 (Nick Galifianakis for The Post) | Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: For the four years my significant other and I have been together — I am female, he is male — it has fallen on me to take care of 90 to 95 percent of the household chores. I know this is cultural conditioning. He does help when he's asked, most of the time. But he demands to be asked first, and sometimes I'm just too tired to delegate tasks rather than just do them myself. He also seems to resent it regardless, even though I've been the primary breadwinner for the past 2 1/2 years and thus worked the most hours outside the home. Now, he has snagged a lucrative position that is very time-consuming, but the paychecks will — supposedly — be big. He made it clear he is now absolutely under no obligation to do anything around the house. His solution is either to wait until we've paid off all our financial obligations and then just hire someone, or it's just my problem because I'm clearly the only one who cares whether we have a sink full of dirty dishes (until, of course, he needs a clean one). I just hate looking at them, but I guess that's just my problem. I'm exhausted. I already do so much. Even if we hire someone, what happens if the floor needs to be swept midweek? I'm tempted to tell him to use paper plates, if he's so insistent he's not on the hook, but it does seem unfair. I feel selfish since he is, in fact, working more hours than me. — Tired | 
