Wife Complains That Husband Doesn’t Clean While He Cooks, So He Gets Spotless Revenge. – ‘I’ve not been harassed since.’

Matthew Gilligan

11 months ago

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/@goodfacesagency

Well, she asked for it…

That’s the only thing I could think of as I read this story from Reddit’s “Malicious Compliance” page.

And this guy sure did a bang-up job!

Check out what he had to say…

Wife complains I don’t clean while I cook, so I proceed to sparkle the kitchen instead of making dinner.

“I (33M) often do the cooking at home, including the washing up that happens after. My wife (34f) does not usually cook, we established that by our second date years ago. I love her to bits, but she is a culinary disaster and time and sweat has failed to make improvements. It is a lost battle.

He has his own routine for cooking.

The sequence of dinner prep usually starts as soon as I finish work. This involves chopping meat/vegetables, and rounding up anything that was previously marinated or thawed. This is immediately followed by cooking, and then serving, to be eaten hot. It seems logical to me that meals should be enjoyed while they are fresh, and cleaning up, can wait. Especially if the kitchen is not being used by anyone else in the interim.

And he takes care of the cleaning.

I am also the one who normally does the washing after everyone has eaten, and I wash all the cutlery and cooking prep stuff in the same process. This is done while my wife settles our toddler into bed.

I prefer this setup, because I can get all the washing done in one go, and everyone can eat their meals at the same time together while it is fresh. I do not like washing the pans/pots/wok after cooking and before eating.

But his wife doesn’t like it…

My wife however, seems to get annoyed at this. Every now and then while I am cooking, if she walks in she will start complaining. Making notes that I should pack this and that up. That I should clean the board while waiting for the stir fry to finish. Sometimes, there is literally no down time for certain dishes, especially with several to serve before it gets “too late” for the toddler.

To be clear, I certainly clean some things as I go. Especially when it concerns raw meat, or things that need to go back into the fridge. I’ll wipe down if there’s any offensive spills.

But for things like chopping boards, certain empty packages, or condiments, I will leave them on the bench top until I am done, or when I am washing up. Things that I feel don’t pose risks or have any urgency to be put away, other than making the kitchen look tidy during cooking. Happy to be proven wrong.

She tried to put him in his place.

Anyway, one day for whatever reason my wife got real snarky at me because I left the chopping board out next to the pans, saying it’s not hard to clean as I cook. Whatever, fine.

How about some malicious compliance?!?!

So for the next meal, I made sure to clean everything I touched as I started my meal prep. I had already made sure the little one had her dinner, so there’s no harm in drawing this out.

Need to open that can of pasta sauce? Better wash down the can opener and dry it before we start. Gotta wipe down the whole kitchen top too.

Ooops, dropped a garlic clove. I’d better give the whole kitchen floor a good scrub.

Is that a bit of charred residue on the stove? Ok, better de-grease the entire area.

You get my drift.

So, when are we gonna eat…?

Wife has put the little one to sleep by now.

So 3 hours later, the kitchen is sparkling. Literally.

Pasta has not entered water, and the sauce materials have not touched the pan.

Wife asks where’s dinner?

I tell her I haven’t started cooking because I still need to clean the fridge.

There were some stains under the tomato tray.

She went back to bed. I still cooked and packed her lunch.

I’ve not been harassed since.”

Here’s how people responded.

This person shared how it works in their house.