MHH is one of the more chronically late people you will ever encounter. I, on the other hand, am one of the more chronically punctual. (The irony here is that he's yekkish and I'm Hungarian, but we'll leave that alone.) It drives me nuts that he's late all the time. And I admit it. I nudge.
Today, for example, Barak, Iyyar and I were headed out for a little erranding at 5:30. MHH announced his intention to accomplish several tasks and then make the 6:05 minyan. I privately thought this highly unlikely.
"I'll make a deal with you," I said. "If you are on time for the 6:05 minyan, I'll wash the fleishig dishes that are still sitting in the kitchen from shabbos. Including the cholent pot."
MHH quite clearly thought this a stroke of most excellent good fortune. "Seriously?"
"Yup," I said. "But you have to be there on time. Like for when they klop. You have to say ashrei when everybody else says ashrei."
MHH agreed to this and we went out separate ways. At 6:02 my phone rang.
"I was six minutes early!" he said.
"But?" I said.
"It's Yom Kippur Katan. Mincha started twenty minutes ago. And they're not done yet."
So, we leave this to you. I hold that the deal was he had to be there for ashrei. He holds that he just had to be on time for the 6:05, and cannot be held accountable for the fact that the 6:05 was twenty-five minutes early.
The cholent pot is pretty crusty and gross. Who washes it, me or MHH?
Votes to be tallied at 11 pm tonight. I don't really want to leave it on the counter till tomorrow.
We thank you in advance for your sense of civic responsibility in this matter.
8 comments:
i would say you fill it with hot & soapy water. and leave it be.
he has to scrub. he must refill if he has to get that nasty-crusty-part off the top. (or at least *my* chulent pot used to get that. at the rim?)
that way he still has a bit of reward behavior for his actually being a bit early to the time of 6:05 [that's pretty impressive for a chronical late individual] but he still has to scrub because he missed ashrei ...
and then i will discuss with certain others (who know you) the ability for me to provide you with a small stockpile of the chulent pot bags i use and love.
i am always early. always. i have a hard time comprehending being late. if i'm less than 5 minutes early for something i flip out ... and i switched my work hours to start at 8 instead of 9 becuase i was getting there at 7:30 anyway....
I can't believe I'm doing this, but I will attempt to vindicate myself. I just want to clarify, in case it was not already absolutely clear, that minchah begins at 6:05. I was there before six. As it happens, I forgot both that today is erev rosh chodesh and that this particular minyan starts early on such days (which is, of course, once a month). At any other day, or any other synagogue, this would not have been an issue. Alas, I forgot both crucial details. As it is, I figure I'll clean the pot anyway, b/c it really doesn't bother me much to do so, so I may as well spare MHW the chore, but I still felt the need to state that I did make a valiant effort (oh so valiant, in fact). However, I will now simply follow my father's sage advice and say to MHW "I'm sorry, it was my fault". :)
As chronically late individual myself (er, but I didn't know there was a posting here to be commented on, honest!) I say that it's the accomplishment of the goal that counts, not the external (and unforeseen) circumstances that rendered the goal moot. You should have scrubbed the pot, b/c all things being the way they were expected, he would have been early. BUT...only if he actually finished the tasks he announced his intention to finish before mincha!
hhh- i'm impressed by your valiant effort and that's why i proposed rewarding you with a presoak! ;)
i'm also a crazy calendar freak so uhm.. yeah..
i *am* a procrastinator so while i may be 20 minutes early for the event if i was to write a paper for such a thing, it probably was *not* started early.
please let me know if you want some chulent bags...
I'm coming late to the party, and I presume the decision has already been made, but I vote that you, UberImma, have to wash the pot. He was on time for the 6:05 minyan...it's not his fault that the 6:05 minyan was early!
I would venture that being on time generally requires knowing when "on time" is!
Cholent pot is still in the sink.
I vote that you both get wet and soapy together and wash it out as a way of play!
I'm ALWAYS on time, and don't suffer latelings gladly. Having said that, I also believe that any disagreement between myself and my dh is best turned into a sort of romantic lark!
Happy washing!
I'm also late to this party, but I think you need to split the pot washing.
YHH *was* on time, early in fact, IF the minyan had been at 6:05. So he should get credit for that. HOWEVER, he also should have remember that mincha was earlier ;)
So if the pot is still soaking (it would be in my house!), I say you wash half, and he washes half. And then congratulate him for having gotten there at 6pm!
(Oh, and YHH actually posting to defend himself was hilarious!)
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