This morning, my wife made me a fantastic pancake. When I finished eating, I put my plate in the sink. I set it on the mixing bowl, but the utensil sticking out made it unsteady. So, I removed the utensil and placed the plate on top.

Shortly after, I heard my wife commenting on my plate placement. She didn’t think it was great. In fact, it sounded like a complaint: apparently, the plate should have gone under the bowl. It was such a small thing—barely a ripple—but I noticed it.

Later, I brought up the idea of complaints and what we could do with them. What if we kept a pad and pencil nearby and, each time we had a minor complaint, we wrote it down and deposited it in the complaint bin?

Of course, the complaint bin is the trash can under the sink, where minor grievances belong. Big complaints are handled differently. They are crumpled before being deposited in the Bin. And if they refuse to be crumpled, maybe they deserve something better—like a real conversation.