Who's the Boss?

I used to be a clean freak. When Bryon was in law school I would spend entire Saturdays cleaning. Now I just aspire to be a clean freak. But every once in awhile, the compulsion rears its head and I feel the need to clean. Usually when we are expecting company. Why company would be looking in my closet doesn't matter. I just can't really relax until things are in shape. But I've lowered my standards a lot. Now I clean the guest bed and the guest bathroom. Done.

Today I was running through the house trying to tidy up for weekend company and to speed the process along I tried to put Sam to work.

"Sam, if you take this broom and sweep up, I will give you $5."

"I'll do it for $10."

"No," I told him. "$10 is too much. I'd do it for $10."

"I'll give you $20 to do it yourself," he told me.

"You don't have $20." With that he ran upstairs and sure enough, came back with a crumpled $20 bill.

So there we were, Sam playing a video game, and me, sweeping with the $20 he gave me.