Fountain Fiasco

A friend of mine recently bought a chocolate fountain, and we took it out for its maiden voyage at a get together on Sunday night. There were 21 people anticipating the flowing chocolate, and we had quite an array of foods to dip into it. We carefully assembled the bright orange fountain, and my friend created a culinary masterpiece of warm chocolate in her make-shift double boiler. When the big moment came to turn on the fountain, we had at least 16 little eyes anticipating the unending flow of chocolate. My friend poured in the chocolate and flipped the switch. There was a loud motor sound but no chocolate. The motor kept going. Still no chocolate. Smoke began to pour out of the bottom of the fountain, but my friend said, "Smoke is normal. The directions said smoke would happen the first time." As the smoke began to billow, we decided to turn off the non-fountain and check it. After rereading the manual and making some adjustments, we still continued to get smoke instead of chocolate (note the picture of the orange fountain and smoke). To my amazement, everyone was still in a chipper mood. Those who have lived overseas for any amount of time have learned the art of flexibility. We poured the chocolate into a separate bowl, and we used a spoon to make our own fountain. The adults lifting the spoon and dripping chocolate off of it served as our fountain. We all got plenty of chocolate; it just wasn't flowing from the orange fountain.