Divorce: Don’t Get Taken to The Cleaners

You may have heard the recent news stories that have stated that women pay more than men for the same items and services.

I can remember years ago…wondering why my husband’s shirts cost less to clean than my blouses. When I questioned the cleaners, I was told that ladies’ blouses cost more because they needed to be hand-pressed. They were too small to fit on the machine press.

I bought into that answer for many years. It wasn’t until I took one of my son’s shirts at the same time that I took one of my daughter’s shirts to the same cleaner. Her shirt was bigger than his. I was charged more for her shirt than his. When I asked why, I was told that her shirt had a fitted cut so it would not fit on the machine press but his could.

The next week, I took another of my son’s shirts to the cleaners and this one was a fitted cut. When they gave me the slip, I saw that they had charged me the same price as the week before for his shirt that was not fitted.

I shouldn’t admit this but I will. I bought into their explanations because it was easier than making an issue. Even though I had questions about their pricing, I ignored them. After all, I had been using that cleaners for years. Where else would I go?

So what does this have to do with divorce? In and of itself, it has nothing to do with divorce but if you change your thinking a little, you will see that it does. As women, we tend to ignore things that cause discomfort or discord in our marriages. It’s easier than dealing with issues head on. This is especially true after children come into the world. We are so busy and we place the needs of our families first.

We notice that our husband’s don’t always wear their wedding rings and we question why.  Our husband’s tell us that they are uncomfortable wearing them when they play golf. We buy it. We see charges on the credit cards for dinners that we didn’t attend. We ask why and we are told that we should remember and that they had told us about the dinners with so and so. We know that we were not advised but we acquiesce because we didn’t want to think that there could be affairs. The saga goes on and on and on until finally something happens that wakes us up…something that has shock value.

There isn’t a whole lot that we can do if a dry cleaner charges more to clean women’s clothing than it does to clean men’s clothing.  We have to think about the pros and cons of changing to different dry cleaner that might price more fairly.

The same holds true when we find out that our husbands are not treating us fairly. Should we ignore the obvious and hope that we are wrong or should we think about the pros and cons of changing our marital status?

You are the only one who can weigh the pros and cons of staying married or getting a divorce. You are the only one who can decide to take action or ignore the obvious. Just remember that ignoring the obvious does not change the facts.

Photo: Wallula Junction