A disgruntled wife had become more and more annoyed with her husband’s nightly habit of spending all of his leisure time at the bar. She thought he was trading in his obligations to his family and house for cocktails, laughing, and what she pictured as carefree evenings with his friends.
She finally approached him since she could no longer contain her annoyance. She grumbled, “I’m stuck at home and you’re always out having a good time.” Rather than bickering, her husband came up with a straightforward solution: he asked her to spend a night with him.
She consented, curious, and maybe eager to see what all the commotion was about. Upon reaching the pub, she observed the low lighting, the sound of drinks clinking, the soft murmur of discussion, and the sporadic laughter.
It had a faded charm of its own, but it was not glitzy. “What’ll you have?” her husband inquired as he escorted her to the bar. She answered, “Oh, I don’t know,” still unsure and hoping to replicate his experience. I guess the same as you.
He ordered two of the same drink without thinking twice. With the assurance of someone who had done this countless times, he scooped up his glass after it was served, threw back its contents in a single move, and slammed the empty glass down on the counter.
His wife carefully raised her own similar drink to her lips and took a tiny sip. Her face instantly twisted in disgust, and she spat it out. “That’s AWFUL!” she said. “How you can drink this stuff is beyond me!”
Her husband shrugged and smiled dryly, seeming both amused and somewhat vindicated. “There you have it,” he remarked. “And you believe that every night I’m out having fun!” The realization that not everything done outside the house is inherently enjoyable or decadent dawned on her.
People occasionally follow their routines out of habit, escape, or just because they know how to do it, rather than out of enjoyment. It was far from the happy self-indulgence she had thought it was.