Balcony View Exercise

• My POV

     The other night, my girlfriend and I were getting ready to eat dinner.  We're both "hot" foods fanatics, so as we finished dousing our plates with Habanero sauce, and after I capped the bottle and prepared to put it back in the fridge, Tanya, my girlfriend, gave me a funny look and said “why aren’t you throwing that away?”
     “Because it isn’t gone yet...”  There was enough in the bottom of the bottle to be used for something else.
     “There’s, like, less than a teaspoon left.  Just throw it, and we’ll get another bottle later.”
     “Well,” I said, apparently in the mood to pick a fight, but also trying to prove that ‘waste not, want not’ is not passe, “I think there’s enough left for something.”
     “Oh, c’mon, Jer, you’re always such a tight-ass, what’s the big deal?”
     “Well, sorry if I didn’t come from a privileged home like you did where you could just throw out things that weren’t full enough...”  We were quite frugal in my childhood home.
     “Oh, what’s the big deal?!  It’s a teaspoon of hot sauce, why save it?” Tanya said, obviously getting annoyed, which only further fueled me.
     “Well, that’s a dollar on the counter, not a twenty spot, why not throw that, too?  It’s not really enough to buy anything...”  She’s gonna be ticked, now...
     “Your being radical, I’m talking about a smidgeon of hot sauce!”
     “I don’t give a s*** about the ****ing hot sauce!  It’s the principal.”  Why does she insist on wasting perfectly good things?
     “The principal?  It’s hot sauce!”

• Her POV

     The other night, my boyfriend and I were getting ready to eat dinner.  We both love hot sauce, and we each used some on our food.  The bottle was practically gone, but instead of just throwing it out, he decided to put it back in the fridge with just a splash left in it.  “Why aren’t you throwing that away?” 
     “Because it isn’t gone yet...” he said.
     “There’s, like, less than a teaspoon left.  Just throw it, and we’ll get another bottle later.”  I hate when people are so anal about things.
     “Well,” he said, “I think there’s enough left for something.”
     “Oh, c’mon, Jer,” I said, knowing he was instigating an argument, “you’re always such a tight-ass, what’s the big deal?”
     “Well, sorry if I didn’t come from a privileged home like you did where you could just throw out things that weren’t full enough...” 
     What a jerk.  “Oh, what’s the big deal?!  It’s a teaspoon of hot sauce, why save it?” This was a point where I knew he was gonna be a smart-ass.
     “Well, that’s a dollar on the counter, not a twenty spot, why not throw that, too?  It’s not really enough to buy anything...” 
     “Your being radical, I’m talking about a smidgeon of hot sauce!”  He so damned stubborn sometimes!
     “The principal?  It’s hot sauce!”  I can’t believe we’re fighting about this!

• The Balcony "Peeper's" POV

     The other night, I overheard my next door neighbors arguing about the dumbest thing.  I was trying to enjoy a beer on my balcony, but their voices always carry...
     “Why aren’t you throwing that away?”
     “Because it isn’t gone yet...” 
     I’m wasn’t sure what wasn’t gone yet, but it seemed trivial.
     “There’s, like, less than a teaspoon left.  Just throw it, and we’ll get another bottle later," she said.
     “Well, I think there’s enough left for something,” he retorted.
     “Oh, c’mon, Jer, you’re always such a tight-ass, what’s the big deal?”
     Who in their right minds would get into a shouting match over a teaspoon of anything?
     “Well, sorry if I didn’t come from a privileged home like you did where you could just throw out things that weren’t full enough...” 
     “Oh, what’s the big deal?!  It’s a teaspoon of hot sauce, why save it?”
     This is where it passed the realm of squabble into the realm of a ridiculousness...  Especially since the teaspoon of something was hot sauce!
     “Well, that’s a dollar on the counter, not a twenty spot, why not throw that, too?  It’s not really enough to buy anything...” 
     “Your being radical, I’m talking about a smidgeon of hot sauce!”
     “I don’t give a s*** about the ****ing hot sauce!  It’s the principal.” 
     “The principal?  It’s hot sauce!”
     What a silly argument...  I hope I don’t sound this dumb to them when I’m a little too loud.