Salt & Pepper Recycling

Dear John,

If you go out later, please return these empty salt & pepper shakers to Wendy's and take a new pair for your Grandmother. She is all out of condiments. Don't let them see you do it -- then you'll have to explain and I do not want you to be embarassed!

Love,
Mom

OK this note requires some explanation: my Grandmother (on my Mother's side of course) is known for taking salt, pepper, wet naps, napkins, ketchup, and anything else she can get her hands on for free, from restaurants and fast food chains. My Great-Grandmother was notorious for bringing her own tea bag to a restaurant or diner and just ordering a free mug of hot water. I learned at a very early age how to be thrifty, but that it was wrong to steal.

With that said, my Grandmother takes the plastic salt and pepper shakers off the table from the local Wendy's. She brings them home in her purse, and when they run out, she actually RETURNS them to Wendy's and takes a new full pair home! She calls it "borrowing," not stealing, and claims it is OK because she is returning them to their rightful owner. In this case she was sick and couldn't make it to Wendy's, so I had to go on a stealth mission and make the swap myself.

I love my family!