TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[DoctorAtomic]

Chess takes too long. I bought a double six domino set for $20 and my friend comes over to play on my porch. To be fair, there is strategy, especially if you're playing fives. And it looks cool with all the bending around. 

Plus you get the demure, 'checkmate' in chess, or you can smack down that last bone with a 'dah min NO muthafucka'. Which would you really rather do? 

[SVNBob]

18 hours ago, Kromm said:

Ditto for Mahjong.  Unlike Go, most of us have likely played this one (or at least the loosely based solitaire game with the same tiles), but let's be honest about how it would come off if a bunch of white people were shown playing it, or the baggage of scenes with Asian people doing so (always older in the stereotype, right?). 

Depends on if a majority of those white people were older Jewish women.   A lot of yentas play, and the game has apparently been a big thing in Jewish-American culture since just before WWII.

18 hours ago, Kromm said:

Dominoes?  Either seen as a kiddie thing, or if shown played seriously, yet another Asian stereotype, typically two old Chinese guys sitting in a park playing it. 

I wouldn't consider Dominoes an Asian stereotype.  But then, I'm from the Southern US, so I'd consider it more an African-American stereotype.

 

10 hours ago, Bastet said:

11 hours ago, Zella said:

People never play strategy games like Risk on TV--at least not that I recall seeing-

Kramer and Newman had an epic game going on Seinfeld.

And I seem to recall an episode of a short-lived NBC sitcom called Day by Day (which also featured Julia Louis-Dreyfus) had one episode where the character played by Christopher Daniel Barnes was playing a regular game of Risk with a group of his friends/college classmates.  But in the episode, he ruined the vibe by bringing his new girlfriend to the game as another player.

Edited May 2, 2021 by SVNBob
Finishing a thought.

[Llywela]

1 hour ago, SVNBob said:

I wouldn't consider Dominoes an Asian stereotype.  But then, I'm from the Southern US, so I'd consider it more an African-American stereotype.

And here in the UK, I'd consider dominoes to be an older working class stereotype - my great-grandfather used to play it down the pub with his mates.

[DrSpaceman73]

Love that seinfeld.  

At the end 'the ukraine is weak!'

[Zella]

4 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Love that seinfeld.  

At the end 'the ukraine is weak!'

I was super impressed with Kramer's ability to haul ass while holding the board! 🤣

[merylinkid]

On 5/1/2021 at 8:53 AM, kiddo82 said:

The first one I can think of is Scrabble

Someone will always come up with some word using a Z that lands on a triple word score then shout about it.   This one word will win the game for them.

[kiddo82]

Any medical drama:  there will be a morbidity and mortality review and someone will say that it's a teaching exercise and the purpose is not to assign blame.  Meanwhile, someone else in the audience will most definitely be assigning blame.

[AimingforYoko]

On 5/3/2021 at 6:50 AM, merylinkid said:

Someone will always come up with some word using a Z that lands on a triple word score then shout about it.   This one word will win the game for them.

"Quiz"

[meep.meep]

On 5/1/2021 at 7:02 AM, Anduin said:

I wonder if they'll ever start using video games as a demonstrator of intelligence or ability. "He's ranked [whatever] in Starcraft 2" or "she runs the biggest guild in WOW" or "that group pulled off a massive heist in EVE."

I doubt it'll happen any time soon. Maybe when kids who played video games become the suits at the top, they'll push the producers and writers to include those elements. Or the other way around. The writers know that world, they start chucking in a little more reality.

On the other hand, we've already passed the point where that should start happening. Wikipedia says the Playstation 1 had a heyday from 1994 - 2000. Have none of the PS kids worked their way into the upper sections of TV hierarchy? Last I checked, games were treated as either from the Pac Man/Space Invaders era or 'murder simulators' like GTA.

Of course, I don't watch much contemporary TV. I may have missed something.

I think you're missing them - just about every sitcom that I watch, people play video games.  Big Bang Theory especially.  And the characters are supposed to be smart.

But total love for True American on The New Girl.  FDR!

[VCRTracking]

The motive of someone's death that they saw someone commit murder and was blackmailing them. Great way to make the viewer feel sympathy for the killer while disdain at someone stupid enough to threaten a person who has already taken a life.

[CoderLady]

25 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

The motive of someone's death that they saw someone commit murder and was blackmailing them. Great way to make the viewer feel sympathy for the killer while disdain at someone stupid enough to threaten a person who has already taken a life.

On Columbo, some poor deluded fool would try to blackmail the murderer for money, a romantic relationship, or a dream job without thinking this through.

I always found it hard to feel sorry for them when they would agree to meet the killer alone for drinks or dinner to discuss their mutual future, which for one of them was going to involve poison or explosions or cut brake lines.

[ratgirlagogo]

On 5/2/2021 at 3:21 AM, SVNBob said:

On 5/1/2021 at 8:42 AM, Kromm said:

Dominoes?  Either seen as a kiddie thing, or if shown played seriously, yet another Asian stereotype, typically two old Chinese guys sitting in a park playing it. 

I wouldn't consider Dominoes an Asian stereotype.  But then, I'm from the Southern US, so I'd consider it more an African-American stereotype

 

On 5/2/2021 at 4:40 AM, Llywela said:

And here in the UK, I'd consider dominoes to be an older working class stereotype - my great-grandfather used to play it down the pub with his mates.

Well, I'm in New York and to me, it's overwhelmingly a Latin American game.  It's the rare bodega that doesn't have at least one card table outside with a group of Puerto Rican/Dominican/Mexican, etc. men in lawn chairs drinking beer and playing dominoes.   As much a bodega institution as the bodega cat.  And definitely a trope in the NYC based procedurals.

 

[DoctorAtomic]

So we can all play dominoes. 

[Llywela]

Exactly, the point was that dominoes are not unique to a single ethnic group. People from all walks of life play the game, all over the world.

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[ratgirlagogo]

I actually think they do - but the people who write television shows, do not, not any more.

[DrSpaceman73]

On 5/1/2021 at 10:02 AM, Anduin said:

I wonder if they'll ever start using video games as a demonstrator of intelligence or ability. "He's ranked [whatever] in Starcraft 2" or "she runs the biggest guild in WOW" or "that group pulled off a massive heist in EVE."

I doubt it'll happen any time soon. Maybe when kids who played video games become the suits at the top, they'll push the producers and writers to include those elements. Or the other way around. The writers know that world, they start chucking in a little more reality.

On the other hand, we've already passed the point where that should start happening. Wikipedia says the Playstation 1 had a heyday from 1994 - 2000. Have none of the PS kids worked their way into the upper sections of TV hierarchy? Last I checked, games were treated as either from the Pac Man/Space Invaders era or 'murder simulators' like GTA.

Of course, I don't watch much contemporary TV. I may have missed something.

It's always sunny did a great episode centered around an online game. Charlie rules the world.  

[magicdog]

On 5/1/2021 at 5:42 AM, Kromm said:

Dominoes?  Either seen as a kiddie thing, or if shown played seriously, yet another Asian stereotype, typically two old Chinese guys sitting in a park playing it. 

Checkers?  Again seen as kiddie. 

Monopoly?  I've seen it used as a plot device in TV and movies, but the messaging on it is pretty typically one thing: to take one or more people and imply someone in that group is super-competitive (and if they crow about winning maybe have bad sportsmanship). 

Dominoes in my world was played by old Italians and Cubans.  I found it a fun game as a kid as we had a domino set.

Checkers can be boring after a while - it was seen as a stepping stone to chess.  I think chess is often used the way it is because it's ultimately a game of strategy and concentration.  Ideally the players are thinking 3 moves ahead.

Monopoly will never not be fun!  But even the Flintstones used the trope of bad sportsmanship when Fred brings home a game of "Rockopoly" and gets overexcited about collecting the money the others owed him!!

[DoctorAtomic]

Chess takes too long. If I have someone over to sit outside, we're not going to spend 4 hours on one game. 

[Zella]

9 hours ago, magicdog said:

Fred brings home a game of "Rockopoly" and gets overexcited about collecting the money the others owed him!!

My family called me a slumlord the last time we played Monopoly, and we've not played together since. 😂

[Browncoat]

4 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Chess takes too long. 

Not the way I play it -- which is very badly.  Someone beat me in three moves (or was it four?) once! 

[Mabinogia]

10 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Not the way I play it -- which is very badly.  Someone beat me in three moves (or was it four?) once! 

I have a very short attention span so Chess doesn't last long for me either. I don't strategize, I just move the pieces around until I lose.  Of course I haven't played in a very long time. 

I find in general with games on TV, you have either the super competitive player who takes it way too seriously, the game genius who dominates or someone so terrible it's laughable. No one is ever just okay or pretty good. Same with pretty much everything. It is rare that someone who draws on TV is just good, they are either terrible or great. 

[MadyGirl1987]

11 hours ago, Zella said:

My family called me a slumlord the last time we played Monopoly, and we've not played together since. 😂

Did it end like this?

[Zella]

9 minutes ago, MadyGirl1987 said:

Did it end like this?

Bahahaha fortunately no! The best I remember, I spent a lot of time baffled by their complete lack of strategy and kept commenting on it, and they kept . . . pursuing the lack of strategy out of spite and then calling me a slumlord as I coolly robbed them systematically collected the rent rightfully due me. 

Games can be a little tense in my family. My brother and I learned we couldn't play Xbox games against each other because a hell of a lot of repressed sibling rivalry comes out, and it devolved into him siccing attack dogs on me in Call of Duty.

We have to be on a team, and it's fine. :) 

But we are totally every stereotype about being freakishly competitive. I don't like playing games with friends actually because I'd rather them not see that side of me. 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Zella

[DoctorAtomic]

You know in the actual Monopoly rules, if you land on a property and choose not to buy or can't buy, then it has to be auctioned off? 

[DrSpaceman73]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

You know in the actual Monopoly rules, if you land on a property and choose not to buy or can't buy, then it has to be auctioned off? 

Yes if you play by actual Monopoly rules the game is short.  

But nobody does that.  We all have our own 'home rules' I think. 

[merylinkid]

22 hours ago, Zella said:

My family called me a slumlord the last time we played Monopoly, and we've not played together since. 😂

I once beat my sister with a hotel on Mediterranean.   The absolutely cheapest property with the cheapest hotel.   She blew all her money building up Park Avenue and Broadway.   BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

19 hours ago, Browncoat said:

Not the way I play it -- which is very badly.  Someone beat me in three moves (or was it four?) once! 

I once almost lost to a 5 year old (I was in my 40s at the time).   The kid wound up sacrificing pieces just to keep the game going.  His own idea.   

TOPIC:  If someone on tv goes on a game show, they will either freeze (like Cindy Brady) or the topics will be the person's own obscure interest that are unlike anything ever seen on the show before.

[Luckylyn]

So in my family we never ever finished a game of Monopoly.  At some point an argument would happen between players leading us never to finish.  This lead my mother to confiscate the game and she probably still has it hidden in some closet now years later.  I have never played a game that lead to so much acrimony like Monopoly.  

[Raja]

2 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Yes if you play by actual Monopoly rules the game is short.  

But nobody does that.  We all have our own 'home rules' I think. 

Only proto lawyers read the rules. Everyone hates lawyers 

[Blergh]

No one plays Trivial Pursuit in the annoying way that the Wings bros did on their show (complete with self-made buzzers). .at least no one I've ever met has done so but if anyone attempted to 'buzz' me during one of my Trivial Pursuit games, I'd be tempted to bust them in their chops! 

 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 7/9/2018 at 11:06 PM, Domenicholas said:

I hate it when the main female character (and its almost always female) has a boyfriend at the beginning of the show, but because he's not the main male character we're supposed to root for her when she cheats on her boyfriend and ultimately breaks up him. Double points if the boyfriend is loving and supportive while the male main character treats her like crap. Points to infinity if the loving and supportive boyfriend suddenly turns into an asshole in order to make the main male character look better.

 

On 7/22/2018 at 5:38 PM, Spartan Girl said:

And just to be clear, it doesn't make a difference if the gender roles are reversed in the trope. An example I can think of was on Buffy, when Riley cheated on Buffy and Buffy got scolded by her so-called "friend" Xander for being so willing to let Riley go when he was "guy that came once in a lifetime." PLEASE. He was a needy, insecure jerk that got butt-sore when Buffy didn't lean on him the way he expected her to and conform to his ideal of what a girlfriend should be, and who let his passive-aggressive resentment build up instead of talking to her about about it. 

 

Digging through the forums because it's Saturday and I'm bored.

Riley cheated on Buffy? I'm presuming you mean with the vampires he was allowing to bite him, but what I remember is the episode where Faith switches bodies with Buffy and then has sex with Riley because once again she wanted to wreck Buffy's life. And then Buffy acted like he did it on purpose. Since that happens way before any of the stuff with the vamps or even before Buffy's mom gets sick, she shot that relationship in the foot all by herself. I never thought that she and Riley were meant to be or whatever, but I would certainly lean towards insecurity if the girl I was dating behaved like I was fooling around on her because I didn't magically realize the person I was in bed with wasn't the one I'd been dating for a while. And I say that as A) someone who usually likes Faith more than I like Buffy and B) would have understood it if she had just blamed Faith, who she already hated. But the writers had to asshole Riley up to make way for Spike, which was obviously so much better for her. /s

[Stats Queen]

5 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Yes if you play by actual Monopoly rules the game is short.  

But nobody does that.  We all have our own 'home rules' I think. 

We had home rules, but my brother had his own. When he was banker he said he could give himself all the money he wanted. His reign as Banker was short lived….

Edited May 29, 2021 by Stats Queen

[DearEvette]

4 hours ago, Luckylyn said:

So in my family we never ever finished a game of Monopoly. 

Honestly I have never played a Monopoly game that could be called "finished."   It was mostly ended through exhaustion and attrition.  And the last person who still had some money and still wanted to play was generally called the "winner."

In College my housemates and various friends would have these long ass games.  My boyfriend at the time never had the same strategy twice and would usually come to dominate. The one time he really decisively won was with what he called his "slumlord strategy" where he set out to own the entire row of low priced properties right past Go (Baltic, Mediterranean, Oriental etc.) .  He bought them up (and traded for) them very quickly before anyone realized what was happening.  We all, stupidly, of course were trying for the higher priced properties.  He'd always improve his property just when someonewas just about to approach Go and would most likely land somewhere on his "Skid Row."  Before we knew it he had a slew of hotels.  If got really expensive to land anywhere near there.  It was a great strategy.

 

16 minutes ago, Stats Queen said:

We had home rules, but my brother had his own. When he was banker he said he could give himself all the money he wanted. His reign as Banker was short lived….

Also in college we'd play drunk Monopoly.  One of our home rules was we'd pick a property at the start of the game and if you landed on it you had to take a drink.  One time it was any Railroad.  That was a great game because we got so blasted people were cheating and stealing money from the bank left and right and nobody cared.  LOL.

[Spartan Girl]

4 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Riley cheated on Buffy? I'm presuming you mean with the vampires he was allowing to bite him, but what I remember is the episode where Faith switches bodies with Buffy and then has sex with Riley because once again she wanted to wreck Buffy's life. And then Buffy acted like he did it on purpose. Since that happens way before any of the stuff with the vamps or even before Buffy's mom gets sick, she shot that relationship in the foot all by herself. I never thought that she and Riley were meant to be or whatever, but I would certainly lean towards insecurity if the girl I was dating behaved like I was fooling around on her because I didn't magically realize the person I was in bed with wasn't the one I'd been dating for a while. And I say that as A) someone who usually likes Faith more than I like Buffy and B) would have understood it if she had just blamed Faith, who she already hated. But the writers had to asshole Riley up to make way for Spike, which was obviously so much better for her. /s

I was talking about the episode where Riley fooled around with vampires. And yeah, messing around with scantily clad vampires getting a sexual thrill out of them biting him behind her back DOES count as cheating, even if he didn’t actually screw them. Whatever Buffy did it didn’t do before Riley got addicted to vampire bites does not absolve him of his actions. I’ll leave it at that to avoid getting off topic.

[Annber03]

11 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Honestly I have never played a Monopoly game that could be called "finished."   It was mostly ended through exhaustion and attrition.  And the last person who still had some money and still wanted to play was generally called the "winner."

I remember seeing a story one time about a guy who'd designed a custom-made version of the Monopoly game as a way to propose to his girlfriend. Someone commented on the story and said, "Bold of him to assume that she'll still want to marry him after playing Monopoly together." :p. 

14 hours ago, Blergh said:

No one plays Trivial Pursuit in the annoying way that the Wings bros did on their show (complete with self-made buzzers). .

"Who is Ann-Margaret?" :D. 

Edited May 30, 2021 by Annber03

[Zella]

4 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Honestly I have never played a Monopoly game that could be called "finished."   It was mostly ended through exhaustion and attrition.  And the last person who still had some money and still wanted to play was generally called the "winner."

In College my housemates and various friends would have these long ass games.  My boyfriend at the time never had the same strategy twice and would usually come to dominate. The one time he really decisively won was with what he called his "slumlord strategy" where he set out to own the entire row of low priced properties right past Go (Baltic, Mediterranean, Oriental etc.) .  He bought them up (and traded for) them very quickly before anyone realized what was happening.  We all, stupidly, of course were trying for the higher priced properties.  He'd always improve his property just when someonewas just about to approach Go and would most likely land somewhere on his "Skid Row."  Before we knew it he had a slew of hotels.  If got really expensive to land anywhere near there.  It was a great strategy.

 

Also in college we'd play drunk Monopoly.  One of our home rules was we'd pick a property at the start of the game and if you landed on it you had to take a drink.  One time it was any Railroad.  That was a great game because we got so blasted people were cheating and stealing money from the bank left and right and nobody cared.  LOL.

Bahahaha his slumlord strategy was my slumlord strategy! It's aces, even if everyone else hates you at the end. 🙃

[SVNBob]

10 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Honestly I have never played a Monopoly game that could be called "finished."   It was mostly ended through exhaustion and attrition.  And the last person who still had some money and still wanted to play was generally called the "winner."

You'd hate a new official variant then:

Monopoly: Longest Game Ever.

Features an extra-long board with 3 copies of each property space (with only one shared deed between the 3, so buying one nets you all), but only one die.  Bankruptcy doesn't get you out of the game, and the only way to win is to own all the properties.

Steering this back towards topic: this would be akin to the game George invented in Newhart.  The one that had the winning condition of getting exactly 1 million points, but every space earned you 3 points.

[andromeda331]

On 5/28/2021 at 8:28 PM, MadyGirl1987 said:

Did it end like this?

I love that episode!

[meep.meep]

Fake Game!  Her Emails!  A truly funny episode.

The Slumloard Strategy is the easiest way to win, but once you know about it everyone is watching to prevent someone else from getting those properties.

[Mabinogia]

29 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

The Slumloard Strategy

Okay, since Clue had it's own movie, which is one of my all time favorites, I think someone needs to make a Monopoly movie called The Slumlord Strategy. It's about a scrappy group of misfits who band together to take down the Slumlord. 

Watch as Dog, Shoe and Thimble band together to take down Racecar the slumlord before the long game variant destroys them all!

[DoctorAtomic]

That's about as good as a pitch as any. Isn't that the plot of Breakin'? They had a Battleship movie. I want a Hungry Hippos movie. 

I don't think that's the easiest way although it has merit. The slum areas don't have the highest probability of landing. It's the orange/red/yellow because they are after getting out of jail or before go to jail. If you're rolling doubles to get out of jail, you're guaranteed to hit them. 

[meep.meep]

The Slumlord Strategy is to get the entire side of the board.  Then put hotels on them which is easy because they are the cheap properties.  You might hit the railroad or the card, but you're most likely to hit one of the hotelled properties.

As a game, Monopoly is not very telegenic.  Blackish did it right.  Especially Dre being a player who hides his money underneath the board so you can't tell how much he has.

[DearEvette]

26 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

As a game, Monopoly is not very telegenic.  Blackish did it right.  Especially Dre being a player who hides his money underneath the board so you can't tell how much he has.

Right.  I think if a show is going to do an episode that features any board game it has to be outrageous and yes, Blackish did it right.  It has to be full of arcane house rules, outsized personalities and trash talking.  Monopoly is great for that because everyone has a family memory of  the game devolving in just this way.  With tears and someone storming off.  Also it is totally realistic for Dre and Ruby to squirrel away money.  Someone always does!

 

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I don't think that's the easiest way although it has merit. The slum areas don't have the highest probability of landing. It's the orange/red/yellow because they are after getting out of jail or before go to jail. If you're rolling doubles to get out of jail, you're guaranteed to hit them. 

The slumlord strategy worked for my boyfriend so well that one game because it was quick and incredibly cheap as @meep.meep mentions.  We all bypassed those but he targeted them.  And because they were so cheap they were cheap to improve.  It was relatively cheap to get hotels across the baord, but once they were on there -- and you have monopoly the price for landing on them could be expensive.  Also if you were unlucky enough to land on the row more than once with low rolls you were SOL.  His other thing was he didn't improve the properties until someone was approaching them.  So he was really strategic.

But to your other point about the get out of jail properties.  Yes like I said above he had different strategies each game none was the same twice.  He called that one his "Prison Population" strategy.  Same deal, he would get all those and do the same thing with improvements.  Weirdly every game I have ever played in Monopoly there is a point where late in the game everybody ends up going to jail.  LOL.

[DoctorAtomic]

I was talking just in terms of probabilities. 

If you're playing across rules, the auction can bleed people dry and you can pick up the reds under value too. 

[kiddo82]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

The slumlord strategy worked for my boyfriend so well that one game because it was quick and incredibly cheap as @meep.meep mentions.  We all bypassed those but he targeted them.  And because they were so cheap they were cheap to improve.  It was relatively cheap to get hotels across the baord, but once they were on there -- and you have monopoly the price for landing on them could be expensive.  Also if you were unlucky enough to land on the row more than once with low rolls you were SOL.  His other thing was he didn't improve the properties until someone was approaching them.  So he was really strategic.

This was my brother-in-law's strategy and we made fun of him until the game progressed, he started winning soundly, and we weren't laughing any more.  I think part of the reason it works so well is that you are constantly getting people's $200 for passing Go so they can never really reset and you keep getting $200 just for someone going around the board.

 

There was a primetime Monopoly game show a while back (has to be more than 20 years ago) but it was kind of convoluted and never caught on.  I think you could definitely do a hard reboot updated for the current era.

[DrSpaceman73]

There are several books all about monopoly strategy for those interested. And based on stats not just opinion.  

The most bang for your buck so to speak, based on cost And most landed on spaces, are the orange / red properties.  And it's actually best to build 3 houses and stop, you get the best value return on Investment us you can create a housing shortage so others can't build if you use up a lot of houses. 

Utilities are worthless.  This guy says railroads too though some say otherwise.  

Being in jail can be a good thing. 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/mgbzaq/10-essential-tips-from-a-monopoly-world-champion

Edited June 2, 2021 by DrSpaceman73

[DoctorAtomic]

I forgot about the housing shortage move. 

[Zella]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

There are several books all about monopoly strategy for those interested. And based on stats not just opinion.  

The most bang for your buck so to speak, based on cost And most landed on spaces, are the orange / red properties.  And it's actually best to build 3 houses and stop, you get the best value return on Investment us you can create a housing shortage so others can't build if you use up a lot of houses. 

Utilities are worthless.  This guy says railroads too though some say otherwise.  

Being in jail can be a good thing. 

https://www.vice.com/en/article/mgbzaq/10-essential-tips-from-a-monopoly-world-champion

Thanks! If I can ever sucker my family into playing with me again, I will keep these in mind. :D 

[supposebly]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

The most bang for your buck so to speak, based on cost And most landed on spaces, are the orange / red properties.  And it's actually best to build 3 houses and stop, you get the best value return on Investment us you can create a housing shortage so others can't build if you use up a lot of houses. 

That's pretty much my strategy. Buy cheap at the beginning and build slowly. 

[merylinkid]

I always buy the railroad, if you got all 4, someone else landing on just one was the equivalent of me passing go.   My sister knew I wanted them so she would buy them and then trade at outrageous exchanges.    

Topic:   Extorting family members over outrageous things (in exchange for doing the dishes for you for one night, I want a MONTH's worth of laundy), instead of just switching around jobs simply.