Detergent, really?

Laundry detergent is expensive. And we've had kind of an annoying problem of running through it very quickly in the house. So, in a move that everyone on staff hates but is still needed, we now keep the detergent in the office and give it out when a resident is doing laundry.

Last night one of our residents, "Joy," took out the detergent half-full. I mentioned in passing that it was the super-concentrated stuff, so she didn't only needed to fill it up to the first line. (This is very difficult to say without being patronizing, but I think I did OK on that front.)

She agreed, sure, fine, and took it out to do her thing. When she brought it back in, she handed me the bottle with a quick "thanks" and headed away. Then I realized--it was empty!

I talked with the other person on staff about what to do. I mean, I didn't want to talk down to this woman or anything, because a) she's awesome, b) it's hard to care that much about detergent, and c) I hate being like, "This is rule 1, this is rule 2, etc."

Jennie (the other staff person) and I talked about it for awhile. We decided it would be a good idea to dilute the detergent, but I still wasn't sure. Should I say something to her? We had quite a little conference on the stairwell.

Anyway, when I came back upstairs, Joy held up the full bottle. "Want the real one back now?"

And everyone upstairs died laughing.

Have I mentioned I love this house?