Gimme my cookie.

Several years back, the comedian Chris Rock did a routine where he talked about a certain class of individual he can't stand. His beef was with their attempts to take credit for things they should be doing anyway. It sounds something like this:

"I pay my child support," said all braggingly and stuff.

So? You're supposed to pay your child support.

"And I've never been to jail," said all self-satisfied.

So? You're not supposed to go to jail! What do you want? A cookie?

I used to say that to my students all the time when they'd come in and be all, "Hey, I did my homework last night."

And I'd say, "What do you want? A cookie?"

Last night as we were winding down, I turned and said to my husband, "I cleaned up after myself when I made dinner tonight." Yes, it's unusual enough that I felt the need to point it out.

"That's good, honey," he said, with no trace of irony because he's a very good man.

And when he wandered into the bathroom to brush his teeth, I was struck by how ridiculous it was that I hate housework so much that I had to take credit for doing something as lame as cleaning up a cooking mess. That I made. So I yelled after him, "I want my cookie!'

And he laughed.