Warning: Refrigerator Refreshment

Tonight's Tackle Box: The Refrigerator

I could lie and say this happened a week or so ago, but I'll be honest...it happened more than a month ago. My toddler decided to help me fix breakfast one rather chaotic morning, so more than a half dozen eggs ended up in the bottom of my refrigerator.

Like me, you know you're guilty. Something spills down behind the crisper box and after a quick swipe at the bulk of the mess, you think I don't have time right now, so I'll clean it thoroughly later.

In the meantime, one child is crying, the other needs to be changed, the phone rings, there's a knock at the door, someone needs to be changed again- wait a minute, didn't I just change you? And then, cleaning out the refrigerator ends up way down at the bottom of the day's to-do list, right along with the growing collection of spills, gunks, and goos.

Then you definitely know it's time to clean the refrigerator when there are sufficient amounts of green and blue stuff growing down there behind the crisper drawer getting crispy! Anyway, tonight is the night! My beautiful squeaky clean refrigerator is proudly modeling her intimate areas for your viewing pleasure. You can see that she even brought her own strawberries and whipped cream, just for you! There's just something really sexy in its own right about a clean refrigerator. If you don't have children yet, don't worry. You'll know what I mean some day.

Since cleaning the refrigerator is certainly not on my top 100,000 favorite things to do list, I was far from amused while tackling this task tonight. However, that was only until I realized that my own little refrigerator comes equipped with a sense of humor.

As I squatted down to put the crisper drawer back into its place something caught my attention. There were three lines of capital letters written in bold face type across the bottom of the crisper drawer. Maybe because I put food down in there or because I just open the door, get what I need, and shut the door, but I had never thought to actually read the drawer's writing.

So, I had to share...

"WASH IN MILD SOAP AND
WARM WATER
DO NOT WASH IN DISHWASHER"

If that don't beat all! Someone out there hated cleaning their refrigerator so-o-o-o-o much that they actually tried to put the crisper drawer in the dishwasher!! Come on now! Even I can see that there's no way a crisper drawer that size would fit in a dishwasher, and I don't even have a dishwasher!

At times, I wonder...how stupid do manufacturers think we really are? Then, I think about that question carefully, and I realize that the warning wouldn't be there if it weren't for that one very "special" SOMEBODY who sincerely needed it to be. After all, it only takes one to make a manufacturer decide that a warning needs to be there, just so the rest of us don't get any more wise ideas.

But, if the person who tried to put the crisper drawer in the dishwasher would care to step forward, I'd certainly love to shake your hand! The refrigerator said she'd share her strawberries and whipped cream with you too! Oh, by the way, the refrigerator would also like to know if you own a car wash? She really needs to take a shower but only if it gets her hinges and her feminine components clean too!