My Tupperware Obsession - part last (I promise!)

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I know you all thought my Tupperware saga was over, but it couldn’t be, because Tupperware has a lifetime warranty and I couldn’t possibly throw anything away that might be worth something (no wait, that’s my sweetie…). Every time I broke a bowl, or the numbers wore off my measuring cup, or the kids took one of my good tumblers out to the sandpile and smashed it with a shovel, I stashed the pieces in a cupboard in my kitchen. Then every couple of years I would host a party, drag out all the broken stuff, and get a huge new pile of Tupperware for free.

Now even though I love Tupperware, I can only use so much of it…but I figured out that it makes a fantastic wedding gift! (Sorry to all my neighbors, now you know that I get all of the gifts for your kids for free…) When we moved onto our street, nearly everyone was in the same stage of life, in our mid to early 30s with elementary-age kids. Now everyone is pushing 50 (except me, I’m only 46), and our kids are getting married and moving on. That makes for at least a dozen wedding gifts a year.

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When Bossy first got out of school, she was looking for a little part-time job and I persuaded her to become a Tupperware lady so I could buy all my stuff at a discount. That worked for about six months until she got tired of it. Then for about the last seven or eight years I have called the same Tupperware lady and she has come over and taken all my broken stuff and we have scheduled a party and we both come away happy, because you know my super-overachiever self can never do anything halfway.

Last summer I made my biannual call to her and I was stunned to hear that she was no longer selling Tupperware, but that she had started her own business selling bags and purses (the traitor!). So I shut my Tupperware cupboard and let the broken pieces accumulate for another year. Sadly though, my gift box was dwindling and I’m afraid my last couple of weddings got pretty lousy gifts. I also had so much broken stuff it was falling out of the cupboard. This prompted a visit on the Internet to find a new Tupperware lady. I was surprised to see some names I recognized from the old days (which if you are counting, are about 20 years ago).

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The first name I called was Bossy’s old manager, but I was not impressed with her people skills…her leave-my-$150.00-worth-of-broken-stuff-on-her-porch-and-she-might-get- back-to-me attitude, that is if somebody didn’t steal it first. So I headed back to the Internet to look for more names. This time I spotted another name I remembered from the early days…my nemesis! She and I were always in the running for the top sales and recruiting honors. Did I dare call her? Would she remember me? After a couple of days brooding over these questions, I finally sent her an e-mail and she agreed to come to my house. I mentioned that I had sold Tupperware in the past and left her my name.

When she rang the bell, my heart began to beat wildly…which is so stupid! I wasn’t afraid of her. I opened the door to her friendly smile and she introduced herself. Like an idiot, I said, “I’m pretty sure we already know each other.” Then she said, “I wondered if that was you!” and that was the end of it. Like two old friends, we sorted through my stuff and I got tons of new things to fill my gift box. Then she asked me to host a party, and what could I say? We booked a date a couple of weeks from now and then she asked me that hard question…Tupperware at my own discount? Where do I sign?