Woman's Husband Tells Her He Does 'Everything Around Here' So She Stops Doing Housework—'I'm Living Like My Husband Now'
Since he already thinks he does everything around the house, she figured she'd just let him.
Arijit_Mondal, johny007pan / Getty Images via Canva, Alex Vog / Shutterstock When a woman on Reddit's husband complained about the condition their home was in, rather than argue, she opted instead to get revenge.
Her response has many women with similar frustrations cheering her on, of course, but it also reveals just how little understanding all too many men have of just how much work goes into keeping up a home.
The wife responded to her husband's complaints about housework by refusing to do any chores around the house.
"Yep, another post about one person carrying the household on their back and the other just living their best life," the woman began her Reddit post. She's certainly not alone, of course.
Numerous studies in recent years have shown that this age-old battle has left unprecedented numbers of women reporting being burned out by their at-home workload, especially since the pandemic began.
But this woman's story has an extra layer — not only does her husband complain about the state of things, but he's also been "complaining [he has] to do everything" around their house, despite doing essentially nothing, according to her.
"My husband helps with laundry every Saturday and empties the dishwasher AT BEST once a week," she writes.
Her husband got mad that he had to clean his bathroom because he said his father never had to clean his.
"Last night he got pissed while he was drinking and decided to go clean his toilet and bathroom floor at like 10 at night with the 'woe is me I can’t believe I had to do this' attitude," she writes. "I told him that just because he cleans his pissy bathroom once every three months that doesn’t make him f---ing Cinderella."
Photo: Reddit
The says the couple frequently argue about things like this, and her husband's response is typically something along the lines of, "I bet my father never had to clean the bathroom." Understandably, she says that has her "seeing red," so she decided to retaliate.
She ceased doing any and all chores around the house — leaving dishes everywhere and lounging around watching TV and playing video games without a care in the world. "I’m just gonna do what he does every single day," she writes, "do whatever I feel like doing and then either ask what’s for dinner or just show up to dinner when it’s time."
Her husband quickly became overwhelmed by all the housework but didn't seem to get the point.
Despite how quickly things devolved around their house — dirty clothes and dishes piling up until the place stunk — the situation did little to stop her husband from complaining about housework. So much so that when she came home from work one night, she was greeted by him asking, "Are we eating dinner tonight?"
Photo: Reddit
She responded by turning the question back on him, telling him, "Well, I figured since you said you do everything around here, I could just chill and you’d take care of it like you always do." But still, he refused to relent, going on to announce that he ran the dishwasher since she couldn't be bothered to clean the kitchen.
She hit back with the same response and said that while she hates "being this petty," she doesn't know what else to do to get through to him.
Some users on Reddit were shocked by how entitled her husband is, but for many other wives, the story was all too familiar.
Some Redditors could not believe that this all started with her husband complaining about housework pertaining to his own bathroom, and thought that revealed a depth of entitlement that was on a whole other level.
Photo: Reddit
But for many other wives reading the story, there was nothing remotely surprising about it because they'd all been there themselves. Laundry, in particular, seemed to be a near-universal sticking point between husbands and wives, with several women reporting, in some cases, years-long battles with their husbands over when and how to wash their clothes for them. Instead of, you know, doing it themselves.
Photo: Reddit
Of course, some people addressed the obvious — it's not 1950 and no man should expect his wife to wait on him hand and foot. They chimed in to say that not just this woman's husband, but all partners everywhere need to be better about sharing the load around the house.
Photo: Reddit
Indeed, in the past couple of years, some divorce lawyers, marriage therapists, and others who work with struggling couples have anecdotally reported a soaring rise in divorces stemming from wives who have simply had it with husbands not pulling their weight, and it sounds like this wife on Reddit might end up being among them.
"I finally opened up to a friend this afternoon," she went on to write in an update to her post. "She has been through a divorce and had some good advice. I think my next step is to get an appt with a therapist."
And all this because a guy thinks he shouldn't have to clean his own bathroom.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.