Setting: after midnight. Two tired parents who stayed up too late watching a movie are dragging themselves to bed. They arrive at their bedroom, where upon the bed lies clean, folded laundry.
The Wife, seeing her things on the bed, grabs them and spends 10.4 seconds putting it away in the dresser where they go. The Husband, upon seeing his own stack to be put away in the dresser, proceeds to set his stack on the floor, directly in front of the dresser.
WIFE: Hon, do you mind just putting the stuff away real quick? (In her defense, he took a week and a half to unpack from his last trip leaving piles of things both in the bedroom and closet.)
HUSBAND: Do you mind if I just do it tomorrow?
WIFE: It will just take a second.
HUSBAND: I will do it tomorrow.
WIFE: OK, let's make a little wager. If you do not actually do it tomorrow, then let's say...you have to put the kids to bed by yourself for the next three nights [that you are home].
HUSBAND: What happens if I do put them away?
WIFE: (thinks for a minute) OK I got it, (sighing with a snarky look of sarcastic compliance) I will do all your laundry and fold it for you for the next 40 years.
HUSBAND: [silence]
Clothes: still on the floor in front of the dresser. I can't wait until we hit the 24 hour mark so I can collect on my prize.
POST EDIT: Since I am a nice wife [this week] I let my husband approve of this post before publishing it...in doing so, he was reminded about aforementioned clothes on the floor and he put them away, dissolving our agreement. Oh well. Sometimes a little public attention goes a long way to getting things done.
The Wife, seeing her things on the bed, grabs them and spends 10.4 seconds putting it away in the dresser where they go. The Husband, upon seeing his own stack to be put away in the dresser, proceeds to set his stack on the floor, directly in front of the dresser.
WIFE: Hon, do you mind just putting the stuff away real quick? (In her defense, he took a week and a half to unpack from his last trip leaving piles of things both in the bedroom and closet.)
HUSBAND: Do you mind if I just do it tomorrow?
WIFE: It will just take a second.
HUSBAND: I will do it tomorrow.
WIFE: OK, let's make a little wager. If you do not actually do it tomorrow, then let's say...you have to put the kids to bed by yourself for the next three nights [that you are home].
HUSBAND: What happens if I do put them away?
WIFE: (thinks for a minute) OK I got it, (sighing with a snarky look of sarcastic compliance) I will do all your laundry and fold it for you for the next 40 years.
HUSBAND: [silence]
Clothes: still on the floor in front of the dresser. I can't wait until we hit the 24 hour mark so I can collect on my prize.
POST EDIT: Since I am a nice wife [this week] I let my husband approve of this post before publishing it...in doing so, he was reminded about aforementioned clothes on the floor and he put them away, dissolving our agreement. Oh well. Sometimes a little public attention goes a long way to getting things done.
13 comments:
Wait, I'm having a deja vu moment...this sounds all too familiar. My all-time favorite are the dirty socks left on the floor right in front of the hamper AND the dirty clothes thrown on top of it. Not to mention the duffel bag from any given travel that is dumped right in front of my washer and stays there for a good week before I give up and unpack it. But that's nothing compared to the stack of folded papers with random bits of information that come out of his uniform pocket every time I wash it and sit on my dresser because I have no idea if they're important or not. Ah, the joys of being the head laundress!
Ha ha. We always have such productive conversations after midnight when we're both tired. To Matt's horror, it's usually my favorite time to bring things up. I'm impressed this one ended so amicably.
Story of our life. Although we have a convenient chair in which piles of laundry go when we are tired at night. I admit that I sometimes put my clothes there too, but most of the time, it is his. And he has gotten so lazy that he doesn't hang his shirts now, he just puts them in a pile on a shelf in the closet. It drives me crazy.
Yeah, that's my conversation with my kids although it never gets picked up unless I have a whip in my hand. Joe is usually reminding me or picking up something of mine.
Before the story was over, I was just sure you would not be able to stand having the clean clothes on your floor for a full 24 hours. And you would end up putting them away yourself.
I like how it really ended better. I hope you get your three nights!!
DUDE. What happened to your cute family picture at the top??
That's hilarious. We had a similar experience last week. They know if they don't put it away then, they probably won't ever have to.
I can't even talk about laundry. I hate it with a deep passion...I'm breaking out in hives just typing about it.
But I am impressed that you won! That's all that counts...right?
I don't want to make everyone else feel bad but I happen to be married to a man who does almost all of the laundry, folds his own, puts it away, and irons his own shirts. Am I lucky or what? I know. I am grateful.
Mo, was he doing all of that when he was 30? That is the real question. :)
No
I like your deal. It was nice of you to remind him. Speaking from someone whose husband still has piles and full suitcases after being home a week. I wonder who will give in first and put them away?
we just don't talk about the mess i leave and i like it that way. my own personal guilt is worse than he could offer.
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