I grew up in a house with four siblings and let me tell you, things were not always fun and games…

Especially when it came to chores!

That’s when things got really ugly…

But even I never thought of this!

Read on and see what I’m talking about.

Wash your half.

“I have three older sisters, and the middle one, Pat, passed away a few years ago.

I was thinking about her this weekend, and remembered a story that I believe fits here.

When we were kids, we had chores that we had to do around the house.

The oldest two, Judy and Pat, had to do the dinner dishes (this was back when dishwashers were a luxury item most families couldn’t even dream of).

Kids will be kids…

Judy, being the oldest, would try to manipulate things so she got off light.

Generally, this meant Pat would have to wash and rinse, while Judy would dry and put away.

The washing, and particularly scrubbing of pre-Teflon pots and pans, was a real task, and finally Pat complained enough that Mom and Dad stepped in, and said the work needed to be equally divided.

If one washed and rinsed one night, the other would the next night.

She had a bright idea.

Well, Judy didn’t like that, so she offered an alternative: each of them would wash, dry and put away half of the dishes.

That was deemed acceptable, so the first night Judy went first, doing barely enough to qualify as “half”, and leaving all the heavy scrubbing to Pat.

The next night, Pat went first, and the malicious compliance began.

Pat nailed it!

With Mom watching, Pat carefully washed and dried exactly half of the dishes: the bottoms of all the plates, the handles of all the utensils, and the outsides of all the bowls, glasses, pots and pans.

When she finished, Mom smiled and agreed that she’d done her half, and sent for Judy, who had to wash all the tops and insides.

And if some soap and water got on the part Pat had cleaned, well, that was Judy’s fault; she had to clean what she messed up.

After that, they did the dishes together, and alternated who washed and who dried.”

Check out what folks had to say on Reddit.

This reader had a lot to say.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This person had a lot to say.

Another person chimed in.

This Reddit user said it reminded them of a TV show…

Sibling rivalry… it never gets old!

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