Monday, February 12, 2018

The Candidate's Wife: How an engineer packs (so not political, actually, unless one of you guys can think of a way to apply this to politics - I can't)

Me: I packed my Bon Appetit magazine. Where is it?

Primo: Oh. I moved it to a different suitcase.


Me: Why?


Primo: Because it was the only magazine in the pink suitcase. I put it with the other books.

Me: You mean you moved it for aesthetics.


Primo: Yes. It was the right thing to do.

Me: It's a suitcase. Of dirty clothes.

3 comments:

  1. That's just Primo, not all engineers. I wouldn't interfere with someone else's packing even if it made no sense whatsoever. I'd just shake my head, more in sorrow than anything else, and walk away.

    This is actually one of the things that bugs me about flying. You have to pack according to carry-on vs checked, as opposed to packing by form and function. (Actually, when traveling by myself, I can easily pack everything for a whole week in a bag that fits under the seat in front of me. But we have two children, so we have to check stuff.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I very often find myself thinking like Primo does, and in particular my poor wife often finds herself 'doing it wrong'.

    In this case though...packing all the books together means that one suitcase will be significantly heavier than the other, which is impractical. I aim for optimum weight distribution over aesthetics. Although this does depend on who will be carrying the case.

    Obviously if the books were balanced by something of equivalent weight in the other suitcase...then he's doing it right.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wait! I *can* apply it to politics! Primo is for redistributing magazines to suitcases that didn't work for them. I bet he doesn't even think about the perverse incentive he's created for the suitcase to continue losing single socks to make room for the magazine it didn't even earn.

    ReplyDelete