Dear Jack,
My husband has been looking for a job since he was laid off last year. I have tried to be supportive but it’s getting harder as the holidays approach. I am working two jobs just to make ends meet. He’s helping with the kids and is constantly going on interviews, but even though most of our friends who have been laid off have found jobs, he has not.
I realize his self-esteem is in the toilet, but frankly, I’m too tired to keep building him up. I’m also starting to wonder what’s wrong with him that he can’t find a job? He’s very well educated, good at what he does and had a good track record at his previous job. Even the kids are getting depressed about the situation.
Do you think it’s time for some tough love?
—Mistress Endura
Dear Mistress,
Clearly your husband wants to be your wife. How about this Christmas you deck him out in one of your dresses and y’all head on over to my place? I’ll shake some vodka out of the bottle and whichever one of you is ugliest can whip up a couple dozen bacon sandwiches while the other discovers the excruciating pleasures of tough love in my private dungeon hideaway.
Your old man is going through hell right now. What kind of tough love do you have in mind? You can’t quit your second job, so what else is there, other than a good spanking (which I always recommend, deserved or not).
Instead, why don’t you ask him what it is he really wants to do. Maybe his failure stems from his desire not to succeed at something he hates. Maybe he doesn’t want to go back to the grind but he’s too afraid to tell you. Maybe he doesn’t even know he’s afraid, or isn’t willing to admit it to himself because he thinks if he chucks it in and chases his dream of becoming, say, a farrier, that will only prove he’s the failure his asshole father always told him he’d be.
So now your husband wants to become a horse podiatrist. I know, it’s weird, but some people can’t get enough. At least he’s going into medicine, right? Let’s forget about that and find out how y’all can make it happen.
Start by building a plan together. He agrees to work five years at his current profession while he trains up, chases clients, and puts together the money he’ll need to get off the ground. I think you’ll be amazed how quick he finds a job once he knows he doesn’t have to punch that clock until the day the dirt hits the lid. It’s like my cardiologist recently said, if you know your time at the grindstone is finite and something better awaits you on the other side, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to put your shoulder to the wheel every morning.
Need some advice? Let Jack Waggon set you straight: jack.wagg@gmail.com
