The shampoo bottle without end

 

It sits in the shower.

Actually, showers, since I have a bottle in both of our bathrooms. They are those extra-large bottles that come with the built-in pump-dispenser. And that means I don’t have to pick it up every time I need shampoo. Which, in turn, brings us to the general thoughts floating around in this story.

For whatever reason, I’m convinced that if I never pay attention to the bottle of shampoo, it never emtpies. It’s like some automatically refilling, never exhausted supply of shampoo readily available for me.

This thought first occurred to me when I was cleaning the bathroom one day and paused when I got to the shower and tub. I spotted the bottle, and on this particular day for whatever reason, it struck me that I couldn’t remember the last time I bought shampoo. No clue why I thought about it, but I did. I gave it way too much thought, and the best I could come up with was a purchase some sixteen months or longer in the past.

Sixteen months. Outrageous. Borderline impossible. I even asked Terry to see if she could recall buying any. But it’s what happened next that really stayed with me.

I lifted up the bottle, and it was close to empty. And that’s where we come to the completely untested, not really a theory because it’s unproven, consideration about shampoo bottles without end.

Have you ever suddenly become aware of something you needed to replace, but not because you needed it?

(Stay with me.)

I’m not talking about running out of mustard and suffering without it for your hot dog. Nor am I talking about making a shopping list, opening the fridge to check things out and finding you need eggs and orange juice. What I mean is something you don’t regularly give any attention, but somehow when you do is exactly when you needed to spot it. Whenever that moment is, random as it may be, that’s when you check and that’s when you need it.

For some reason, I’ve managed to become convinced that as long as I don’t pay attention to the shampoo or toothpaste or so on, I won’t run out. Only when I do wonder if I need it do I find myself running low.

Friend of mine counters this theory. He says it’s actually the law of replacement at work. His scenario involves a bar of soap next to the sink. You find you need to replace the bar of soap, go to the closet or wherever you store the backups, and find you’re running out. So, you add it to the shopping list and replace it, and as a result have a constant supply.

There was a bit more to it, as we discussed things like bottles of water and such, and he almost had me once or twice. But the reality I kept arriving at was his argument was flawed. He was replacing things that had run out, not never running out until he looked for it.

This morning my wife and I headed for the kitchen to make breakfast. She grabbed the milk for some cereal, had just enough for her bowl, and wandered over to my shopping list. I had taken out some half and half for her tea and my hot chocolate, and realized I never paid much attention to the container of half and half.

Any day we had cereal, or used the milk for something, we could see the contents of the plastic container. Plenty of milk… plenty of milk… until eventually the expiration date passed or we reached the point of adding it to a shopping list. But not the half and half. We don’t use much of it, since coffee and tea and hot cocoa aren’t every day items, nor are we using large amounts of half and half when we do need it. Container is a carton, so you can’t easily see inside. You almost have to notice it. Very similar to the shampoo scenario.

Unfortunately, I can’t really test anything to prove the theory. Paying attention to it would invalidate any experiments of the hypothesis. Hard to design a conscious test for unconscious scenarios.

Once I was actually paying attention to the shampoo and it seemed to only last a month or two. Not even close to explaining the sixteen-plus months. But it does tend to fascinate me from time to time. Though I’m not sure if my wife would appreciate my trying to notice things even less often than I already do.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me at Bob@inmybackpack.com