I admit I am very clumsy when it comes to doing housework. As such, whenever I offer my help to the rest of my family to do housework, I receive nothing less than a scoff in my face. ‘Huh?! YOU’ll mop the floor?!” either with genuine or mock intent. When I do mop the floor, for example, again, ‘This is what you call mopping?’ is only one of the many condescending, albeit boring comments I receive. It was humorous when I first heard these comments, as I myself found the image of me cleaning the toilet rather unbelievable too. However, after awhile, comments of such a nature become annoying, and frankly quite biting. it also does not help that I'm the youngest and people seem to think I'm still the little 9 year old I used to be. So, I have since stopped offering my help in doing housework.
Today when my brother and I were at the post office to collect my parcel my father sent me from Singapore, I realised I had left my identification card in the car, which I needed to claim the parcel. ‘Eh, help me go and get can Kor?’ was my immediate thought. For some admittedly unexplainable reason, I was under the impression that the person in name had to stay in the post office. I waited and a couple of minutes passed (the car was about 100m away). I see my brother coming back in sight, walking at a pace only slightly faster than a stroll. It was as though he was grocery shopping instead of trying to get my identification card to me while I was waiting at the counter. ‘wahaha, could you have been any slower?’ was my immediate reaction, as opposed to the ‘thank you’ my brother was obviously expecting. His response to my seemingly ungrateful jest was ‘FUCK MAN!! The least you could do is say thank you!! My response to his unexpected outburst was ‘huh? Eh your crazy man’. I was puzzled as to why he had such a violent reaction to what I had said.
I go back to the car with me still being puzzled but I had a mind to tell him that my words, albeit impolite, did not warrant such an extreme reaction. I said that if he was rightly unhappy with what I said, he could just had said ‘you are so ungrateful’ or ‘how about a thank you?’ Not ‘FUCK MAN!!’ If it had been me collecting the ID card for him, not only would I have walked with a tinge of urgency, I also sincerely doubt I would have such a vulgar and volatile reaction if he did not thank me right away. Of course, in his defence, I should have said ‘thank you’ even though I claim I was only kidding when I didn’t. The card was mine to get and he had done me a favour. He then said that I ‘treat everyone like a slave. I’m 18 years old and don’t do any housework’. I continued to argue that he was too sensitive and this was not the first occasion where I felt so, and that his ego is too big.
Ego is problem in every single member of my family. Each of us thinks everyone else has a mountain of an ego. My family thus also values the humility in being the first to apologise in any heated dispute. It seems to be, through many years of observation, and the first person to apologise is somehow partially absolved from any faults of theirs. The first person who apologises is put in better light then the person who’s ego is too big to do so. To prevent myself from being deemed ‘pot calling the kettle egoistic’, tonight’s speech at dinner will go as such:
Kor, I admit I was wrong in not first saying ‘thank you’ after you went to get the ID which was only mine to get. So, I’m very sorry. On a separate topic, I want to talk about me doing housework. Some of you think that I ‘treat everyone as slaves’. In any situation, a person can only offer their help so many times, and can be turned down only so many times, before the person becomes discouraged, and cant quite be bothered to continue offering help. A person can only take so much in-your-face scoffing before they get annoyed and hurt (and feel handicapped and useless). So if you haven’t already noticed, I have long since stopped offering my help in doing housework. However, if any of you feel that its so unfair that you are doing housework while I am not; if you feel that I’m ‘treating you as my slave’, you need only ask me to help do some housework.
Today when my brother and I were at the post office to collect my parcel my father sent me from Singapore, I realised I had left my identification card in the car, which I needed to claim the parcel. ‘Eh, help me go and get can Kor?’ was my immediate thought. For some admittedly unexplainable reason, I was under the impression that the person in name had to stay in the post office. I waited and a couple of minutes passed (the car was about 100m away). I see my brother coming back in sight, walking at a pace only slightly faster than a stroll. It was as though he was grocery shopping instead of trying to get my identification card to me while I was waiting at the counter. ‘wahaha, could you have been any slower?’ was my immediate reaction, as opposed to the ‘thank you’ my brother was obviously expecting. His response to my seemingly ungrateful jest was ‘FUCK MAN!! The least you could do is say thank you!! My response to his unexpected outburst was ‘huh? Eh your crazy man’. I was puzzled as to why he had such a violent reaction to what I had said.
I go back to the car with me still being puzzled but I had a mind to tell him that my words, albeit impolite, did not warrant such an extreme reaction. I said that if he was rightly unhappy with what I said, he could just had said ‘you are so ungrateful’ or ‘how about a thank you?’ Not ‘FUCK MAN!!’ If it had been me collecting the ID card for him, not only would I have walked with a tinge of urgency, I also sincerely doubt I would have such a vulgar and volatile reaction if he did not thank me right away. Of course, in his defence, I should have said ‘thank you’ even though I claim I was only kidding when I didn’t. The card was mine to get and he had done me a favour. He then said that I ‘treat everyone like a slave. I’m 18 years old and don’t do any housework’. I continued to argue that he was too sensitive and this was not the first occasion where I felt so, and that his ego is too big.
Ego is problem in every single member of my family. Each of us thinks everyone else has a mountain of an ego. My family thus also values the humility in being the first to apologise in any heated dispute. It seems to be, through many years of observation, and the first person to apologise is somehow partially absolved from any faults of theirs. The first person who apologises is put in better light then the person who’s ego is too big to do so. To prevent myself from being deemed ‘pot calling the kettle egoistic’, tonight’s speech at dinner will go as such:
Kor, I admit I was wrong in not first saying ‘thank you’ after you went to get the ID which was only mine to get. So, I’m very sorry. On a separate topic, I want to talk about me doing housework. Some of you think that I ‘treat everyone as slaves’. In any situation, a person can only offer their help so many times, and can be turned down only so many times, before the person becomes discouraged, and cant quite be bothered to continue offering help. A person can only take so much in-your-face scoffing before they get annoyed and hurt (and feel handicapped and useless). So if you haven’t already noticed, I have long since stopped offering my help in doing housework. However, if any of you feel that its so unfair that you are doing housework while I am not; if you feel that I’m ‘treating you as my slave’, you need only ask me to help do some housework.
***
He who does eventually ask me to do housework admits to having once being a slave to me.
He who does eventually ask me to do housework admits to having once being a slave to me.
1 comment:
we get our Ps here when we reach 17, so i've been on it for some time already, but i haven't been driving. i might actually go melb! hehs, again, who knows right? i wudn't know till late dec or something like that too. so yea. have fun studying, i never knew one can get busy studying in aust. lol. and im actually having difficulty with maths!
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