"Do you happen to know anyone who house-sits?" "Um... well, um... I guess technically, um... I do... ButItrynottoletpeopleknow." "Oh, well, would you consider house-sitting for me? I paid two hundred dollars to put my dogs in a kennel over the weekend and they came back dirty and sick." "Um..." "The little puppy was sick." Folks, how can you say no when saying no means a puppy might get sick? I keep telling myself I am not going to say yes as many times as I did last summer. Last summer I needed a place to live, this summer I don't. Yet already I have eight assignments I couldn't say "no" to. Those big, sad, puppy dog eyes... and I haven't even seen the puppy yet.
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My critique-of-the-US-culture/this-is-your-mother-speaking answer would be: People seldom die of eating things that have dropped on the ground. More often they die (albeit more slowly) of the food that they eat on purpose which hasn't touched the ground but which comes from places like McDonalds and clogs the old arteries. So go ahead and eat that food you've dropped on the ground seventy-times-seven times! As long as it's a fresh vegetable and not a cheeseburger!