the silent treatment
 

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each
> other the silent treatment. The next week, the man realized that he
> would
> need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight
> to
> Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (AND LOSE), he
> wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM." The next
> morning,
> the man woke up only to discover it was 9 a.m. and that he had missed his
> flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't woken
> him
> when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00
> AM. Wake up."