Spilt ketchup - darn it!

As a kid, I was always inclined to dump ketchup on any food item in front of me. The food could be hot dogs, french fries, hamburger and eggs, or more. If it was edible, it was meant to be drowned in ketchup.

We all know that the first thing one does, before pouring, with a ketchup bottle is to firmly shake it to make sure that all the ingredients are evenly distributed in the bottle before dumping it onto the food. One day at the dinner table I customarily shook the bottle and the ketchup flew out everywhere across the table.


My parents scolded me for not making sure the cap was properly screwed on. Shaking a bottle with a loose cap meant spilt ketchup. I understood that it was my obligation to make sure to check the bottle cap before I made the shake. (Admittedly, I had assumed that the prior user had twisted the cap firmly back on.)

Weeks later, we had a guest over or dinner and he asked for the bottle of ketchup to be passed to him. It was nearest to me so I passed it and, he shook it before pouring.

Ketchup spilled out across the dinner table.

My mother turned to me and asked, ‘why didn’t I check the cap on the ketchup bottle before passing it to the guest?’ I expressed true confusion on how I was the source of the spilled ketchup in this instance and also the prior episode where I had shaken the bottle.

Do we ever find ourselves in life being the focus of loose ketchup bottle caps? Do we really want or deserve a piece of this?

Your thoughts?