In the office I used to work in, a popular snack was popcorn. Simple, cheap, not entirely bad for you, it makes sense. But people seemed to have some surprising difficulties making microwave popcorn. Specifically, they kept leaving it in the microwave too long, and burning the popcorn. This was unfortunate in our aging office building and its poor air circulation: the popcorn misadventures meant we'd all bee smelling burnt popcorn for the rest of the day.
I couldn't figure out why this was such a problem. People consistently left the office kitchen while their popcorn was cooking, and didn't return before it was done. So they either couldn't estimate how long a minute is, or they couldn't remember dor more than a minute that they had popcorn going. That seems simple enough, and you'd think the punishment of the burning smell afterward would train them to remember their popcorn through some sort of Pavlovian principles.
The only other ways to screw up microwave popcorn would be to forget to remove the plastic wrap, or to not follow the instruction to put the package in "this side up." I'm sure the former would be destructive in an entertaining way, through the combination of explosiveness and plastic fumes. As for the latter, I always assumed it didn't really matter which way up the package went, and the warning was just a need for control in Mr. Redenbacher's personality. But yesterday I made that very mistake: Just so you know the popcorn comes out tough, and the Buttery Topping leaks out the bag. Now you know.
I couldn't figure out why this was such a problem. People consistently left the office kitchen while their popcorn was cooking, and didn't return before it was done. So they either couldn't estimate how long a minute is, or they couldn't remember dor more than a minute that they had popcorn going. That seems simple enough, and you'd think the punishment of the burning smell afterward would train them to remember their popcorn through some sort of Pavlovian principles.
The only other ways to screw up microwave popcorn would be to forget to remove the plastic wrap, or to not follow the instruction to put the package in "this side up." I'm sure the former would be destructive in an entertaining way, through the combination of explosiveness and plastic fumes. As for the latter, I always assumed it didn't really matter which way up the package went, and the warning was just a need for control in Mr. Redenbacher's personality. But yesterday I made that very mistake: Just so you know the popcorn comes out tough, and the Buttery Topping leaks out the bag. Now you know.
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