The Shampoo Racket
When you buy shampoo and the bottle says, maybe, three hundred milliliters, that's never what you're getting. Oh, yes, it's in the bottle. But that's where it's going to stay.
You're about to wash your hair and you haven't been shopping. There's still some shampoo in the bottle that you've been squeezing and shaking. You haven't finished it, there's enough for another wash. So, confident you can shake your way to clean hair, you turn the bottle upside down and shake. And shake. And shake some more. After five minutes, a thin, slow stream of shampoo pours into your hand. There's more in the bottle, but there's no way you can get it out. You look at the quantity. There might be enough to wash a doll's hair, but not the wet, cold mop on your head.
Or you're washing all the dishes and cookware from lunch and you eye the dishwashing detergent. It's a bottle of nine hundred milliliters you bought a month ago and there's now only a thin green line at the bottom. You forgot to buy some this morning at the supermarket, but you're confident it'll stretch until tomorrow. Halfway through, you shake the bottle, and a green drop comes out with as many bubbles as if you had just blown them. You're getting more bubbles than detergent. You finish washing more with hot water than soap. You look at the dishes. There's a thin layer of slippery grease on everything you've just washed in the last ten minutes. You give in and go buy another bottle and then rewash everything you've just washed.
My husband has found a way to beat the racket by prising open the top of the diminished shampoo bottle and pouring in a little water. The diluted shampoo will generally give him one more wash. But, in general, the frustration mounts as the level goes down. You do not pay for the entire bottle, you only pay for what you can get out of it. So, it turns out that shampoos, gels, toothpastes, liquid detergents, and the like are at least one or two euros more expensive per liter than the amount stated in the store. But, even though you'll always see right next to a beautiful picture of a dish you'll never be able to make with the package of rice or pasta you've just bought, "Serving suggestion only," you'll never see a shower gel bottle labelled "Price not reflective of usable quantity." Who wants to join me for a revolt?
You're about to wash your hair and you haven't been shopping. There's still some shampoo in the bottle that you've been squeezing and shaking. You haven't finished it, there's enough for another wash. So, confident you can shake your way to clean hair, you turn the bottle upside down and shake. And shake. And shake some more. After five minutes, a thin, slow stream of shampoo pours into your hand. There's more in the bottle, but there's no way you can get it out. You look at the quantity. There might be enough to wash a doll's hair, but not the wet, cold mop on your head.
Or you're washing all the dishes and cookware from lunch and you eye the dishwashing detergent. It's a bottle of nine hundred milliliters you bought a month ago and there's now only a thin green line at the bottom. You forgot to buy some this morning at the supermarket, but you're confident it'll stretch until tomorrow. Halfway through, you shake the bottle, and a green drop comes out with as many bubbles as if you had just blown them. You're getting more bubbles than detergent. You finish washing more with hot water than soap. You look at the dishes. There's a thin layer of slippery grease on everything you've just washed in the last ten minutes. You give in and go buy another bottle and then rewash everything you've just washed.
My husband has found a way to beat the racket by prising open the top of the diminished shampoo bottle and pouring in a little water. The diluted shampoo will generally give him one more wash. But, in general, the frustration mounts as the level goes down. You do not pay for the entire bottle, you only pay for what you can get out of it. So, it turns out that shampoos, gels, toothpastes, liquid detergents, and the like are at least one or two euros more expensive per liter than the amount stated in the store. But, even though you'll always see right next to a beautiful picture of a dish you'll never be able to make with the package of rice or pasta you've just bought, "Serving suggestion only," you'll never see a shower gel bottle labelled "Price not reflective of usable quantity." Who wants to join me for a revolt?
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