More kvetching about life in the 'burbs

I live among people who are either lazy or entitled.

This springs to mind today as I am sewing patches on the Brownie vest. It's not one of my favorite tasks (which is why I put it off til the last minute), but it's not that unseemly. I certainly don't do it by hand - my fingers are not that tough - but I pull out the machine. It doesn't look perfect, but my guess is no one is looking that close. It's just a Brownie vest, after all.

But I have seen people in my neighborhood advertise for someone to do this job for them. I guess I've just never heard of hiring out such menial tasks.

It shouldn't surprise me; people around here hire out everything. They do the usual stuff, like house cleaning, yard work, and child care. And I am not above hiring out that stuff, either - I paid for my share of daycare. They also hire out any sort of major work around the house - and I've done that, too. But they hire out every little job - from mending to hanging blinds to power washing the swing set. They hire out cleaning the pool - a job that, with a Polaris, takes about 15 minutes a week, maybe a few hours a couple times a summer.

Perhaps it's my Midwestern work ethic, but I enjoy seeing the boys up the street outside every Saturday morning helping their dad with the yard work. It's how I grew up - you took care of your own house. I didn't grow up among the wealthy and privileged - there were jobs you did yourself, because you took pride in your home. And it's just what you did.

Once upon a time, Gary and I bought a 100-year-old house. We restored it from top to bottom, and and we did nearly everything ourselves - everything short of plumbing, which we did hire out. We laid tile, hung drywall, installed light fixtures, and sanded and refinished floors. (And we're not talking the executive "we" either - I was in there, staining floors when I was eight months pregnant.)

These days, we have more money than time. So yes, a certain amount of routine maintenance does get hired out. But what do you teach your children when you hire out everything - when you hire someone to sew the patches on the scout uniform?

I have a friend whose husband can well afford to farm out the yard work. But he does the mowing himself, in part because he wants his children to understand that most people cannot afford to do that.

My husband works hard; he works very long days and has a lengthy commute. And when he comes home, he is exhausted. But there is a certain amount of work that still needs to get done. We do a great deal of it ourselves; we've done some of the interior painting, we wash our own cars. We will re-stain our own front door.

There is nothing wrong with teaching kids to do a little hard work, be it cleaning toilets or minor carpentry around the house. It's not demeaning to do this - yet therein lies the problem. People around here seem so wrapped up in proving their wealth that they shy away from doing anything that might make them appear less than affluent.

After all, what type of person sews on their own scout patches? The shame.

Just one more reason I'm a suburban misfit. I'm counting the days ...