Pickles by Brian Crane for January 04, 2024

Earl you devil you. Good plan.

His mustache is covering his smirk.

That doesn’t work on me. I walk him through doing said chore a few times until I’m sure he knows it

I believe that “evil scheme” has a name: Weaponized incompetence.

The lake? Everybody knows it belongs in the bathtub.

I guess Opal needs to be taught about something called passive aggression. Males deliberately do a lousy job at things like this so you’ll give up and do it yourself. Don’t let them get away with it!

… thought the cat admiringly.

My dad would do the same thing.

When she cooks, I wash. When I cook, she washes… some. When anybody runs the dishwasher I unload… but only put the plates, glasses and flatware away. She prefers to put away the cooking tools because I’m notorious for putting them almost where she’s sure they belong.

Even the cat gets it.

Yup, Earl has it down pat.

The less you do, the less people expect of you. I’ve got it down to the point where people are relieved that I can walk AND chew gum, both at the same time.

;-D

Thing is: It isn’t necessarily a plan on Earl’s part. Unless your memory is absolutely perfect, you really don’t know where it all goes.

Soup Ladle? Cheese Grater? Bottle Opener? Tongs? It’s hard enough to remember where they go, and even harder when she decides that it’s better off in the silverware drawer, not the utensil drawer, or the pot cupboard or the plate shelf…!

That was how my wife got excused from putting things away… And pretty much how she was excused from loading the dishwasher in the first place. I do allow her to turn it on.

he probably learned that trick with the cat. we all know that we are MISCHIVIOUS in our loving ways.

Muffin and Earl on the same wavelength?, Unusual to say the least!

I do it all the time, there are only one or two things I do not put away as I do not know their “proper place”!

Alas, I am the primary kitchen crew, so I not only know where everything goes, but I am the one who puts it there, takes it from there, uses it and washes it.

I said, ‘while you are emptying the dishwasher and putting things away, I’ll go to the garage and reorganize your tools.’

That is like the mother who got invited to her singles sons new home for dinner and was introduced to his live in housekeeper. She was given a tour of his home including the maids bedroom. Dinner went extremely well, the maid was fabulous cook and hostess. 2 weeks later the son was having another dinner party for friends of his and the maid came out saying that should not find the gravy ladle. When did you see it last he questioned? When your mother was here and she did help me clean up. So he called his mother to inquire. Of course I know where the gravy ladle is son for the last 2 weeks it has been safe and sound under your maids bedroom PILLOW!

“Evil”? What? No, never! “Sinister,” maybe.

My wife only has o tell me one time to do something and I remember it. However I tell her 17 times how to do something and she still does it wrong. I could train a broom faster than her.

Earl: “Yes…now don’t tell anyone else!”

Well, that’s not fair. When kids mess that up, they are forced to do it again and again!

I had a rental house with glass cabinets, I labeled them so he knew where everything went! Otherwise I’d never find anything!

Ineptitude is a skill.

ah hah!! looks like muffin is also in on this dastardly plot as well (gleefully rubbing paws together heh heh heh)

Even the CAT has him figured out…….. OMG

Gravy boats next to the Titanic

I think it’s better to have him keep doing it until he gets it right.

I do all the dishwasher loading and unloading (I know how to pack things away like a puzzle in the dishwasher and with just the two of us I only have to run the dishwasher about once every 8 days. If my wife did the packing we’d have to run it every 2 or 3 days!) However, she’s much more particular than I am about where things go in the cupboards. So I still empty the dishwasher, but only put away the foolproof stuff like dishes and silverware. The gravy boats and cheese graters, I leave up on the counter for her to put away. That’s by her request and has worked well for us for decades now.

my beautiful wife rearranges things about every 6 months. I learned about 35 years ago (we’ve been married over 50 years) that when she does, I will need to say “sorry dear” about 30 times or so before I get the lay of the new plan. I made the mistake once of rearranging everything while she was visiting her sister so that it made sense to me – NEVER, ever do this IF you are young and haven’t been married very long, or figured out how this works in your marriage. AND don’t ever try to explain why YOUR way is better. EVER!, even if you are a “distribution/purchasing manager” and have won awards for setting up warehouse distribution centers in multi companies. js (just follow Earl’s lead and nod your head and smile a lot).

Nonsense. The gravy boat belongs in the oven.

Never could figure out how it worked for me, but now I know.

And cats know evil!

When my wife first became a manager at a 7-Eleven back in ‘96, I had to watch the kids and run the house because she often worked longer than 8 hrs. and would often pull double shifts. Later, she became a franchisee of two stores. Besides cooking and cleaning, I organized frequently-used items in the forefront. When she retired, she immediately began a reorganization effort that is still in progress. Her mantra is: "(1) If I don’t know what it’s for, throw it out; (2) Let’s try to increase space by cramming as much in a smaller space; (3) Let’s put tools in handy spots throughout the house (4) Reorganize, every so often, just like the government and business, whether it’s needed or not. When looking for an item, I have to refer to this plan in order to possibly track down what I’m looking for. When I do find it, I place it back where I find it when I’m done. Sometimes, I have to purchase the item that she tossed out. She still thinks she’s running a store and even refers to our refrigerator as the “vault”. I just go along with whatever she likes. You know the saying: “Happy wife, happy life.”

“I see where I get it from, old man!” Muffin would NEVER call Earl her “papa” like sweet Roscoe does.

Muffin is proud of Earl!

Going back 64 years, when I was 10 my mother added washing dishes to my list of chores,. I figured that if I managed to break something every time I washed them she wouldn’t make me keep doing it. I was right, 3 days later she told me to stop and told both of my sisters to do it. About 30 years later I finally told my youngest sister how I had figured that if I broke a dish or two every day Mom would quickly give that chore to her. She laughed loud and long, then told me she would figure out some way to pay me back.

Earl’s walking a dangerous line.. coming close to being diagnosed with Dementia.

Cats are pros at that!

Fortunately my wife doesn’t read the comics, I wouldn’t want her to learn what so many of us know

Well done, evil Earl! Well done! LOL

I broke a favorite piece of china of my wife’s on a move early in our marriage, but not on purpose. She still doesn’t believe me though, won’t let me touch faves since.

Checkmate.

I think the cat’s jealous that Earl is horning in on the evil scheme game.

Earl has gone up a notch in Muffin’s estimation.

There ….. Earl ….. one “LESS” job that you’ll be expected to do ….. :)

That is Earl’s plan to get out of helping.

Worked for me!

Selective incompetence works every time with a perfectionist. Mine won’t let me do dishes or laundry. Bummer!

The only way for Earl to be left alone is to resort to sneaky tactics.

It’s called “weaponized incompetence”. Very infuriating to the other person, as they have to do an unfair amount of work, because of laziness.

Am I the only one here who would never put a box grater in the dishwasher? Clean it by hand unless you want petrified cheese baked onto your grater. (on the other hand, it’s possible that other people have a better dishwasher than I do)

The pets know Earl only too well………….

Muffin isn’t sure if she should be impressed or worried.

I got out of grilling for a long time years ago when I started cooking something, and then got sidetracked doing something else, and ended up burning the food!

It only takes one red sock in with whites ;)

Cats know this stuff…

This kind of passive-aggressive behavior leads to senior divorce.

My wife and I are pretty good at putting kitchen things away in the same place. It’s just when our daughters or my mother-in-law help that we have trouble finding things. If Earl would do half the cooking, he would know where things go.

Touché