The Story That Almost Wasn’t Told

At the start of spring break, I made the Wolvog’s favourite salmon dish, and at the end of spring break, I made the ChickieNob’s favourite pasta. We sat down to eat, and Josh took the new pepper grinder, gave it a few twists over his plate, and the top flew off, showering his meal, the table, and a portion of the kitchen floor in peppercorns.

Faulty pepper mills happen. It was annoying, but I didn’t feel the need to talk about it. We cleaned the kitchen, dumped the pasta, and sent a note to the manufacturer (who shall not be named) to inform them about the defective pepper grinder. They wrote back that they would send us a coupon so we could replace the pepper. Excellent.

Three weeks later, the coupon arrived. It came with a warning that we needed to use it immediately because they would not reissue it once it expired in a few weeks. The amount on the coupon was less than the cost of a new pepper grinder. In other words, to replace our pepper grinder, we needed to pay them — not the full amount we spent the first time, but pay them for a portion of the replacement. So we got to pay them to replace our new pepper grinder with an even newer one, AND we got to eat the cost of the meal we had to toss because it was covered in a solid ounce of peppercorns.

And now it became all I could talk about, clearly, since I am telling you, too.