"Best take the staples out, Tom," Alice said as she left the room.
"Best take the staples out, Tom," he mimicked her voice once she was gone, scrunching up his face. "As if I've never used a shredder before."
He fed the documents into the machine, one by one, taking comfort in their destruction. The next one he picked up had a staple. He grinned as he put it in the shredder. What's the worst that could happen?
The shredder pulled in the paper and shredded it until the staple hit the rotating blades. A spark and a bang made Tom jump. The lights in the room dimmed momentarily. Then, a loud mechanical whirring came from the machine, rising in pitch as the motor spun faster and faster.
Tom stepped back cautiously as the stack of papers on the table were sucked through the air into the shredder. When a book flew off the shelf towards the machine, he ran out of the room. In a panic, he pressed the nearest fire alarm and ran out of the building.
Chairs and tables were shreded, followed by drywall and supporting pillars. People hurried out of their offices. Part of the building caved in, smashing the shredder and severing its power line. Without electricity, it finally stopped.
Stunned office workers looked around to see if anyone was injured or missing. Tom found his colleagues, thankfully all there.
"I told you," Alice said.
"I told you," Tom repeated, making a silly face.