Denim Stand-Off
Have you ever seen the show “Everybody Loves Raymond?” It’s one of our favorites. Both Chris and I love it because it’s like real marriage. But funnier. I can’t tell you how many times things have come up in my own marriage that remind me of one of those episodes. For the past month, actually, I have been living in an episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
There’s this one episode where the husband, Ray, leaves a suitcase from a trip on the landing at the top of the stairs. He feels like his wife, Deborah, should unpack it and put it away because she’s a housewife. But Deborah feels like Ray should take care of it because it’s his bag. So, for two weeks, the bag sits there without anyone touching it. But they aren’t fighting over it, either. Both of them just pretend the bag isn’t sitting there, each of them figuring that they’ll wait out the other. It’s one of my favorite episodes.
It’s funny until it’s happening to you.
About a month ago, I was doing laundry and in one of the loads, a pair of Chris’s jeans weren’t quite dry yet. Since the rest of the load was good to go, I hung his jeans up in our bathroom to air dry while I finished the rest of our laundry.
To be honest, I forgot about the jeans at first. I finished the laundry and didn’t think about those jeans for a while. They hung in our bathroom for a couple days and I really didn’t think twice about them. I had hung them on Chris’s towel rack, and I guess I sort of figured he’d put them away when he had a minute. But then another week went by.
And another.
And another.
And those JEANS KEPT HANGING THERE. Finally, it started to get weird. I mean, didn’t he see the jeans???? Didn’t he know they were there???? They were hanging on his towel rack. Surely, he knew!
And yet, the jeans continued to hang there. Was he waiting for me?????? But that would be absurd! I do all our family’s laundry. Surely, he could put away one pair of jeans.
After a few weeks, I decided to see if this was just coincidence or if Chris was aware of the situation. The next time I was in the bathroom, I went over to towel rack in question and arranged the jeans so they laid directly on top of Chris’s towel. In order for him to use the towel now, he’d have to pick up the jeans and move them.
WHICH IS JUST WHAT HE DID!
The next time I went into the bathroom, the jeans were shoved to the side of the towel bar where Chris had moved them so he could use his towel.
So, it is official. I am in a denim stand-off with my husband.
(I wonder if he knows…)
26 Comments
Katy's Neverending Story
HILARIOUS!!! I’ve done the same thing with various items of clothing— husbands must turn a blind eye to laundry..
Nicole (Piper_E)
Funny!!! That is one of my favorite episodes! Sounds like a Man Cave response is definitely in order!!!
Erin R.
That is such a great episode!!! My husband and I had a similar situation with a soaking Pyrex dish a few years ago. Tell Chris to put the jeans away already! 😉
Jessica W
Just a warning. I have played this game, you won’t win. It’s impossible, their ability to out-wait you is maddening! 😉
Amy
Have totally done this. One time, I got warned my husband that if he hadn’t put away his washing by the end of the week, I was going to hide it all. We are STILL finding shirts and undies, months later. Whoops.
Katy @MonsterProof
My husband is the KING of passive-aggressive “not noticing”. To the point of…ironing that needs to be done has been carried UP the stairs. TWO flights, and laid on my side of the bed. Rather than do it himself.
Lindsay (Young Married Mom)
This is awesome. Amy–I love your reply!!
Janet
This is so funny! Along the same vein, I remember the VERY FIRST TIME we put away laundry together, my lovely new husband looked at me expectantly and asked, would you fold my underwear when you put it away? Many thoughts went through my brain, but the paramount one was, “I need to nip this in the bud right now or I’m doomed”.
Meredith N.
I know my husband wouldn’t even think twice about the jeans being there until maybe he wanted to wear them. I always need to remind him to put away laundry. men! 😉
Alaina
You go, Katie! Don’t give in!
El
Wait it out! Just to see how long it takes. Of course, then you will have to update us on it. Maybe post a weekly jeans status…
Lindsay
We have stand offs all the time. My husband will leave it there forever, he never puts anything away, drives me crazy! I had a stand off of cleaning the bathroom but I finally had to give in, it was getting scary.
Stephanie @ Our Marriage Adventure
LOL I do this with my hubby and certain clothes, but I also take on the attitude that if you leave them for 60 days then clearly you don’t NEED them and they go to Goodwill as a donation. Sure cuts down on my laundry duties!
momiss
This reminds me of Erma Bombeck. She gave this advice “If nobody else cares, why should you? ” I have never forgotten it. We put ourselves (and our mates) under needless pressure. Don’t sweat the small stuff. A surprising amount of the stuff is small. 😉
Chris Jarrett
Here’s my thought process in the situation (guy’s perspective). Oh my jeans are hung up randomly to dry…Katie must be doing something with them. I’m just going to let her do her thing. 3 weeks go by…man I’d really like to wear these jeans now but Katie has moved them over my towel now and obviously she isn’t done doing whatever she was doing. Guess I’ll wait longer. 3 weeks go by. Dang I really need those jeans back. What is taking her so long!?!
Chris Jarrett
moral of my perspective…you can’t expect a guy to read your mind. Maybe a subtle hint that includes words instead of subtle hints that include actions (like putting the jeans over the towel) will work. “Hey Chris, those jeans are ready to wear/put up. Feel free”
Laura @ Unpunctuated Life
I like to unpack as soon as I get home from a trip, but my husband, well, doesn’t. I’ve learned the hard way, though, that asking him when he’s going to unpack, or even sweetly offering to help him unpack if he needs it, is not met kindly. So currently his pack from our backpacking trip in MID-AUGUST is still in our bedroom. Yep. I’ve been working hard at biting my tongue…
Kathy Z
In my house, I would have lasted about four days at most. Then I would have casually said, “Hey love, can you grab your pants next time you’re in the bathroom.” My husband would never even have noticed the pants.
Michelle | Letters from Boston
Love how real you guys are 🙂 Thanks for showing the rest of us that we’re not alone!!
Lindsey
Maybe he doesn’t know they are clean?! lol!
Julie S.
We ALWAYS joke that we are in an episode of that show. hilarious. If that was us, my husband would do a TOTAL STANDOFF so he didn’t have to do anything with them! 🙂 haha!
Mariya
“I wonder if he knows” – LOL!
Cindy
Why don’t you just ask him?
I had a situation where my husband would always put part of the newspaper on the counter in the bathroom, and I would always be the one to pick it up eventually. One day I asked him about it and he said that he leaves papers there so he has something to read in the bathroom. So the next time I saw a paper on the counter I just left it and low and behold after a couple of days he does take it to the recycle pile. I thought before he was just being lazy.
Of course, I really don’t know why your husband wouldn’t put the jeans away unless he just likes having a “spare” pair hanging in the bathroom.
Christina
This is beyond funny. I don’t even know what else to say. Funny and true, true, true.
Amy
Sometimes I don’t put the toilet paper on the holder, just to see if anyone else will do it. Usually the next time there’s toilet paper on the holder is when we need a new roll. Your story made me laugh. Sounds like my house!
Kat
omg Katie I’m dying. I love that episode of ELR and I can’t believe that Chris isn’t putting away his jeans! WTF! LOL. I also can’t believe you haven’t said anything…. I would so have started a fight about that one already