The humble family dinner is the cornerstone of a household. It’s the time to chat with your nearest and dearest and see how their busy lives are going among the hustle and bustle of the daily grind. It’s an ancient, universal ritual of bonding over food. It’s a sacred time. That’s why it is so frustrating to parents who want to stay involved in their children’s lives, only for their kids to spend the whole time texting.
“Pass the Salt” is a short, funny video by Mathew Abeler that shows a dad who has had enough of his kids ignoring him at the dinner table.
He decides to take matters into his own hands and takes it upon himself to put an end to this antisocial behaviour.
The video has touched a social nerve gathering over 18,500,000 views.
The description simply kicks the video off saying :
“Don’t text at the table kiddos!”
The opening scene is silent as the family eat dinner. Nobody is speaking to each other, simply going about their meals.
The silence is broken by one of the sons at the table receiving a text.
It’s a simple buzz of the phone, nothing too disrupting for the family, but all of a sudden the son’s full attention is on his phone. Already the parents are weary of this distraction. They probably know their son is effectively “gone” from the table now as they exchange loaded glances.
The second son’s phone goes off with a Carly Rae Jepsen ringtone.
Maybe he could get some pointers from his brother about cooler phone alert etiquette!
The look look on Dad’s face is the look a parent makes when he’s at the end of his tether! He looks back and forth between his two distracted sons, gobsmacked at how they’re in a different world.
Mom also looks back and forth between the two boys, and gives Dad a knowing look.
This dad seems to want to test how distracted his sons really are.
“Hey Jake, you mind passing the salt please?”
The dad says to one of the boys.
Jakes slides over the salt cellar, except, it’s not the salt. It’s pepper. He really is not paying attention.
That’s it, this dad has had enough. He looks to his wife who gives him sympathetic looks. Dad mimes a deadly throat-cut action before pointing to Jake’s phone to indicate that he is ready to murder that device.
Enough is enough for this dad!
When this fed-up parent gets to his wit’s end he gets creative and does something drastic that neither of the sons expected…although the mother doesn’t seem so surprised!
“Dad, what are you doing?”
The dad and his not-so-discreet solution are indignantly defiant as he responds:
“Sorry, I must have been a little (pause for effect, angry face worn)… distracted”
And finally:
“Pass…the salt”…
…and the salt cellar slides toward the dad.
The dad proves his point!
Some parents who have watched this video loved the moral of the story. It seems that this phenomenon is one understood globally:
“Thank you from Italy Matthew, it’s the same all over the world… “
Watch the video below to see Dad’s big move!
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