For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 12, 2010

I guess she’s stunned at such an obvious question, LOL.

She married someone who isn’t perfect; he married someone who isn’t a thoughtless slob.

No ejcapulet, he is married to a total…

Gweedo hope your dirty clothes aren’t lying all over your floor and that you don’t get in trouble sitting on the WC and there’s no toilet paper ;)

It has been my experience, however (and this strip is of course from woman’s point of view), that when one encounters the flaws of the other - those things that annoy - the woman will more frequently complain about it. If I leave a glass on the table, for example, my wife will let me know it. If she leaves a glass on the table (and yes, it happens), I generally just take it to the sink.

She’s probably just tired of doing everything for everybody. I know the feeling and it sucks to have to pick up and clean after a full grown man who should know better. I have come to the conclusion most men just don’t care if things are clean or messy.

Being a former Marine, my standards might be a LITTLE high. I try my best not to point out the obvious (‘Cept at GoComics). It is easier to put the item in the hamper than to say something stupid like, “Hun, why is this towel on the sink?”

Elly-if you can stand your own flaws, why can’t you stand other people’s?

John, Elly doesn’t want ‘perfect’. She just doesn’t want thoughtlessness. It’s not a lot to ask. For now it looks like you married a slave.

Hey gocomics, ever notice that the spammer always has the same message and username on all the comics that are spammed in a day? Isn’t anyone there smart enough to filter for that?

I agree with several of the above posters. John works away from the home while Elly “works” at home - ALL THE TIME. John is thoughtless. Most men are thoughtless (aka: clueless). If a simple job needs to be done, just do it and don’t wait for other people (aka: women) to do it for you.

CDWARD: Yes, I applaud your quiet remark about just taking it to the sink; however, I’d bet that your wife does more quiet doing than you do, ergo, she reaches a point where she just wants to explode over one time. I know that’s my dilemma.

My wife would get on me about not unrolling my socks when I put them in the dirty clothes hamper,so i strated unrolling them for her. Now I do the laundry and her stocking an socks are rolled and i just unroll them and move on,because I don’t see it as a big deal.

I just finally had to join up. I gotta say, people, when you get right down to it, NOBDY is perfect. It seems to me that the more perfect you want your s/o to be, the more flaws you’re gonna find. Lynn: you’ve done a tremendous job over the years portraying the absurdities of married life. And after 35 years of “imperfection”, I can say that you have hit the bullseye time and time again! It took me YEARS before I came to accept the fact that I was going to be the #1 tissue roll changer in our family…

I am SO tired of men being generalized as “thoughtless slobs”, “pigs”, “full grown teenagers”, etc, etc, etc, etc…..Not ALL men are messy, just like not ALL women are nags! I live alone and my apartment is always clean, and I DO mean ALWAYS. I pick up after myself (GASP!) do my own dishes (Really?) and do my own laundry (amazing!) And my dirty socks NEVER lie around on the floor. So please, ladies, give us a break once in a while… P.S. I even lower my toilet seat, because I think it looks cleaner…

We almost always keep the lid closed on the toilet, so everyone has to lift something (that isn’t the reason; having a kitten almost drown is!) That said, nobody’s perfect, but putting your clothes in the laundry and replacing the TP roll when it is empty (or nearly) is just common decency. Although you can say “don’t sweat the small stuff” it can pile up over time and become a big issue. But Ellie could have been more “diplomatic” when she told John!

I try to remind myself that this comic is quite old even if Lyn has given it the veneer of an update. It depicts a reality that might at that time have been a valid generalization but is by no means fair today. Aside from the fact that in most couples both partners work outside the home, it is also true that in most couples both partners work *at* home. That’s how I grew up and that’s how I live. Each morning I get up and take care of the dog, make breakfast and then do the dishes afterward – that’s after putting in a couple of hours of work and before I leave the house for the job. When I return, I take my turn at dinner and do the dishes, not to mention laundry. I will admit to being a slob, but then, so is my wife.

But here’s a thought: are there rules in that house about what is expected of each? I mean stated rules? If not, then there’s no right really to complain - each is simply reacting to what bothers them. I’ll bet in the Patterson home there are no stated expectations of each other.

Elly, You married someone who isn’t perfect and doesn’t care to try to be!

Depends on how you’re raised I guess. In my house growing up, everyone had chores. Same in hubby’s house.

We look after each other and kid each other about the minor flaws

you’ll never hear me complain about a man who cleans and irons my work clothes in his retirement

He didn’t marry his mother either. I just leave my husband’s dirty clothes on the floor, and on laundry day they don’t get washed.

John’s point is that she is far from perfect herself.

I thought It was about time Elly spoke up about the things that annoy her instead of going off into an all out rage about it. Typically, she stews about the things she is annoyed about, then explodes, instead of speaking up to correct the problems. Either way, John is a clod, and doesn’t care. He threw it back at her, instead of saying yes, he could replace the toilet paper from now on.

I am not perfect either. I am an owner of my condo that I live in alone. I make the messes around in my condo.

I had piles of clean clothes in laundry baskets because my old updated chest of drawers and b_ (that attached with the mirror on middle of 9 drawers furniture.) I could not think how to spell that word with B letter. Both of them were worn out and broken. I had to put clean clothes in laundry baskets I would say around five baskets. I had to keep my storages in my condo because I do not want to pay for using the storages somewhere else. I tried to save my money; therefore, I had to keep my things in my condo as storages. When I buy new home, I will clear everything up and keep clean daily. I don’t want to be a hoarding but I had no choice so I keep my personal things at my home till I will have new home someday.

My husband I both make messes (different ones) and we both clean the house. I occaisionally make requests like taking the laundry downstairs so I can do the wash and his request is that the dishes are done every night. It’s a give and take. Oh, and by the way, he does cook some nights and shares raising our kids. Lucky me! :o)

paul345:

Not all women automatically assume that all men are “slobs”, “pigs”, etc. But if they are … well, then, they are!!!!!

But I can see your point. If someone were to say that all women/wives were obnoxious, shrewish, bitching, complaining harpies (like Elly can sometimes be) then I would be offended too even though I’m not anything like her!

I’m very lucky and have no reason to complain about anything because my husband’s more of a clean freak than I am (and I’m a pretty anal-retentive person in that department!). He throws his dirty clothes in the hamper, helps me cook, helps me vacuum, does all the windows, and he not only takes his dirty dishes to the sink but will also take mine too (he rarely puts them in the dishwasher, though, because he usually ends up doing it all “wrong” and then I just have to rearrange them. See? Anal-retentive!). He always remembers to put the toilet seat down and, 9 times out of 10, when the T.P. roll runs out on his “watch”, he remembers to change it. However, when on that 10th time he forgets, I don’t nag or complain about it – I just quietly replace it myself and life goes on.

But if things were the exact opposite of what I just said about my husband, then I’d be an entirely different person too! I’d like to think I wouldn’t be anywhere near as bad as Elly when it comes to the way she handles things, but I also know I’d definitely have something to complain about if, after 22 years together, my husband still didn’t know to pick up his own dirty clothes or replace the T.P. roll when he emptied it! Believe me: NO wife likes being a slave to her husband! Everyone should be doing their part in a marriage. Neither one of us is perfect and we don’t claim to be. It’s all just a matter of common courtesy on both our parts because neither one of us wants to live like pigs.

Sure, nobody’s perfect, but asking for a small change in annoying behavior is far better than stewing in silence. Living with someone doesn’t mean accepting their bad habits and keeping your own; it means mutual accommodation to each other’s needs.

If you never told the other person what was the behaviour that you wanted changed, and what you wanted it changed to, then as far as I can see, you don’t really have anything to complain about.

Or are you expecting them to read your mind, and figure things out that way? Good luck!

We all have our own pet peeves. The generalizations are of another generation but the last time I taught sociology, working women were still putting in nearly twice the hours of men because of their responsibilities at home on top of their job – particularly if there were kids involved.

Gweedo, haha ;)