatives at IKEA, he decided to go for the “Marius” stool since it was made out of steel and plastic and seemed comfy.
But there was one thing that Claus had completely forgotten about: the stool had 8 small holes in it, something that would soon cause an uncomfortable problem. On his Norwegian Facebook page, he writes about the incident:
“Once I got home, I put my new piece of furniture in the shower and got in, this time without clothes. I calmly sat down on the stool and soaped up my whole body, including the ‘captain’ and his ‘two sailors’. As you might imagine, the sailors are what dangles between my legs, but since this is a public Facebook post I’ll stick to more flowery language.”
“So, when the deck got slippery and the captain and his crew got dizzy from all the foam, they started sliding around like drunk sailors!” Claus writes, and continues:
Sat there pondering
“Then something terrible happened. A sailor unwittingly made his escape and slid down into one of the holes in the stool. I didn’t notice at first, but as you know things tend to expand when they are warmed up. And when a sailor gets really hot, then he really expands in size. I didn’t notice this until I tried standing up, only to find that the stool was hanging on behind me, and a searing white pain went through me like lightning. That good-for-nothing sailor was stuck in the hole!”
“So there I sat. And sat. I was thinking about my predicament and trying to figure a way out of it. I couldn’t pull up the sailor, and I wasn’t sure if I would be able to push him up from below without having to go to the hospital. So I kept sitting there, pondering,” Claus writes.
But as he was sitting there in the accidental trap, the problem started solving itself:
“I sat there until I ran out of hot water – and when the hot water runs out, you get cold, terribly cold,” he writes, and continues:
“Since I started getting cold, I thought about how I could keep warm, so I tried reaching for the hair dryer… and guess what happened?!? The cold had made that damn sailor shrink again, and with a pop I was a free man once more!”
“The crew got in trouble”
The honest story made readers double over with laughter, and in just one day he received 25,000 likes and 12,000 shares. On the same day, IKEA replied to the Facebook post:
“Hello Claus. We’re sorry to hear that your crew got in trouble and that the Coast Guard almost had to intervene. We recommend you take this stool out of the shower and put a nice flower pot on it instead.
If you do decide to keep it in the shower, then make sure that you’re wearing the right clothing for a rough day at sea – we recommend putting on a sou’wester. Have a great day,” IKEA writes.
I think this was a great example of someone able to laugh at themselves!
SHARE if you think people should take themselves less seriously!
