So, as you may know, I am actually an engineer. And what’s the main role of an engineer? Problem solving of course. When given a project, you’re often given a definite problem that you need to solve. However, how you go about it is very open-ended; there’s more than one solution to a problem. Sometimes you need to think outside of the box, and just use what you have available. So, here’s my story of how the engineering thought process saved my phone.

Now, I don’t know if it’s just me, but whenever I walk by a sewage drain, I’m always afraid of dropping something that would fall in. So this past weekend, I went out to the club with my roommates, and we all shared a cab back. However, as I was exiting the cab, my phone that was in my pocket fell out, and literally fell RIGHT into the sewage drain. Of course, I started freaking out. What was I supposed to do without my phone? It had a bunch of pictures, contacts, etc on it. So while my roommates tried to think of something, I ran upstairs to get something to help me.

The thing was, the phone wasn’t wet or anything. It was just at the bottom (you can see my excellently drawn diagram here), and it was just out of reach. So, when I ran upstairs to my apartment, I thought about different solutions. One was to get a bag, push the phone in, and then lift the bag up, sort of like an elevator. However, my clothes hangers aren’t metal, and thus I wasn’t sure if it would reach. Instead, another idea struck me. When I was moving into my apartment, my dad installed my air conditioner in the window, and had used wood to help support it so it wouldn’t fall. As such, he left extra wood around because some of my windows don’t stay open by themselves. So I saw the piece of wood, grabbed it, and ran back downstairs.

Soon, I was on the ground, reaching into the drain with my stick. I thankfully could reach the phone, so I pushed it against the wall. Using leverage and force, I started to slide the phone up the wall. As I was doing this, my roommate reached down and, just barely, grabbed my phone. My phone was safe, and I didn’t have to worry about getting a new one or anything! And of course we exchanged high-fives and hugs and were all happy, since it was a team effort. And clearly, my use of an engineering mindset helped save my phone from the wrath of the sewers.