In 2024, we're much more aware of the responsibilities of the home and how taxing emotional labor can be. Social media is also not shy about pointing out that, in most domestic situations, the household chores and emotional labor fall to the women, while men are left to wonder what could even possibly be making them so tired.
As protective as we are of women's health and wellness, though, sometimes we are a little too protective.
Couple Annie and Janson Hoskins, for example, sparked debate on TikTok after Janson didn't do a good enough job at packing Annie's lunches before she left for work in the morning—or at least that's what TikTok thought at first.
After Janson got a new job and started going to work much later than his educator wife, he began to make coffee and pack lunches for his wife to take with her.
However, he always gave her "deconstructed" lunches that she could assemble later, typically in far greater quantities than she could possibly eat, with some of the ingredients being a bit questionable in nature.
In one video, for example, Annie opened a shopping bag to discover a family-size bag of Pretzel Crisps, an entire wheel of Laughing Cow cheese, a bottle of Open Pit BBQ sauce (without the lid on), one Cutie clementine, a container of melted butter, two pieces of skirt steak in a large container, a whole package of King's Hawaiian rolls. Oh, and container of nausea medication to boot.
But after deciphering what her husband was going for, it made total sense.
Annie explained:
"So let me decipher this... Butter on the Hawaiian rolls with the steak on it as a sandwich dipped in Open Pit, with a side snack of Laughing Cow Cheese and Pretzel Crisps, and an afternoon snack of a Cutie."
"It's not a bad lunch. I didn't need this much, but I'm appreciative."
You can watch the video here:
This video is only the latest in a lengthy series of videos Annie has shared of the "chaos lunches" that her husband has created for her. From big wins like packing Annie's favorite snack of apples dipped in fondue to epic fails like leaky containers, the couple has really seen the full range of chaos by this point.
And some TikTokers were really loving it.
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The unfortunate thing is that the couple hasn't only received positive responses.
While many people see the cuteness and sweetness of Janson packing lunches and see this as a way that he's expressing love for Annie, others assumed that his haphazard packing style and ingredient choices were an elaborate attempt at weaponized incompetence.
Annie was quick to dispel comments about the quality of the lunch, telling PEOPLE:
"People were so mad that that butter was melted, and it was only melted because I left my lunch bag, which was a Walmart bag, on the floorboard of my car and I had the heat cranked. So it wasn't that he sent me with melted butter; it was I accidentally melted it on my way to work."
Janson reflected on his choices, proving that he put a lot of thought into packing his wife's lunches.
"My office is only five minutes away, so I could leave a lot later in the morning,."
"We both have had bariatric surgery, so we can't really eat a whole lot. Some days, we're hungrier than other days, so I didn't really know how much she could eat."
"So I was like, 'Well, I'm just going to give her the ingredients, and then she can eat as much or as little as she thinks she can throughout the day.'"
And Annie was incredibly appreciative of his efforts.
"I am also oddly particular about, not what I eat, per se, but how it's assembled. My family gives me a hard time because I eat things in a very specific way. So a lot of times he sends me things in ingredient form, that way I can put them together the way I'll actually eat them."
"Also the little steak sandwiches, again, made it even more fun that everyone was really mad that he didn't assemble them for me. But everything he packs me is my favorite food. He knows what I eat."
"Mr. and Mrs. Cutie," as Annie and Janson have been dubbed on TikTok, are a great example of communicating well in a relationship, knowing what works for them, and honoring each other's preferences.
While deconstructed lunches and these ingredients might not work for everyone, it's clear they are working for Annie, and that's really all this Cutie couple needs to worry about.
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