Saturday, July 02, 2005

$4,000 Worth Of Tupperware

I think my mother has a disorder. I don’t know what she has or if it even has a name. I’m sure other people suffer from the same type of disorder, but I think it’s yet to be identified by the medical community.

It would say it’s something like kleptomania where you can’t control your urges, but the difference is that she actually does it consciously. Since I can’t see her sitting in a 12 step meeting admitting to a circle of people what she does, I’m just going to talk about it here. Then, we’ll all feel better.

She has an insatiable need to collect plastic containers from take-out restaurants. McDonald’s, Wendy’s (good salad bowl containers) and the king of all take-out places, Asian Fresh (sturdy, sleek, black containers with clear lids!!).


Thank God she’s never been to Rice to Riches, the rice pudding restaurant located just a block from the Little Italy neighborhood in New York City. They have to be the Mecca for cool, colorful take out containers. They are sturdy, modern and even come with a matching spoon!!

Last week while I was visiting Tucson, my mother and I went to McDonald’s for a little sundae. Once we were done with the sundae, this is how the conversation went:

Mom: Don’t throw that away.

Me: Throw what away?

Mom: The container. I want to save it.

Me: Why?

Mom: Because it’s perfect for pudding or ice cream and stuff.

Me: And this is because you currently don’t have enough Tupperware and other stuff in your cabinets that you need to bring home plastic containers from McDonald’s??

Mom: Well, it’s also good for when you go somewhere and want to take stuff with you.

Me: I can’t believe you.

So, we took home the containers, she washed them out and the next night, I saw them in the fridge with chocolate pudding in them.


I can understand if you work a job and you want to take stuff to work with you and then you’re going to throw the container away. But when you have $4,000 worth of Tupperware and 17 sets of CorningWare that range from the tiny glass bowls to the “oven to table to freezer” casserole dishes, you do NOT need plastic cups and lids from McDonald’s.

Although, I think the disorder may be hereditary because I have several bowls from Rice to Riches and just yesterday I washed out a plastic cup and lid from Starbuck’s to use “later”.

“Hi. My name is (fill in your name) and I’m a collect-a-holic.”

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