-Shaking Bottle Syndrome-

I was shopping with my mother a few days ago. I was with her because I don't currently have a vehicle, and I quite enjoy being with my mother. We were in a grocery store, and my objective- something powerful for my head cold which I had contracted after having recovered from nasal surgery to open up the airways of what had previously been a deviated septom.

My mom was inspecting medicine bottles, while I went straight to the source, where a maroon sign hung above the various pill and liquid medicine bottles reading, "COLD/SINUS". I figured that this would clearly be the best place to start, so I was there, she was behind, looking for something generic I'm sure- the watered down stuff.

I haven't quite come to a conclusion why mothers seem to think the generic brands are the same as the brand names. I know that I've compared the ingredients, and they don't match. My mother tries to tell me that they are manufactured in the same line, and pushed into different bottles. When she says that, I laugh... Because the "Great Value" pills don't say "Tylenol" on them... And they are not the same color either.

Regardless, my mom, as I said was inspecting pills. Her inspection was thorough. Pick up a pill bottle, look at it's label, check the amount of potency in each pill, and then slowly she would lift the bottle to her ear, and...

Shake the bottle!

This process went on for a moment, and I watched carefully. I wondered what she was doing. What could she hear in the pills? What was she checking for? I began doing the same thing. I inspected the labels, checked the potency... Lifted the bottle to my ear, and...

I shook the bottle!

I noticed a lovely rhythmic sound... But, beyond that... There was nothing to be had.

I watched others in the store as they cruised up and down the aisle. Some young, some old, some in the middle somewhere... They all performed this insane, untelling, human ritual. Nobody learned anything from this strange thing- I don't know that I've ever known anyone to have a pill bottle that didn't come with pills, and I cannot come up with any other explicable reason for shaking a pill bottle.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a part of this human family. This is one of those times.