2005-10-03 - 2:12 p.m.

At my workplace, we get free coffee, tea and hot chocolate in the employee break room. This is one of the benefits of working for a university that has so much money, it created a special branch of mathematics to think up new numbers for how much money it has.

I like to have a cup of green tea with my lunch, coffee or black tea if I'm feeling sleepy. Today, I was feeling a little feisty and thought a cup of hot chocolate would be aces. So I heated some water and poured myself a steamy mug.

Now, the hot chocolate was warm and creamy and soothing, but I was distracted by an oddly familiar scent in the break room, something that reminded me of visiting older relatives when I was a child. It was a sort of cloying sent, powdery and sweet, but not overpowering. But where was it coming from? Was one of my coworkers wearing a scent that my grandmother or great aunt had worn years before?

No, it was coming from my mug. And as my olfactory memory tried to puzzle out where I knew this scent from, my tastebuds stepped in and solved the mystery: It was Palmolive, and my mouth was full of it.

Someone didn't properly rinse this mug before letting it dry, and the hot water had reawakened the horrible film of green soap that had been slumbering. And I think we can all agree that dishwashing liquid is not a delicious afternoon treat.

The moral of the story is: rinse the damn dishes, and rinse 'em well, in hot water.