Point Man

It wasnt too long ago when the nuclear family reigned Suburbia. Now, global warming, oil famine, unemployment, etc has caused that nuclear family to mutate and go from a small group to the outrageous family unit. That's neither here nor there, what is here is the fact that we laugh about what was there.

In 90s suburbia, the dad would come home, change into his relaxing polo and high shorts and mow the yard with an electronic lawnmower. The nice thing about them is that they wouldn't run out of power unless you didnt pay the bill, the bad part being that extension chords suck. Nothing quite beats trying to get that patch of grass in the corner of your yard only to come up just short. Remember the old cartoons where the plug would come out of the wall just before you could finish the task, they were historically accurate. It wasnt just an electric mower, but of course the whole package, tree trimmer, weed eater, edger, you name it, they had it, even the boom box!

A little later, the brilliant minds that be created the man points system for wives to keep their men in check. Mow the yard, get some points, fix a broken object, have some more; redeem for prizes. Much like currency, the man point evolved into something completely different. It became a trap for man friends to poke fun at their pals (ie the guy on the couch to rip on the guy with the job). You left the game, minus points, are you drinking wine, point loss, tell me that's not a novel, your points are getting low. Thats where we are today, except we have combined the earning of points with the losing of them, much like a banking institute (btw interesting that banks and psycho wards are both commonly referred to as institutes).

The man will now come home from earning man points at the bar to make dinner and lose said points when the buddies get wind of it. It's evolved from a chuck e cheese rewards system to having no value like our currency. Just as with chivalry, women killed the man point for themselves. Now the ones in charge with a mans self image is his drunken, football buddies...BELCH! Used to be you got man points for being a responsible man but now you get them for being deadbeat, thanks celebrity rehab.