My wife loaded forks with the tines up and I lost it yesterday

We just got a new dishwasher last week and I told her, look, tines down for safety. She put them all pointing up. I reached in to grab a plate and stabbed my palm on a fork. I didn't yell but I did pull out the entire bottom rack and redo it myself while she watched from the couch. Anyone else have a partner who just can't follow the one rule?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_dixon11d ago

Oh man, that's rough. It's like some people just don't get that the world is full of tiny dangers we've all silently agreed to avoid. Tines up is basically a booby trap for your hands, and it's a small thing but it points to a bigger pattern. I notice this everywhere, people just don't think two steps ahead about how their choices affect the next person, whether it's loading a dishwasher, leaving a shopping cart in a parking spot, or not tightening a hose on a hydrant. It's not malicious, just frustrating because it's such an easy fix.

simon_coleman10d ago

You say it's "such an easy fix" but I think that's giving people too much credit. Most folks aren't thinking about the next guy at all because they're barely getting through their own day. It's not about malice or laziness, it's just survival mode for a lot of people. They put the fork tines up because that's how they grabbed it, and then they move on to the next thing. I don't think we can expect everyone to have the bandwidth to plan ahead for some invisible hand injury that might not even happen. It's like getting mad at people for not holding the door when they're carrying three bags of groceries.