November 18, 2007...11:10 am
ask mama…
i was reading the washington post this morning and it’s always interesting to check out the ask amy column in the “style & arts” section of the paper to see what dumb questions folks are bugging amy with this time. sometimes i wish i were in amy’s shoes. let folks come ask me ridiculously stupid questions. oh, it’d be such a fun gig.
today’s simple question:
dear amy,
i will be entertaining a fairly large number of guests for thanksgiving dinner. i’m expecting a grand total of 28 people.
please advise me if it is rude to put the dinner plates in the dishwasher as the tables are cleared and i prepare to serve dessert. we are having a family dispute about this.
i am mostly interested in having counter space.
my sister says it is rude and will cut the evening short.
turkey day trauma.
i won’t get into amy’s answer because it was long and detailed about how the sister was right and blah, blah, blah. (if you get the post, you can check it out for yourself on page m12.) here’s my answer to today’s dilemma:
honey, first thing of all, why are you discussing when you’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher with your family? who does that? who is that insanely organized that they have dish washing on their thanksgiving schedule? i just don’t get it. it’s not that deep. repeat after me: it’s. not. that. deep! see, this is exactly why people have serious illnesses. they stress over the silliest things in life. now repeat this: relax. relate. release. now read on.
what do you mean “is it rude?” are those folks going to stay behind and help you clean that messy kitchen after dinner’s over? you know, after they’ve filled their bellies and packed pounds of food onto plates to take home for the next day’s dinner? i don’t think so. and who the heck cares what your sister thinks? why do you care? tell her you’re doing it your way because you need the counter space and she needs to back off. also let that sister know that she can wash the dishes whenever she pleases when thanksgiving dinner’s at her house.
5 Comments
November 18, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Ask Amy is my favorite newspaper item to mock. I think your answer is right-on and you should get Amy’s job.
November 18, 2007 at 1:54 pm
tell it sistah!
November 18, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Oh dear lord. I’m mostly pissed that this Dear Amy character has the easiest gig on the freakin’ planet. Who is Amy to say what’s rude or not? The thought of her agreeing that ‘loading the dishwasher too early is rude’ is making me have abnormal heart palpitations. I gotta get outta here, man!
November 19, 2007 at 1:36 am
seriously, RUDE? it’s rude to do your dishes in front of people? where i come from, its rude to NOT help wash the dishes or load the dishwasher between courses. its ESPECIALLY rude to sit around someone elses house, while they do all the work, expect them to serve you, and then judge them because, dear god, they did something with their dishes that you didn’t like.
if that was my family, i sure wouldn’t be inviting them back next year.
November 20, 2007 at 9:47 am
here here
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