Would Barb clean out her hoard for Chris? -

[CalmMyTits]

Some of you might be saying WTF after seeing the thread title, but let me explain.

I used to watch Hoarders and Buried Alive fairly regularly during their first couple of seasons. In a couple of episodes, the hoarder had a relative living outside of the house in for example, a nursing home or hospital. Said relative (usually a parent or spouse) used to live in the house, but then became sick or injured or whatever, and could not come back home unless the hoard was cleaned out.

Let's say that Chris has another meltdown in public, and this time, is actually taken to a psychiatric hospital after the police see his record. After some investigation, Adult Protective Services or whoever else is involved in the case learns about the state of 14BC (especially given how smelly and gross Chris is) The psychiatrist in charge of Chris realizes that the hoard will only harm Chris in the future and that letting him go back to the hoard will only cause him to backslide, and undo any treatment or progress Chris has made or could make in the institution. So Barb is told that the hoard must be gone before her son can come home.

So, would Barb clean out her hoard to get her son back?

 

[CatParty]

nope

 

[BT 075]

Call me an idealist or even, heaven forbid, naive... but I do believe Barb would be willing to give it a try, for her son. At this point he's all she has and if she really disliked Chris so much, she would have kicked him out already. Whether or not she would actually be able to physically manage this gargantuan task, however, is a whole different question. I think at her age and health, she probably won't be able to clean out her hoard even if she wants to. Not by herself anyway.

So yes she would, but no she can't.

 

[José Mourinho]

Nah, maybe a bit if she tries.

 

[Henry Bemis]

Given Chris's dumb luck with the legal system and/or the legal system's refusal to deal with such a frustratingly complex problem like Chris, there's little chance of a legal impetus in the first place.

 

[CalmMyTits]

I don't mean Barb cleaning out the hoard by herself since this would be a huge task, I should have clarified this in my first post, would Barb be willing to have the hoard cleaned out by a cleaning crew would be a better way of putting it.

 

[Da Pickle Monsta]

I still don't think Barb would do it. She'd bitch and threaten to kill herself and maybe even call Rob Bell, but then that'd be it before she crashed into slumber.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

Given Chris's dumb luck with the legal system and/or the legal system's refusal to deal with such a frustratingly complex problem like Chris, there's little chance of a legal impetus in the first place.

This.
It's evidently less trouble for them in the long run to just let Chris' idiocy run free instead of trying to contain it or give (unwanted) help. Of course if he does end up doing something serious, there will be a ton of "I told you so's" from... well, everybody really.

But in the spirit of the thread, I'd say no. Barb and Chris will rage against the system to the very end because their victim complex runs too deep. Nothing short of the local authority saying "we're sorry that the world doesn't conform to your wants or desires, so here's a free, brand new, empty house for you" will result in them living in a normal human habitation.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Clean out her hoard for Chris? Please. She wouldn't clean the hoard for *Christ*.

 

[Donald Duck]

If she wouldn't clean out the hoard for her ailing husband who was being devoured alive by insects, I doubt she'll do it for Chris. Plus I don't think the legal system could actually keep Chris from going home once he's done his time or completed psychiatric treatment.

 

[SlowInTheMinds]

If she wouldn't clean out the hoard for her ailing husband who was being devoured alive by insects, I doubt she'll do it for Chris. Plus I don't think the legal system could actually keep Chris from going home once he's done his time or completed psychiatric treatment.

However a psychiatric institution can keep him inside forever.
They could force Barb clean up the hoard (or hire someone, for Christ sake) or else he will stay inside. But knowing Barb, selfish as she is, she will never ever even attempt.

 

[WhiteKnight]

I don't think so. Barb would probably bitch and moan about it until she forgot, and eventually she would forget about Chris.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

It's very unlikely, in fact, I believe that the record of Barb's life I have says that she won't clean out the hoard, even for Chris.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

If Barb cared enough about Chris's happiness that she were willing to clear the hoard for him, she would have already done so.

 

[Coldgrip]

...At this point he's all she has and if she really disliked Chris so much, she would have kicked him out already...

She won't kick him out because she needs his tugboat. That's all there is to it. She could despise him all she wants but she's smart enough to realize with out the she's up shit creek.

That and she considers Chris to be her personal gofer as well as another part of her hoard.

 

[Pikonic]

She couldn't be fucked to keep Cole on good terms, so it's unlikely for Chris.
She'll cry, try to gain sympathy, and do anything other than what's the simplest answer.

 

[Sakamoto]

No. Even if free professional help were provided, she might let them take out the real trash, like empty hungryman boxes and piss-stained newspapers, and clean, but she wouldn't give up her hoarded "treasures" from Goodwill because "That's still good! I might need that later!".

Barb is a selfish bitch with issues that go back long before Chris was born. She had Chris so she could be a mommy again during her mid-life crisis, and like the cute kitten that's now just another cat to feed, the novelty has worn off.

 

[ChurchOfGodBear]

FWIW, we only have secondhand accounts of what Barb's hoarding tendencies are like. We don't know specifics, like what she gathers, how much she throws away (if anything), what her reaction is to efforts to clean, and so on. We know she's a batshit hoarder, but we don't know to what degree. This would make a difference if she's ever to be reasoned with, be it by Chris, the authorities, neighbors, whoever.

Barb has obviously moved to a place in her life where she's happy to live in a mess and cling to whatever she has, Chris included. Would she break away from her material junk in order to keep Chris? Yes, I think so, but the decision would be made on only the most primal level-- she would feel a mix of "momma gonna lose her baby" and "Old Barb gonna lose her bandage-changer", and thus would agree to give up the hoard as an act of preservation. However, it would be the same decision making process as a wolf eating off its paw in order to escape a trap-- Barb would be choosing the sacrifice which would ultimately allow her to change her life the least in the long run. There would be no higher-minded self-reflection on matters such as "Am I providing a good home for my son?" or "Is this what I want from life?"

A better question would be, would Barb cut Chris off, if it meant expanding the overall hoard?

 

[Mr. 0]

If by some miracle old Barb was forced to clean out the hoard to save Chris from the trolls of evil, she'd just hire someone to move it all into a storage unit, pay for the whole shebang on credit, and then when Chris was free, she'd make him move it back to where it was for free.

 

[Shadow Fox]

FWIW, we only have secondhand accounts of what Barb's hoarding tendencies are like. We don't know specifics, like what she gathers, how much she throws away (if anything), what her reaction is to efforts to clean, and so on. We know she's a batshit hoarder, but we don't know to what degree.

I think Chris mentioned to one of his troll sweethearts that he and Bob had tried clearing some of Barb's clutter and she flipped her shit; he also claimed later that she'd throw him out if he tried to clean up or throw anything away.

You're right that we can't make any truly informed statements about Barb's dedication to hoarding or how she would react to any sort of legal mandate that she liquidate her stockpile of garbage, but there's a lot of evidence (if Chris' statements are to be believed) that she is, as Hoarders' Matt Paxton would say, "a professional hoarder" - someone who's been at this for a long, long time and is so wrapped up in the hoarding mindset that changing out of it would be a monumental struggle.

It's difficult for most hoarders to choose between their collection of soiled, worthless treasures and their own family members, and many of the ones seen on the shows seem like less inherently selfish people than Barb. I think, if told "Clean up or Chris can never come back to live with you," she'd throw up her hands, blubber about how she jus' cain't get rid o' none of her stuff right now, mentally write her adult autistic child out of her life, and try to finagle Greene County Seinor and Disabled Services into fetching her q-sands and bandaging her holey ass.

A better question would be, would Barb cut Chris off, if it meant expanding the overall hoard?

I bet she would, if Chris ever got contentious enough about the hoard. But since he's a huge pussy, that's about as likely to happen as the authorities making her clean up.