Are common maintenance tasks really considered unpleasant by people?

My suspicion is that there are certain tasks that are generally considered to be unpleasant in certain cultures, so it’s common to use these things as a topic that is considered safe for light conversation. For example, do people really cringe at the thought of doing laundry, mowing the lawn, or doing dishes?

This weekend, I had the opportunity to spend all day Saturday and Sunday painting the front of my house. People would walk by, say something kind about how it looks, then proceed to let me know how awful painting is. The truth is, it was an extremely pleasant experience. It allowed me to get extremely focused on a single task and get very concentrated for two whole days.

I’ve known that my family has always been quite negative, so you ”have to do the dishes”. But I can’t imagine that most people really hate mowing the lawn, painting, washing the dishes, or folding household laundry. It’s just culturally-appropriate to complain about these things, right? Or am I wrong?