Not So Tuffy

The Tuffy scouring pad is not what it used to be. Everyone has their own personal technique for washing dishes. Some people like a wash rag, others a brush (with or without a handle). Still others like steel wool or copper pads. Me, I have to have a Tuffy. Technically a Tuffy is an SOS® Tuffy Nylon Scouring Pad made by Clorox. Clorox Company, you should be ashamed. I’m gonna guess that Tuffys are being out sourced to some third world country where the quality control has gone to hell. Why do I think so, you will ask. Because, my last two Tuffys actually unraveled after a couple of dish and pot washings. They sort of turned inside out. There was no integrity to the construction. Instead of a tough nylon weave, instead of palming a hand grenade-sized scrubbing demon, I am now holding something that looks like an old, unraveled sock or a piece of fishnet that washed up on the beach. In all my years as a Tuffy user I have never had a defective Tuffy. Tuffys would last for months at a time. And, now, two in a row. The first one I was willing to write off as a bad experience. An anomaly. A quirky deviation from the norm. However, when my replacement Tuffy went all limpy and wimpy I felt a kind of despair. Two in a row is a more than a trend. It is not a mere tendency. Two in a row proves that Tuffys are no longer any good. We humans don’t enjoy changing our habits. And when one is emotionally invested in something as important as a Tuffy, a critical implement required to maintain a tidy home and sanitary household conditions, and the Tuffy fails, heartbreak may ensue. I should write to Clorox and report. Ask for my money back even. But I’m too distraught to care.