conservation of umbrellas

[cellio]

You know those dishes you sometimes find near cash registers with signs that say "Need a penny? Take a penny. Have a penny? Leave a penny."? (Or the gaming-con equivalent a few years ago when Magic: The Gathering was hot: "Have an Atog? ...".) I'm starting to think that black umbrellas are like pennies, at least at my synagogue.

We've had a steady rain all weekend. Friday night when I went to get my coat and umbrella after services, I found that my nondescript black umbrella was gone. But lo, there was another black umbrella that seemed to be unclaimed. After confirming that it did not belong to anyone still there, I concluded that I'd been part of an accidental swap and I took the stray. This is the second time that has happened to me there. Yes, the person who took "my" umbrella really took an umbrella belonging to some anonymous third party; my original umbrella has headed off for parts unknown.

I don't care; I don't buy fancy umbrellas, and if it really mattered I wouldn't buy black ones. But I have to wonder how often this happens out there.

It's been raining all weekend, so no sukkah dining for me the last couple days. On Sukkot we pray for rain, so I guess we should be neither surprised nor unhappy when we get it.

Comments

[cafemusique.livejournal.com]

My problem is that I won't take that umbrella that was probably left by the person who took mine. So I njust end up losing umbrellas. Not that I buy them very often.

[cellio]

I asked everyone who was still there before taking it. It was raining at the time, so I figured the odds of someone bringing it and leaving without any umbrella were low.

[cafemusique.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah...it's completely illogical...if I was the last person in the building, I'd leave it in case they came back for it. I'm dumb like that. Overcompensation much...