to find this mentality annoying?

[MrsDeathOfRats]

My dh never finishes anything.

Orange juice - half a mouthful left in the bottle

Cheese - like Brie he will leave a tiny bit, like the top piece with the skin on.

Fresh bread (like baguette) he will leave 1 inch or so wrapped in the paper.

Cake - a sliver will be left on the plate.

Packet of biscuits - one left in the packet. Sometimes it's just ^half!
^
He has always done this. I never really questioned it too much. It was clearly a habit so just left it.
But recently he has started telling Dd that it is rude to finish things.
Ie - don't finish the juice, what if someone else wants some?
Don't finish the cheese -
That it is rude and selfish to finish something.
But this drives me mad.
Also, when I questioned this he basically had to say that he thinks I am rude when I finish something.
So my only understanding is that we have to throw away the last piece of everything just so no one is rude by consuming it....

Wtf. That is nuts isn't it???

I never completely clear my plate, not sure why I just always feel full before I finish even if i serve myself. Didn't realise this annoys people.

I remember as a child being told I would be the 'Old Maid' if I took the last cake/biscuit etc!

I was always told it's good manners to leave a tiny bit of food on your plate as it shows you have been given enough to eat. I don't teach my children to do that though. It was also not considered 'ladylike' to clear your plate!

Personally I hate faux politeness 'oh no, you hav e it, oh no, you' so no one does snd it gets slung. I always eat when prompted after asking if sure. So, yes; that would drive me nuts

I used to have a housemate who had been brought up to think it was rude to clear her plate. I was brought up to find it rude to waste food.

I ended up always having to finish the food on her plate

Actually in some cultures it really and truly IS rude to not leave a little on your plate. In places like Indonesia for example, when there is an empty plate it means that your host has not fed you enough and you would like more. If you have had sufficient, then leaving that little bit means you aren't insulting your host and suggesting that she/he did not cater enough. Weird I know but true.

I think it's incredibly wasteful and bad for the environment to leave food like that. Is anyone else really going to have a drink of his half drunk orange juice or eat the other half of a biscuit he's been nibbling on? I can understand that it's a cultural habit but as a rational adult he has the ability to question that.

Yes. And I am inferring from this thread that we have to deal with it if it's cultural but can question it if it isn't

This is normal in some cultures. For example in Japan if you clear your plate, your host will serve you another portion, probably just a portion of rice.
It means you did not put enough on the plate, so to save insulting the host you leave a bit.

Just explain to oyur kids about this interesting difference in culture and let them make their own minds up. They will remember it as a warm story from their childhood when they are older.

But then whose culture should they follow? Op's or that of her dh? He seems to have taken it on himself to impose his with no discussion. I'd be annoyed too

Surely what happens when you are a visitor or guest doesn't have to be the same as what happens at home?

It might be a cultural thing? My husband is Chinese and in Asia eating everything on your plate means your host didn't give you enough, which is very embarrassing to suggest. This means lots of food wastage.

Gosh at school (fairly posh) we used to be told "think of all of the people in Africa!" and made to finish everything. If you didn't want it you shouldn't have put it on your plate.
I've possibly been seen as a complete glutton abroad .

I leave about half an inch in the bottom of tea/coffee cups because our water is full of limescale and the filter fell off the kettle some time ago. If you drink to the bottom of the cup, the last mouthful is full of little bits of gritty stuff and you have to spit it out.

Never any food leftovers, because we have chickens. Ever considered hens, OP?

I live in a high rise block of flats, so chickens are not a possibility.
And even if they were it would bug me slightly still. I mean... You are making lunch. You open the fridge and see he packet for the Brie... 'Great we have Brie!' Actually sit down and open it and it's just the end bit. That's annoying.

But like I've stated I just live with it.

I will speak to him regarding Dd again though and we will come to a compromise.

In my (Chinese) family polishing off everything means that the food is delicious.

My DH has the odd habit of leaving the best on his plate till last - his father does the same. It took me ages to click and I had to stop asking him if he didn't like the pie/meat etc I'd served up as he'd be eating round it lol.

DC will pick up on little habits and may or may not copy - probably best not to draw attention to it and to ask him not to either.

Sounds lazy to me. Leave just a little bit left so you avoid having to put the trash in the bin. My ex used to leave one square of toilet paper on the roll then he could claim that it wasn't finished yet so he didn't have to change it.

Dh will see that the toll is almost finished, or indeed be the one to almost finish it. But then he will change it while it still has several pieces of paper attached.
So NOT finishing it but changing it so there is a full one. Then he will frequently leave the almost finished one on the cistern.

Thing about all saying its laziness is that doesn't really make sense.

It takes far more effort to wrap up the cheese and place it back in the fridge then it does to simply bin it. Same with the bread. Etc.