Field Notes on Flossing Negotiation
Brushing is complete. A secondary task has appeared. Terms are being evaluated.
FIELD NOTES: FLOSSING NEGOTIATION
Location: Bathroom, post-brush Time: Late Status of Subject: Holding toothbrush. Considering drawer.
22:48 Brushing complete. The bathroom task has, by any reasonable account, concluded.
A secondary task has surfaced.
The governing rule: flossing negotiation may be postponed until discomfort converts it into an emergency.
22:49 The person is standing at the sink. The floss is in the drawer. The drawer is within arm's reach. The negotiation has entered its third minute.
Arguments reviewed:
- Brushed thoroughly. Brushing reaches between teeth to a meaningful degree.
- Flossed recently. How recently is not confirmed. The date of last flossing is not recorded anywhere.
- Tomorrow is a regular day with no dental appointments. Consequences, if any, are deferred.
- It is late. Fatigue is a recognized mitigating factor.
22:50 Counter-arguments reviewed:
- The dentist's last comment was nonspecific but its tone was specific.
- The floss is in the drawer. The drawer is within arm's reach.
22:51 A compromise is proposed: floss two sections only, the areas most likely to cause future trouble, and treat this as a partial completion. This is not an established category of flossing completion. It is being invented in real time.
Tonight has been provisionally ruled non-essential, pending review of whether tomorrow is a more appropriate occasion.
22:53 Tomorrow has accepted the assignment. Tomorrow's version of this person is assumed to have more patience.
The drawer is closed.
22:54 Flossing negotiation becomes a task for later each day. Later becomes a repeated checkpoint. Eventually the maintenance ritual creates more timing and self-negotiation than the maintenance itself.
The dental appointment is in three months.