There is a lost art form in American Society: Calling Dibs.

It used to be that when someone was going to eat the last of something in the fridge or cabinet –they would “call dibs” on it.  I.E. “I got dibs on the Tea”, or “I got dibs on the chips” or a straight up “Hey, that’s my last piece of cake!”

That courtesy would allow the purchaser of the item (or the grown up) to at least know that you are about to get ‘the last’ of whatever it might be.  (It also gave pause for a possible override / veto of your request.)

Nowadays, stuff just disappears.  The gallon of milk you just bought two days ago, gone.  The bottles of water that you just put in the refrigerator yesterday, gone.  The cookies that you just baked an hour ago—gone. 

I often wonder if little societal breakdowns like that are causes for the larger ills of society.  Like the financial crisis for instance.  Who took the last money out of the kitty on Wall Street and didn’t bother to tell anyone?  Or, who used the last good  oil ‘cap’ at BP and didn’t bother to mention the fact that they needed to order more new ones?… and who, for Pete’s Sake, took the last job in America a year and a half ago and left 7 million other people in the private sector without one?  People…Really?  From now on…THINGS HAVE GOT TO CHANGE…. START CALLING DIBS!!!!!!