Cordless Handheld Vacuum

A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Copy Machine (or Things You Should Never Vacuum Up)

I know there are the obvious things that a traditional house vacuum should not be attempted to suck up like the stuff that makes the motor sound all clackety when you try to suck them up. Pennies shoved in the sofa, never a good idea to try to suck them out or nails, screws and the like also from the sound of things when you try (I have) don’t mesh well with a vacuum, but there are things that are not that obvious. Some of these not so obvious things actually beckon to be vacuumed. Fine powdery material seems like it should be easily vacuumed away and nine time out of ten it is, but it is that tenth time that really gets you!

Vacuums no doubt are great labor saving devices they are usually a very efficient means of cleaning up all types of debris on all types of flooring surfaces. There are some things that you should not vacuum up and it would seem there should be some type of warning signs as to what should not be vacuumed up.

Here’s how I learned a lesson about the one in ten thing that looks like it could be vacuumed but as it turns out it is a really bad idea. Let me set the scene. I worked in a brand new office, brand new floors, walls; it was in fact a brand new building. I had been working for the company for a period of time and was actually contemplating moving on, because my boss was slightly anal retentive and actually was a bit of a micro manager of course there were other reasons that have nothing to do with this event.

On this particular day I was in a particularly bad mood. There had been a lot of money invested in this new office except, the department that I worked in didn’t actually get any new equipment the computers and other necessary office devices were outdated to include the copy machine. The copy machine was out of toner yet again and it needed to be refilled, there was definitely a problem here. I did not know how to refill the toner and the only person that did was not in. I needed the copies so I decided to wing it. It turned out badly, badly to the tenth degree. Toner flew everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Black toner all over the brand new wood floors, on the base board and all over the copy machine. After a few minutes of contemplation I decide that using the brand new canister vacuum that was purchased specifically for use on the light beige carpeting downstairs would be a good idea. It seemed to suck everything up in a jiffy. Problem solved!

The cleaning lady showed up to clean that weekend and it would seem that the filter on the vacuum was covered with this fine powdery black toner and it blew out from the vacuum and covered the carpet downstairs. The hose of the vacuum was covered with this fine powder all up and down the inside and the brush also had its fair share of toner covered bristles. Suffice to say it didn’t go well from there.

I quit the job and sited the vacuum incident and the way it was handled as prime proof of why I no longer could work there. Lesson learned. Think before you pull that vacuum out it will save you some serious aggravation!

254 Responses to “Things You Should Never Vacuum Up”