Let’s Talk About The Proper And Considerate Way To Make Toast

I know what you're thinking. "Proper way to make toast? It's not exactly difficult." There's truth to that, but toast is a different experience for everyone and great care should be taken to make sure you respect other's toast preferences. When you live with people who prefer their toast a certain way, you need to be sure that other household members don't get "burned."

For example, this is my toast from this morning. It's how I like it. The perfect amount of brown, a touch over lightly toasted.

I know exactly how to achieve my level of toast perfection. Set the dial on the toaster to 4, the straight up and down position. 12 o'clock if you will. It never fails.

But, like replacing the roll of toilet paper when you finish a roll, there's an etiquette that should be followed so someone else's toast doesn't turn out like this.

That's not toast. That's charcoal, and it's exactly the way Michele likes it. She cranks the knob full left to maximum burn factor and sometimes that's not even enough and she punches the toast down for a second round. I may not understand the toast choice she makes, but I respect it.

The problem is, the knob is always left in the full right charcoal position, leaving my toast destroyed when I don't check the knob. Yes, I should be better at remembering to check the knob, but I think in a home with more than one person, the knob should be set back to the neutral position of 4. That way, toast is saved if Michele is using it and doesn't adjust it before toasting, while mine is on fire and can't be recovered. Michele just needs to punch that toast down again and she'll get her charcoal toast like always. Everyone wins. Makes sense right?

Do you have the same issue with people in your house and toast settings?