Pickles by Brian Crane for June 07, 2023

You can remember where the dishes go, Earl. Only if you want to remember.

My husband, ever the loving man, always has to ask me where the baking dishes and dodads go. I laugh because they go in the same places they have resided for 12 years now!

Then she complains when he doesn’t help.

After 20 or 30 years of our silverware being organized in the same place, my wife up and rearranged them. Then I rearranged them some more. We agreed afterward that the new arrangement is better. So why didn’t we do that 30 years ago?

Why do we have so many stupid dishes?

The Tupperware search and cuss really annoys me.

Burp it?

I’m going to strangle it!

Opal only has herself to blame. She’s done a lousy job of training Earl.

Opal should be happy you get them back to the kitchen.

I live alone and even I can’t remember where they all go. Hence the inability to locate them when I need them.

Unfortunately I know where they all go, but the Tupperware that’s a different story!

Sometimes you have to put them in the wrong place “on purpose” to test to see if your spouse notices.

I’m 70+ live alone and still don’t know

The proper response is “For God’s sake, woman, do you want me to help in the kitchen or not?”

This is nothing compared to trying to put a dish in the dishwasher.

Unless, of course, you live alone. Then again, if you have relatives who house sit for you, they’ll put everything where they think it should be. And don’t even get me started on housekeepers. You’re better off being married.

He’s got a point there.

Just open your eyes Earl and look.

It’s her way or no way, Earl! Capische?

Just one of the ‘little’ memory tests that husbands must pass from time to time.

My wife cooks, I do the dishes and put them away. I’m fine until she uses some utensil that I haven’t seen in months.

Guess who is changing placements all the time?

Great, now Earl has to correct his bowl movements…

It isn’t rocket science Earl. The bowls go with the bowls, the plates go with the other plates and so on. Earl? Are you listening? (probably not)

Maybe stop helping in the kitchen.????

If Earl had a copy of “The Wife’s Field Guide to North American Bowls” he would have known that “that bowl” is never found in “that cupboard” with “those other bowls” but is always found in “that other cupboard” with “those bowls”.

After reading the comments here today i conclude that loading the dishwasher and putting away the dishes are tasks that belong in the Venus vs Mars conundrum

And if you do learn, they’ll get rearranged.

I totally agree with Earl, I have no idea where most anything in the kitchen is as that is my wife of 49 years domain. The only thing I am allowed to do is make coffee, using the Keurig she got me for my Birthday several years ago. OTOH our 3 daughters aren’t the same. Our youngest daughter claims she is a bad cook(she isn’t) so her husband does all the cooking, the twins(one lives in SoCal, the other in MI) share the kitchen chores with their husbands.

My mother was about 5’10". Her mother was like 4-foot nothing. She would come to help out when grandkids were born. Took weeks to find everything where she’d stashed in bottom cabinets.

I’ve learned to put away my own dishes. Otherwise you can never find them!

Since I’m old and I live alone, I find the “out of sight, out of mind” principle to be the most applicable in most situations. As long as I stay out of sight, nobody minds. 8>)

This strip continues to be ageist and sexist.

When my late husband used to put the dishes away, anything he wasn’t sure of lived on the counter until I put it away.

OMG! My li’l sis just gave me a tongue lashing because I put a glass in the wrong place. . .sigh. . .she’s in charge of clean-up and I’m in charge of cooking. . .not a tongue-lashing actually, more like a snort and long-drawn out sigh. . .she’s pretty reasonable most of the time, but when it comes to loading the dishwasher and putting the dishes away she becomes a tyrant. . .thanks for letting me share!

Wow, after reading this comic for decades I’m struck by the notion that Earl may actually be a bad husband if he doesn’t know where the dishes go

Oddest thing – my husband seems to know where to find everything in the kitchen but is unable to put anything away. Go figure.

My dad had a technique which he passed on to his sons (Me, for example). If you don’t know where the dishes go you’re less likely to be asked to wash them. As a general technique not knowing how to do things properly is good for avoiding a lot of household chores.

Do you say cup-board or cuh-board? cuh-board for me.

I’m the “organizer” in the family so I have to tell my wife where the dishes go.

Only because Mrs never puts anything away in the same place twice in a row!

A couple of weeks later: “Opal, where is my favorite bowl?”

No. NO ONE can remember where all the dishes go!

Why does it even matter?

I have no issue with the actual dishes, cups and pots’n’pans. It’s those random plastic containers that don’t nest or match that’s an issue.

As if Earl wasn’t in enough trouble over the bowl, wait until Opal catches him teaching Nelson to sit on the chair arms!!!

I’m a FACIST when it comes to my family’s kitchen. As the adult son, it TICKS my poor mom off!XD

“Thanks for trying Earl” :))

They stay confused, unable to decide for years at my house.

Just sitting and sitting and sitting and….

When I go to my daughters to pet sit or grandson sit, there are always some dishes or glasses I cant find an obvious home for LOL. I end up putting them with similar stuff.

All in all Earl life will go on……

I agree. And if you ever do figure it out, someone will re-organize the next day.

And don’t you dare dry your hands on those decorative towels in the bathroom.

“To every bowl, turn, turn, turn, there is a cupboard, turn, turn, turn, and a shelf for every saucer in the kitchen.” With apologies to both The Byrds and King Solomon.

Then, YOU put them where YOU want them.

True.

My wife and I both know where everything goes. It’s when our daughters or other family members help that we loose things.