Psychiatrist: What’s your profession?
Patient: I’m an accountant at a bank.
Psychiatrist: What does your wife do?
Patient: She doesn’t do anything — she’s a housewife.
Psychiatrist: Who makes breakfast in the morning?
Patient: My wife, of course — since she doesn’t do anything.
Psychiatrist: What time does your wife wake up?
Patient: Around five in the morning. She sweeps the house first, then makes breakfast. But that’s nothing — because she doesn’t do anything.
Psychiatrist: Doesn’t she have to take the kids to school?
Patient: Oh yes, she does. She drops them off and picks them up too — because she doesn’t do anything.
Psychiatrist: Does your wife just wait around after dropping the kids off?
Patient: No, no! Who would do the grocery shopping then? She goes to the market, comes home, cooks, does the laundry... Like I said, she doesn’t do anything.
Psychiatrist: What do you do when you come home from work?
Patient: I rest. After all, I’m exhausted from working all day.
Psychiatrist: And what does your wife do then?
Patient: She makes tea for me, helps the kids with their homework, then cooks dinner. After dinner she washes the dishes and puts the kids to bed. But it’s fine — she doesn’t do anything.
Psychiatrist: Alright, now tell me what your problem is. Let’s see how I can help.
Patient: When I come home from work and see my wife’s “unemployed life”, I feel mentally shattered. Is this normal jealousy, or some kind of illness?
Psychiatrist: It is an illness — but an easy one to cure, if you follow my prescription. For the next week, leave work a little early every day and observe one person from this list carefully. Watch what they do, how long they do it, and how much effort it takes. When you’re done observing everyone, come back — if you still feel the need to.
Here’s the list:
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The office peon
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The hospital nurse
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The maid
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The children’s nanny
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The restaurant cook
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The washerman
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The street cleaner
The man never returned to the psychiatrist’s office.
Because the kind of work that has no sick leave, no weekends, no fixed hours, and demands 24-hour on-call service — that unrecognized, certificate-less labor — is what keeps you, me, and all of us safe and comfortable.
So the next time you’re tempted to ask a woman,
“Do you work, or are you just a housewife?”
— remember: if you have even an ounce of understanding, you’ll never ask that question again.
