[thechat] The Wifely Duty

deke web at master.gen.in.us
Thu Jan 23 20:10:01 CST 2003


On 23 Jan 2003 at 16:31, Cory Preus posted a message which said:

> My roommate has a coworker that has this itemized and heuristcally
> weighted. For instance, it is her husband's responsibility to change the
> oil in the car and her responsibiity to buy it. Since changing the oil
> is a little more time consuming, it is given a heavier weight than
> buying oil.

Changing the oil is uncomfortable and messy. You have to get down on
your back, where the stones cut into your back, crawl under the car
where you bump your head, loosen the plug on the drain pan and nick up
your knuckles, then dip your hand into carcinogenic fluid that doesn't
easily wash off in order to retrieve the plug, screw the plug back in
while stuff drops into your eyes, try to get rid of the pan of oil
without dumping it all over yourself, then open all the oil cans and
dump the new oil into the car.

It's not just the *amount* of time, but the *quality* of time. Work
that causes pain, work in uncomfortable surroundings, work that makes
you filthy, and work that carries risk of injury or ill health needs to
be weighted much more heavily than work that simply is routine and
pleasant.

I'd rather change diapers than change oil. It's indoors, where it's
warm in winter and cold in summer, everything is water-soluble and
there is relatively little health risk in touching it, and the baby
coos at you (in comparison to the thumping sound the car makes when you
connect with your skull.)

Buying oil? Yeah, sure. It's a big deal to grab five cans and toss them
in the cart when you walk down the aisle of WalMart.

In the real world, people get paid for what they put up with, rather
than what they do.

If you're going to do something like this, the only reasonable approach
is that one person weighs the various jobs, and the other person gets
first choice of jobs.

deke

--
If I have seen farther than others, it is by stepping on the toes of
giants





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