I have a lot of drinking glasses - glass, thermal, and plastic - in a variety of sizes and shapes.
Mostly, Lex and I both reach for the non-glassware, of which we have a ton, for our various beverage container needs. So, even though we have a handful of actual glass glassware - most of which came from the Divine Ms. Dayna - they rarely get used unless there is a special occasion like a supper party.
However...
In that same cupboard with the plethora of glass and non-glassware, mixed in with the plastic tumblers of various sizes and shapes, the collection of coffee mugs, and any number of travelers are two very special glasses...
One is a pint glass from the first and only time I went to Nederland for the annual Frozen Dead Guy Days a few years ago. I bought the glass because I was with friends I loved and we had an extraordinary lunch and I wanted to bring something home with me that would remind me of the experience.
The other is a glass from the first and only White Castle I've ever been to...the White Castle Acr0 and I ate at - because neither of us ever had - when we were in Wisconsin on the American Gods and Roadside Attractions roadtrip a couple of years ago. The White Castle excursion that, ultimately, made us miss 2/3 of the House on the Rock tour we'd set out to see. That glass was one of the only souvenirs I brought back just for me.
Both mean something significant to me.
And yet...
For some reason, whenever Lex has guests - and maybe it's only Lex's guests because he's more apt to point to the cupboard and say "help yourself" whereas I'm much more host oriented and serve my guests drinks - invariably one or both of those glasses get pulled out from the recesses of the cupboard, plastic tumblers and regular, every day glasses shoved haphazardly aside, and placed into precarious play.
I don't get it.
They aren't the biggest or smallest glasses. The aren't the prettiest and they certainly aren't the most durable. The rest of the glasses - glass and non-glass - aren't uniform so that eliminates the concern that perhaps the glass might be mistaken for someone else's.
The only thing they are is unique and obviously commemoration glasses - one of a kind in my cupboard - that people, Lex's people I guess, gravitate toward.
And it irritates me.
Because I don't even use those glasses. Unless there is beer and only good beer and that is hardly ever.
So I ask...
When you go to someone else's house - especially a house of someone you've never met - and are told to "help yourself" to a glass and beverage...do you go for whatever is closest to your size need or do you automatically reach for the novelty cup?
Cuz if you reach for the novelty cup? You're being an asshole. Most likely. Or maybe that's just me.
PS The Frozen Dead Guy Days glass is in play tonight by someone who helped herself to it without invitation. I've met her once - 3 days ago - and she navigates my kitchen as though it is hers. She's already spilled Pepsi on my living room carpet and, even though she tried to clean it up, the carpet I've owned for a month will require a steam clean. So I'm grumped...a lot...by the nerve of some people's children.
4 comments:
I tend to serve my guests in general, unless it's someone who is over a lot and then it's me casa es su casa. (sp)
This reminds me of the first time I traveled to Atlanta to visit the future Mrs. I was about to get some coffee, and the only cups I could find were a collector's set of Disney villain mugs. After a brief moment of panic, I asked and she assured me that they were for every-day use. 13 years later, there's one fewer mug in the cupboard (I didn't do it!), but she still uses them every morning.
Anyway, maybe you need decoys. Like, go to a thrift shop and find a glass commemorating a trip to some Mexican beach you've never been to, or celebrating the year that the Nuggets won the super bowl in the 11th inning, or whatever. Anything that guests will be more likely to be drawn to than the two glasses in the back of the cabinet that actually mean something to you.
OTOH, owning more stuff comes with its own set of problems. Maybe it's easier to just put those two glasses somewhere else, though it sucks to have to go out of your way to accommodate irritating guests in your own home.
First visit, I'll serve you. After that, you're on your own. But I only have about 6 glasses, when they are all clean. Now the soda spill on the carpet, that would upset me a bit.
I always serve my guests so they don't mess with the "good" glasses. But I guess if I'm serving myself, I would just look at what type of glass the host/ess is using and try to use one that looked like that! I try really hard not to be an asshole.
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