Thursday, February 28, 2008

This n that

I do this thing where if I run out of something and have to improvise, quite often the improvisation becomes a new habit. This is exactly how I became a black coffee drinker, though originally I started out with sugar and milk in it. Or like when I ran out of coffee filters that time and found that paper towels worked just fine.(Now we have a permanent filter.) Also, I seem to remember a couple years back there somewhere where I didn't use shampoo, just soap on the hair a few times a week. (Now it's Head and Shoulders or generic variety of same.) Kleenex as dinner napkins? Right on! (Hey, they're all doing it in Japan.) I think it's because I'm cheap and if I find a way to avoid buying something, I will.

Oh and this was kind of funny. Someone called and asked to speak to Mr or Mrs Spouseslastname. So I inform the caller that though Mr Spouseslastname is not there, I'm married to Mr Spouseslastname but I am not Mrs Spouseslastname. "Well, I'll just call back another time then," he responded. And then I cackled.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

They wanted to speak to the lady of the house. That is super funny.
Plastic cups can be washed and reused. Disposable nosable. I did see recycled Toilet paper that had a brown hue. This may be going a bit too far. Ed

Snooze said...

"Necessity is the mother of invention"

I can imagine the telemarketer trying to process your info!

bardelf said...

In a day and time when too many couples do not use the same last name, it is absurd that a caller would be so foolish to use Mr. or Mrs. (same last name).

I'm glad you got a laugh out of it.

ChickenStrip said...

When they call for the lady of the house, I've either pretended to be someone's kid (well, I am someone's kid, technically) or said, "I'm no lady." The latter usually shuts 'em up.

Lemuel said...

I am guessing that the caller will wait for a VERY long time before he gets a chance to talk with Mrs. Spouseslastname - as in "forever". Can we all say "clueless"? I join you in your cackle.

Cincy Diva said...

I have a friend who does this when they call for his spuse.

Caller: May I speak to Mr Soandso?
Friend: I am sorry, he's busy giving me a bj, this is his husband, can I help you?
Caller: (click)

Normlr said...

Or you can grill the telemarketer with 20 questions. That's always fun too.

Lacey said...

That's EXACTLY how I started drinking coffee. Ran out of Tea.

A Lewis said...

So, what are you going to tell the caller next time? I love those moments...and have definitely been there before. Maybe I'll run out of cream and sugar someday...but I've always sword that if I had to drink it black, I'd stop drinking it (COFFEE, boys.....COFFEE!).

TED said...

It's just like that time I ran out of women so I tried a man and then I never went back!

GayProf said...

Paper towels for coffee filters work, but are much too messy in the cleanup.

Mark in DE said...

My friends (aka The Newlyweds) had a similar experience after getting legally married in MA. They called their insurance agent to update their policy and the darn lady couldn't seem to get her head around the idea that two men were married (although the marriage isn't legally recongized in any state other than MA). It was simply beyond her.

Mark :-)

Jen said...

From Bardelf: "In a day and time when too many couples do not use the same last name, it is absurd that a caller would be so foolish to use Mr. or Mrs. (same last name)."

Especially in Quebec where women have to pay extra if they want to take their husband's name (and it's always been that way). The salesperson must've been from outside the province?

I had a phone sales person call and ask for "Mr or Ms [spouse's last name]" to. I didn't even reply but simply asked if they were calling from Canada. When they said yes I then asked if they were aware of "new" (I'll give ya 2 years to cop on) legislation regarding same sex marriage and that therefore some households they might call may not have the Mr/Ms structure they were looking for.

This got a "Yes, sorry" but then an "I'll try back later" when I explained that Ms[sln] wasn't in. Meaning I suppose that there was no tick box on her computer for "annoying resident, I gave up"

Patrick said...

When a telemarketer asks at my house for "Mrs. (Mylastname)" occasionally I answer "Speaking."
I mean, I figure by default, it's sort of true.

Summer said...

I bet he'd not heard that one before. If a telemarker doesn't pronounce my Ukrainian last name correctly I tell them there's no one here by that name.

David said...

I wonder if tyhe telemarketer blushed after hanging up?

D'oh.

Anonymous said...

My grandmother lived through the great depression era of the US; she was one of the most frugal people in many regards that I've ever met. She would purchase plastic eating utensils to make things easier and quicker at the holidays and family reunion, then collect the plastic plates, plastic forks/spoons/knives, and plastic cups and commence to washing them for reuse next time we all would get together. She was also notorious for reusing paper towels to tatters, washing them out for several days on end.

In her later years she would forget where she had stored the washed plastic wares and we would just laugh it off and dgo buy new ones.

I think it's great to pinch a penny, especially when the rest of us get to stand by and get a chuckle and pleasant memory from it!

-C

Java said...

Love the Mr/Mrs That-aint-happenin'-here.

You use a permanent coffee filter. You could also use permanent napkins. When you run out, just do the laundry. I bought a dozen cloth napkins on clearance about 10 years ago. They still work great and look fine.

One advantage to drinking black coffee is that when (not if) I spill it, it's only dark flavored water. There is no sticky sugar residue and no dairy product to go sour.

Greg said...

Ran out of milk for coffee just yesterday. Fortunately, we had a little vanilla ice cream in the freezer.

Rox said...

I have to buy coffee tomorrow otherwise it will be a gloomy morning on Saturday.

I usually get "Is your mom or dad home?" because I sound like I'm five and then I reply, "No, they can't come to the phone..."