El Pleito De Los Trastes

The Age Old Battle

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are in your relationship, or how much or little you do outside of this highly detested chore, the infamous battle over who’s washing the dishes is bound to come up at some point during your “living together,” “marital,” or “shacked up” relationship (I know the first and last expressions are virtually the same, but I like saying shacked up for some reason).  You see in this day and age when both our sexes are virtually considered “equal,” the responsibility of turning on the faucet y ponerse a lavar los trastes is no longer just considered “women’s work.”

Sorry guys, but that’s the world we live in.

And I know many of you are probably thinking why bother with washing dishes by hand if there are those magical little things called dishwashers nowadays, my younger brother tells me this all the time, but in our household we don’t have a dishwasher.  We had one until we unplugged it from the wall, dragged it across our kitchen and living room floors, and sat it outside for a few days, okay several days, before we gave it away.  Neither one of us grew up on dishwashers and while we are familiar now with how to use one, it stills seems a little contraindios to us.

So usually the argument goes like this: Are you going to wash the dishes?  No, are you?  No, I worked all day and don’t want to wash the dishes.  Well I washed the dishes the last several times.  And what’s wrong with that?  Nothing, but when was the last time you scrubbed the toilet, cleaned the bathtub, washed all the clothes, or even cooked anything for yourself?  I work all day!  So do I… just because it’s housework doesn’t mean it’s not work.  Lava los trastes.  Tu lavalos. We can go on like this for a while… a good long while, until finally one or the other concedes and just washes the damn dishes.

In reality, it’s not that big of a deal at all.  It takes just a couple of minutes to do, and in an ideal world, I guess, either party would just take turns doing this chore, until one of the kids was old enough to do it all of the time.  I knew I wanted more kids for a reason!  I say that knowing completely well we will continue battling it out over who’s going to wash the dishes, because, well, part of having another able bodied, responsible adult in the household is that: having someone to argue with about the most menial of tasks, someone else who is just as committed and responsible for caring about the little things that we don’t have a choice but to do.

In our case, por ese versito we each had to repeat “for better or for worse, as long as we both shall live.”

DISCLAIMER: No actual ‘trastes’ were harmed in the writing of this blog.

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11 thoughts on “El Pleito De Los Trastes

  1. Jajaja! El eterno dilema Compadre! Last night, as my hubby came home from his office and had something pa cenar, he simply rolled up his sleeves and started doing the dishes. I fell in love all over again! Jajaja!
    Then, our neighbor came over and of course… he let him have it: ¡mandilón! ¡ve nomás, nadie se viste tan elegante para lavar los trastes!
    Ay hombres! LOL!
    Great post Compadre!

  2. Yo me ofrezco a lavar los platos! para mi no es “big deal” y como buena Pisciana, amo todo lo que tenga que ver con agua (ok, tampoco es que ADORE lavar el toilet). Tenemos lavadora de platos pero la usamos como storage, total, one has to rinse the dishes pa’ meterlos no? Gracias a Dios, este tema de los platos nunca ha sido un issue en mi casa. Ahora…. guardarlos, eso si que detesto!

  3. I like the graphic you chose for the post 🙂

    Washing dishes here usually falls to me or Suegra. If I cook, Suegra often washes so she doesn’t have to say “thank you” for the food. (She thinks the actions “pays” for the food. LOL.)

    Carlos never washes dishes because he works outside the home all day, (and I don’t), but sometimes he’ll help clear the dishes and put leftovers away… The kids also help with this.

    I guess things would be more complicated if I worked outside the home – then I would definitely expect household help!

  4. Lol! We have this argument every time the dishes are dirtied! 😉 We don’t have a dishwasher either. 🙁 Lastima! One of us is always telling the other, “Pues, I married you so I wouldn’t have to do the dishes!” Lol. Anyway, we always take turns on this one because we both hate it. Some chores we split up…he almost always does trash and lawn mowing, I do nearly all of the cooking and cleaning. 😉 But, even with knowing who’s supposed to do what, there’s still plenty of times where one of us will try to get out of it…lol.

    1. LMAO!! You ladies are Las Mejores 🙂 Love all the insight on your dish washing debates, such an interesting topic even though it is so mundane. Let me try to comment back with my thoughts together…

      Sue, why do other guys siempre say mandilon when we see another guy washing the dishes? Yo no se, but I do it to… confieso, and when someone shows up I will stop washing dishes until they leave. I will do it, but I don’t need an audience tampoco! jajaja 🙂

      Claudia, si te estas ofreciendo para lavar los trastes en mi casa, ACEPTAMOS con todo gusto Pisciana, hahaha! En serio, que bueno que no sea dilema para tu familia… yo soy alreves en los platos. No me gusta verlos sucios, pero ya una ves limpios no tengo que guardarlos inmediatamente… Supongo que a los Cancer no nos gusta tanto el agua 🙂

      Tracy, oh my God!! That is exactly why I love your suegra… La entiendo en realidad, jajaja. Si lavo los trastes ya estoy pagando la comida. Es una Diva!!

      Chantilly, pues ya ves, uno no aprovecha lo bueno… having had the dishwasher in my house, we gace it away, although, had we kept it, we would have probably been using it for storage like Claudia 🙂 Thanks for keeping it real!!

  5. I love hombres mandilones que no les de pena lavar platos, cocinar, y decile a sus esposas lo mucho que la aman!!!!

  6. –Story of my life.. jajaj jk i started my comment on tracy’s blog saying this… lol so now its my new thing I guess.. starting now… anyways my husband usually does them… he is picky… picky mc picky so i purposly dont do them cause i know he cracks and does it.. its great… but we have great arguments about the toliet.. “You clogged the toliet” “JAVIER I HAVENT EVEN POOPED TODAY , I POOPED AT WORK” “Well i don’t poop until night time so I know its not me”— SORRY PROB tmi..lol

    1. Nikkeya, casi me caigo de la risa! This comment has to be one of my all time favorites. Love the honesty and how real you keep it all of the time 🙂 Tienes que sequir comentando ahora, jajaja!!

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