Recently, I read a 'Dear Abby' type of article. A woman was upset and seeking advice over a dilemma she had. A friend had been at their house helping her husband do some landscaping. When they were done and came into the house, the friend proceeded to wash up at the kitchen sink. The woman was horrified to think someone would wash himself at the kitchen sink where food is prepared--and the columnist was, too. I was dumbfounded--this was something that never occurred to me as being horrifying.
The house I grew up in was an old farmhouse that had been moved into town from the farm. It only had a tiny bathroom on the second floor--and the sink didn't work the entire time I lived there. We had to use the bathtub to wash after using the toilet--or go downstairs and use the kitchen sink. I grew up using the kitchen sink to brush my teeth and The Father ALWAYS washed up there when coming in from an outside job. Actually, I don't know how much difference it would have made if the bathroom would have been fully functional. Both The Mother and Father used outhouses at some point in their lives, so the only sink they ever had that was usable WAS the kitchen one. (The sauna was for bathing.) When The Parents married and rented a house, it only had an outhouse and a water pump in the kitchen. They have lived very rustically at different times of their lives. Growing up, the kitchen sink was regularly scrubbed and it DEFINITELY was scrubbed before any food was put into it, so there was no chance of contamination. To this day, I don't see a problem with using the kitchen sink for other than dishes and food.
My question is this: Do I have a wrong way of looking at this entire situation? Do you--or have you ever--used your kitchen sink for anything that was not related to food in any way? I'm terribly curious about this.
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I used to give my babies a bath in the kitchen sink. Wonder what DA would say about that one.
ReplyDeleteLeeeetle over the top there in my humble opinion.
Yeah, I thought the whole thing was a bit over the top, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure my mother bathed her babies in the kitchen sink, and she used to wash her hair under the tap there, which kind of grossed me out. If I'm in the bathroom and she wants to brush her teeth, she will brush her teeth at the kitchen sink. And if we want to horrify that letter-writer, I've been known to wash dog poop off my shoes in the kitchen sink. :-0
ReplyDeleteI wash up in the kitchen if it's more convenient than washing up at the basement sink, if I'm not too dirty. I rarely put food I'm preparing in the sink, so I don't see what the big deal is.
After all these years of using the kitchen sink "inappropriately", none of us in this house has ever gotten sick from washing dirty hands at the kitchen sink.
I guess some people are horrified by what we think is normal-I don't see what the big deal is when someone pees while taking a shower, or instance. It's all water down the drain anyway.
Pah-leeze! My kitchen sink has been used to wash damn near everything! When I was a baby my mother bathed me in the kitchen sink!
ReplyDeleteBoth of my kids had baths in the kitchen sink and I ALWAYS washed my hair there when I lived with The Parents. I wash my Crocs in the kitchen sink whenever they get too dusty/dirty. I use the sink as a sink--whatever needs to be done there, gets done. I don't worry about it, as I only ever put food directly in the sink once a year: that is when I rinse the Thanksgiving turkey before I put it in the roaster to cook. And I SCRUB the sink before AND after.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to hear I'm not the only one who thought this entire discussion was ridiculous. At times, I wonder if my way of looking at things is so much different than other people because of being only a 2nd generation American and from living in a rural/isolated place like this is. :)
Well clearly you are NOT alone! That discussion was/ IS ridiculous!!!
ReplyDeleteJust where was that dirty fellow supposed to wash up, anyway? In the nice clean powder room with the paltry "guest towels" and twee little novelty soaps? and where did her husband wash up? If he knew that his wife felt that way about the kitchen sink, why didn't he tell the friend not to wash up there?
ReplyDeleteYou know janet, that is exactly what I thought: wouldn't the woman go ballistic if someone dirtied up her guest bathroom? I've ALWAYS thought it was easier to clean up the kitchen sink than the bathroom one.
ReplyDeleteDon't you all just LOVE how we can go on and on about the craziest things? We women truly are wonderful! :D
Yep, wonderful how we can tear apart other women, too! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love reading those advice columns, some people have the stupidest "problems" and a few have genuine problems. They all make me glad I don't have their problems!! (oops, too many exclamation points!!)
My youngest and I are HORRID when it comes to trashing others. ;) EVERY time K and I are someplace--for example, the Elton John concert--I find a reason to say "WHERE is A when I need her?" K just is NO fun when it comes to evaluating others. ;)
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy the advice columns--stupid problems and all--when they actually gave common sense answers. You know, back in the days of Dear Abby and Ann Landers. Today, however, I am finding all of the answers are put through the 'politically correct' strainer before they are posted. I can, for the most part, recite word for word the answer before I even read it. That is why this entire discussion is so odd for me, because I hardly ever read the columns anymore. I guess this 'problem' managed to suck me in. :D
Hey, exclamation points have their usefulness--and I use enough of them myself. However, I do draw the line at having less letters than explanation points. :D
I hadn't thought about it, but you're right about the "politically-correct strainer" thing. I used to like Ann Landers' "wake up and smell the coffee", that's the closest to "you're an idiot" she could get. I think advice columnists today might be worried about offending the readership, and thus losing their jobs.
ReplyDeleteAt least when the columnists called people complete idiots--or implied it--they were actually giving good, common sense advice. Today, it seems as if the columnists are afraid someone will come after them with a law suit if they say anything too strong. It's just crazy--and makes the columns unreadable--in my humble opinion. ;)
ReplyDeletewell, I don't know about lawsuits-if Jim calling himself "Baltimore" writes in with a problem, and doesn't like the answer and files a lawsuit, everyone he knows will know it was Jim who thinks he might be gay.
ReplyDeleteA lot of times I get the feeling that the letter-writer knows the answer to the problem but is just getting a second opinion. And sometimes, the answers are too simplistic-it's easier said than done to confront one's prickly mother-in-law about her obvious preference for one grandchild over another.
I so much agree with the simplistic answers. Really, if you could tell your m-i-l to f*** off, wouldn't you DO it instead of writing to an advice columnist?
ReplyDelete