Mom: I can’t believe it! All day I’m hard at work keeping this house running - cooking, cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, making sure everyone has their homework - and when I ask my son to come set the table for dinner, he ignores me! When he finally answers my call, he comes barreling in like a football player and knocks the whole plate of burgers I just brought in from the grill off the counter and onto the floor! Dinner is ruined! And now, all he can do is glare at me, as though it were beneath him to apologize. How did I end up raising such a thoughtless and ungrateful teenager?

Boy: Why can’t Mom just leave me alone? I’ve had a crappy day. The dog ate my homework and my teacher wouldn’t believe me, and I got sent to the principal’s office, and I got my ass kicked at dodgeball in gym class, and that stupid bully Roy followed me halfway home on his stupid bike. Now I finally get one minute to myself in my room, and Mom starts screaming at me from downstairs! If she wants me to hear what she’s saying, why doesn’t she come up and tell me instead of shouting? So then I don’t want to make her mad by making her wait, so I run on down. How was I supposed to know she’d left the burgers teetering on the counter like that? It’s not my fault!

Dog: Oh my gosh!!! There was a big crash and now the floor is covered in hamburgers!!! This is the best day ever!!!