Skip to main content
This was in the mail:

Life’s Too Short To Clean Your Own House.

A lovely brochure, featuring a lovely couple, with two lovely blond children, sitting in a lovely family room. The dad is reading a book with one of the daughters. The mom is laughing over a laptop with the other daughter. A pretty picture.

Short answer portion of the quiz:
1. Why did the advertising folks choose to put two girls in the picture instead of a girl and a boy?
2. Why did they choose to have the mom pose with the laptop?
3. Who cleans the housecleaners’ houses?

Bonus question: are the perky college students pictured on the inside of the brochure real housecleaners or just models?

Comments

John said…
Sorry, too easy.

1. Because 'girls at leisure on account of not having to clean house' send a more powerful message than 'boys at leisure.' Boys are always at leisure.

1a. Maybe they don't clean houses with boys in them. That would make sense.

2. Come on. It's clip art.

2a. Okay. Because Mom is still responsible for the housecleaning, and she is using the internet to requisition the cleaning service.

2b (for real). Because Mom works professionally outside the home. We can assume Dad does. But we need evidence that this Mom's life in particular is too short.

3. Who cuts the barber's hair?

Bonus: They're in a brochure. Ergo, they're models. However, this is a misstep. You want for housecleaners a dour frumpy couple of middle-age, who despise you only slightly less than they despise filth. Have you seen a college student's room lately?

I recommend you do not hire this company, and put the brochure in a time capsule for the day women are liberated. Oh, wait....
1:39 AM
John said…
Follow up (I know, I'm a nerd):

(a) A better way of expressing number 2 is: If the roles were reversed, and the mom were reading to the child, one would be compelled to ask, "Hey! If she has time to sit and read, why ain't she cleaning?"

(b) Thanks for the quiz. I enjoyed it. I'll expect my grades in the mail. Along with a gross of Mr. Clean.
10:22 AM
listeme said…
You get an A, John.
7:25 PM
Anonymous said…
Now, John - think hard: how could you have got that elusive A+? (you're tough, Marsh, tough!)
9:22 PM
John said…
I suppose my answer to #3 was too smart-alecky.

Although, to be honest, until you mentioned it, I wouldn't have looked for anything higher than an A. But I'm an underachiever.
10:19 PM
listeme said…
Smart alec remarks earn bonus points with me!

(Although I should be careful saying that where my children can hear me...)
11:03 PM
Anonymous said…
By bonus points do you mean a solid whuppin'?

I couldn't resist. ;)

- Dan
1:24 AM
Anonymous said…
Smart alec!
7:24 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This has been a very long week -- perhaps 16 or 17 days, at least. I have been offered -- and accepted -- my younger sister’s finished basement for the next year and a half. This will be a major cost-saver for me and a big help for her (she has two toddlers and is expecting a baby in August.) So that was a humongous start to the week. My other sister and her teenaged son have had to make some really hard decisions. She gave me permission to quote her: “spent yesterday at the hospital with my son. about eleven hours. sitting here writing and rewriting this entry trying to find just the right words. how to explain-- he is not healthy. he is mentally ill. he is not safe at home. none of this really covers it. so here's one image from the day. we walk into the east wing at maine med escorted by security. the very nice guard LOOKS like a skinhead but actually has incredible kindness and compassion for my snarly boy. he tells us gently that he has to check ian for weapons and sharp o...
3 comments
Read more
Life is a little tough these days. Taking a break. I will be back with more tales of grasshoppers and compost heaps and scrabble games soon.
17 comments
Read more
From the warnings in the back of the Life textbook: If one sleeps over at one’s old house to take care of one’s own kids while their dad is on a business trip, and if one is pleased with how calmly and smoothly everything is going and has gone and seems to be likely to go in the future, one should not be surprised when one’s silly dog decides to have -- oh, what should we call it? diarrhea? -- in the master bedroom on the white carpet. One should be careful not to say anything too terribly vile to the dog while scrubbing away at germy spattery spots with old white gym towels. Note: one should be especially alert to the smirking meanness of the universe. The universe has been known to send along vicious wasps to sting one on the ring finger of the left hand, causing one to nearly faint from anxiety.
1 comment
Read more