The evidence
I was at a funeral in the mid 90s. Just a person in the background. The coffee wasn't warm enough to dissolve the creamer so it just floated to the top of the small foam cup. More bored than thirsty, I fidgeted through the various condiments when I discovered an empty creamer in the box. At first glance I thought someone had used it and put it back in the container. But it had not been used, it had been sealed shut at the creamer factory with nothing inside. Just a package. I looked for more packets but found only the one. I stuck it in my wallet and went back to the funeral.
Over the course of the next 10 years or so, I have found other examples of this random phenomenon, empty packages of salt, pepper, sugar and even candy. All now living in my wallet right behind my drivers license. Imagine the luck of finding such a thing even once, I mean, four leaf clovers are hard to find sure, but no one is actually getting paid to stop you from finding them. I have found 5.
I am unstoppable.
Is it forgivable? Sure. They package millions of condiments every day. One or two empties can slip through without real concern right? What if they made flat screen TVs instead? How many of those go out empty?
I carry these flat packages around with me as a reminder to do the best at everything that I produce no matter how small the task. Never mail it in. More people will remember one failure than all of your awards combined and they will talk about them longer. Ask Bill Buckner. So while it may be a tad on the odd side for me to hold onto the minute failures of others, it would be irresponsible for me to believe that mine will ever go unnoticed.
I remind myself of that every day.