A Soupy Twist

Friend Henry sends us this anecdote. It almost serves as a counterpoint or sequel event to Graeber’s “scrub the baseboard” story:

Once a week I volunteer at a soup kitchen. It’s the least I can do, considering I lead quite a lazy life and shifts only take up a few hours in the evening.

Last week I was on washing-up duty with another volunteer. I started at the sink while she was collecting the dirty crockery, and after ten minutes we swapped roles so I could cool down away from the steaming water and hot ovens.

Once my brow was thoroughly wiped I asked if she wanted to swap back, but she was keen to carry on. In fact she stayed at the sink for the entire shift and powered through the washing up in record time, meaning we could get home earlier than usual.

At one point I commented on her enthusiasm. Turns out she used to work in a bar and had to endure hours of washing up as part of the job, but now that she isn’t being paid to clean and doesn’t have a tyrannical boss telling her what to do, she actually enjoys scrubbing dirty crockery.

She takes pride in making sure every dish and spoon is spotless, since she’s come to the task voluntarily.