Last night while in the kitchen helping Pip get supper wrapped up (for those who follow us on facebook, we had four extra guests, two boys of twelvish, Jenny's young man, and the father of one of the boys), I noticed that my glass cutting board had been put in the dish drainer still dotted with the remains of egg yolk from the hard boiled eggs that had been sliced on it at lunch, now somewhat, well, hardened.
I questioned the young people in the kitchen and was told which sibling was responsible for the lunch dishes. I won't name names, but I called him downstairs and pointed out the dirty cutting board placed in the dish drainer with clean dishes.
He looked at it blankly, and then, and THEN, Gentle Readers, with a completely straight face and a slightly puzzled air, he, er, explained:
"That stuff on the cutting board was already there."
I asked if he meant the cutting board was already in the dish drainer when he started doing the lunch dishes.
"No," he said, still totally not getting it. "It was on the counter by the sink. But that stuff on it was already there. I didn't put it there."
I opened my mouth.
Closed it again.
Shifted my feet and started to say something else.
Closed my mouth again.
Started to giggle.
Giggled some more.
"I understand," I said, trying to stifle the giggles, "That because the cutting board was used in lunch prep, it got dirty, so of course the stuff on it was already there. But the point of doing the dishes is that you are supposed to get that stuff off. So after supper you will come back and help Jenny wash up those dishes"
People, it is as though I was speaking gibberish. He just looked at me. Not rudely, not haughtily, just looked slightly bemused by my strange ideas about the purpose of dish washing.
We're wondering if we should take down all the dishes out of the cupboards and rewash them.
yes, I know that look...the look of "why would you want the tub cleaned?, it gets clean when someone showers" look. Love it!
ReplyDeleteA glass cutting board? Those things are awful for your knives.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you could laugh about that. Something similar went down in my home as we were cleaning "under pressure" for the imminent arrival of [surprise] guests, and I wasn't very good natured about it.
ReplyDeleteAfter the smoke emanating from my ears cleared, I managed to bellow:
"WHEN I ASK YOU TO CLEAN X, I EXPECT YOU TO LEAVE X BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT, IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO GET IT CLEAN ... WHICH MEANS THAT YES, YES, SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FACE THE TOTALLY UNFAIR, ENTIRELY DISAGREEABLE TASK OF CLEANING SOMEBODY ELSE'S DIRT, TOO!! NOW MOVE IT, KID!!"
Something like that ... ahem ...
Cat M.
Oh boy. I see moments like this in my future. Hilarious story!
ReplyDeleteOh dear - that reminds me of a perfectly delightful overnight guest who insisted on doing the dishes before leaving. I can only suppose she had somehow gone through life totally ignorant of dish liquid - everything was greasy.
ReplyDeleteI later heard that she was indignant that her mother-in-law implied she didn't know how to wash dishes.
I wonder if she ever did catch on? Did her own mother never use dish soap? Was she somehow deaf and blind to the ubiquitous advertisements for the stuff?
Aspects of other people's lives can be quite baffling!
That is hysterical! I love it!
ReplyDeleteI confess I have had days where I called my husband at work just to confirm I was speaking english, but I really have to learn to giggle more...
Oh, that's hilarious! We have one child who have that kind of blank reaction often .... wired to the moon :)
ReplyDeleteI am SOOOOO glad to hear that my 14 year old son is not the only young man of an age to know better who does things like this.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same kid who once when I told his face was filthy so I was going to wash it, asked me in surprise, "Why is there *soap* on my washcloth?"
ReplyDelete