Demand And Supply

I realize this column has become my outlet for venting the woes of my domestic life. Let me make it completely clear that I am a totally happy and satisfied husband, father and son.

Having said that, here’s my rant for the week. In my old age I have really taken notice of certain things. Lately I’ve noticed how I’ve become “the replenisher.”

Take toilet paper for instance. How my girls can somehow calculate with great accuracy toilet paper usage where there are only two sheets left on a roll and then leave it for me to replenish is a mystery.

Or I will jump in the shower only to find a sliver of soap so thin that I could pick a lock with it, which has me wondering how the preceeding shower-taker was able to wash herself. Of course, by the time I discover the wisp of soap, I’m thoroughly drenched and would have to towel off completely to retrieve a new bar of soap.

I don’t know about you, but I religiously charge my cell phone every night when I go to bed. That way, I’m ready for the next day with a fully charged communication device. My wife and daughter, however, will run their phones down until the most inconvenient moment possible, namely when we have to go out.

Then they both charge their phones in the car. At best that charge will last them until our ride home, when they will plug into the car and charge their phones until the next time they go out. And speaking of the car, I am in charge of fueling my wife’s car whenever she needs gas. Somehow this has become my job. I’m OK with it, provided I have ample notice to fill it up.

More times than not, I will be getting ready to go to bed when my wife will say, “I think I’m almost out of gas.” That means I have the choice of going out immediately or getting up extra early in the morning to fill her car before I head off to work. Either way is an option that could be avoided had she told me when I first got home from work.

She’ll say, “That’s OK, I can do it myself on the way to work.” In wife-speak that translates to, “Don’t ask me to do your laundry or fix your meals.”

Man, talk about the high cost of gas.

rnagasawa@midweek.com