"The Talking Scale"

"The Talking Scale"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

We had one of those talking scales in our clinic. The one that seems like an angry Singaporean when it speaks to you.

"Please do not move during measurement"

"Please stand straight and still."

People would come in at the clinic and they would weigh in , still act surprised at the somewhat irritated commands of the machine and it's warnings to stand straight and still. And then ask you to get off when measurements were over.

It was all well and good until one night no one was on the scales and it began to talk all by itself.

One night(A couple of days before Halloween) our Nurse on duty was busy doing clerical work when all of a sudden the scale began to speak.

"Please do not move during measurement"

"Please stand straight and still."

She looked at the scale and saw no one on it. It began to repeat the same words.

"Please do not move during measurement"

"Please stand straight and still."

No one was in the room with her. No one had been on the scale during her whole shift. 

"Please do not move during measurement"

"Please stand straight and still."

The nurse on duty unplugged the scale and waited if it would begin speaking again. She breathed a sigh of relief when it stayed silent. And this is why our talking scale will always be unplugged before anyone uses it. We don't really want to know what a ghost weighs.