Lounge of Tomorrow - Don't Let this Happen To You!

Here's an alarming story that will no doubt prove edifying for all of you.

First, some background. I have a number of jobs in the theme park industry here in Central Florida. One of those jobs involves me assisting park guests in the use of the Kodak Picture Maker kiosks. (You've seen them. Put in your memory card, and then burn your pictures to a CD or make prints of them.) A couple of weeks ago, I was stationed at a KPM (that's Kodak Picture Maker, y'know) at the Imagination Pavilion at Epcot.

A young man approached with a digital camera. I'm guessing he was about sixteen or so. He had a bit of a New Jersey or New Yawk kind of dialect going on. A little hefty, maybe.

So, he asked me if I could help him burn the pictures on his flash card to a CD. I showed him the first few steps, and soon, his pictures were on display on the screen.

Now, these kiosks allow you to review about twelve pictures or so at a time. (Four rows of three, I think.) So, the last two rows of pictures that came up were indeed pictures of a typical Disney World vacation. But what about the first two rows, I hear you asking. What was on THOSE pictures?

The first two rows were pictures this guy had taken of his own winky, while he was *ahem* indulging in some auto-gratification.

Anyhow, I must tell you now that standing right behind this guy, and watching every bit of this, were his mother, his grandmother and his kid sister. Yep, they saw everything.

This was one of those moments were time seemed to briefly stand still, as I stood there and thought,"Am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Then, the young photographer in question threw himself up against the screen to try and block the images from his family and other passers-by. (Too late.) I asked him politely to reset the machine by touching the Start Over icon. (You have to select it twice.) Meanwhile, his family moved a few feet away and started laughing.

Once the screen was safely blank, the guy turns to his relatives and says,"That was NOT ME! I swear to God, that was not me. That must've been one of my friends playin' a prank or somethin' but it wasn't me. An' when I find out who that was, I'm gonna be so pissed. I have no idea how those got there!"

His family weren't buying it. They urged him to get away from the machine and they all left.

i'm just so happy I was able to share in what I imagine will be the most embarrasing moment in this fellow's life. (I should HOPE so, anyway!) He's going to be hearing about this for a long long time.

Another day, another Magical Moment.