The Point of No Return Rule

Yesterday I thought a nice bowl of cereal would be tasty, and when I reached for the box and took a look inside I was surprised to find that there was roughly 3 tablespoons of Multi Grain Cheerios left. Ok. I really don’t need to be eating cereal anyway.

Then this morning I reached for a carton of milk, or what I assumed was a carton of milk. And guess what? There was an empty carton of milk. Well… ok, it wasn’t exactly empty it had at least a fourth cup of milk inside. (I guess cereal really isn’t in the cards for me this week.)

And then to add insult to injury (while the refrigerator door was still open) I reached for my box of See’s Candy (which was unusually light) and much to my shock and dismay it was full of paper and no chocolate!  (And no- I wasn’t going to eat candy for breakfast.  The box was just placed in a weird position in the shelves.)

So where am I going with this whine? Well, quite simply while I do appreciate the considerate thought to share with others, there comes a time in the amount of a consumable item that is (quite frankly) “the point of no return.”

Why don’t people understand this?  Is it the need to not feel like one ate it all or an attempt to be polite?  Why not just use the last of a food or drink up, just call it like it is, and confess  “Hey I drank the last of the ice tea”?  I feel that placing an item back with an amount that is not useful and no good to anyone is rude.  Not polite at all. This action breaks the “point of no return rule” and sets up an individual for an enormous let down. 

First there is the anticipation…“I’m in the mood for chocolate ice cream. Hope there is some left. “  Then there is a build up… “Oh good. The container is here.”  And then the let down… “Who put this back with nothing really in it? Damn you whoever you are!”…

After giving this some thought it dawned on me that perhaps it wasn’t that my family was being polite (though a mother would like to think so).  And it wasn’t that they were breaking the  “point of no return rule” (because I just thought it up and haven’t announced it yet).  It was that my family was actually trying to set each other up for a disappointment.  It was a game.  Oh, I get it.  (We are a playful lot.)   It is definitely a  game.  Well… I like games ...

I watch out of the corner of my eye, quietly washing the dishes at the sink. Waiting.

My husband approaches the refrigerator.  I watch and wait. He reaches for the container holding the left over pasta.  He opens the container, and then… “Hey, who ate the last of the pasta and left four noodles?”   I innocently reply, ‘I don’t know.”

He leaves the kitchen disgruntled.  “Ha. I WIN!”