Line #139 Main/CheatingWithTheMilkman


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5
6	->''"I don't look like my Mommy ''or'' my Daddy. I look like the mailman."''
7	-->-- '''Interviewee''', ''Series/KidsSayTheDarndestThings''
8	%% One quote is enough on the main page. Additional quotes can be put to the quote tab. Keep it neat and simple.
9
10	A woman cheats on her husband with the milkman, mailman, or some other man who visits her home on a regular basis while hubby is at work. The image of the womanizing milkman was very popular in older works and persists even though milk has not been regularly delivered to people's homes in decades. Plus, nowadays both partners are likely to have jobs outside the home, and delivery workers today are more likely than in decades past to be women themselves.
11
12	Although there were some isolated TruthInTelevision incidents of such affairs, this trope less based on them than it is the general fear of someone's spouse cheating on them while they're away at work, especially if it's with someone who comes straight to the door. As few milkmen are still working, it is more common nowadays for the wife to cheat with a postal/package delivery man, repairman, or some other service provider that a housewife would interact with while the husband is away.
13
14	One that dates from an earlier period is the iceman, the person who delivered ice door-to-door, mostly for use in old-fashioned [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icebox iceboxes]]. Different countries can also have their own local variants. For instance, the stock occupation for this trope in Spain is the ''butanero'', the delivery man for natural gas cylinders used to heat homes and fuel stoves before most of Spain was connected to line gas, aided by the fact that butaneros had to be really strong--and thus, attractively muscular--to carry the heavy tanks, just as the iceman had to be capable of wrangling large blocks of ice.
15
16	FridgeLogic kicks in when you think about how delivery drivers tend to be on tight schedules and can't waste time cavorting with every hot housewife on their route. Modern drivers will even have GPS tracking in their vehicles and would have to explain any irregularities ("Ted, what were you doing at 46 Maple Drive for a half-hour?"). Repairmen have somewhat more leeway here since there's no telling how long a repair job will take until they've seen the problem, but if a certain worker regularly did fewer jobs a day and/or made frequent visits to the same house, it would certainly draw attention from dispatch. Jealous husbands never consider these things.
17
18	A variant is for this to be the reveal of a WhosYourDaddy plot. If this relationship produces a child who clearly does not resemble the wife's legal husband, it's a case of ChocolateBaby.
19
20	See also {{Cuckold}} and PizzaBoySpecialDelivery for when it's just a random one-off fling with a delivery guy rather than an ongoing affair.
21
22	Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease.
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Advertising]]
29	* "If wifie shuns / your fond embrace / don't shoot the iceman / feel your face / Advertising/BurmaShave."
30	* Invoked in "Liquid Plumr" commercials: two plumbers show up at the house (one with a pipe-snake, and another with a liquid unclogger), speaking in seductive voices... and they ''literally'' unclog the woman's pipes.
31	* An overt example coupled with MamasBabyPapasMaybe occurred in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNj44wc4FP4 one of the commercials]] for Klondike Kandy Bars, with the parents being Klondike bars and the milkman being a candy bar.
32	* Fittingly enough, [[UsefulNotes/AustralianStatesAndTerritories Fresh NSW Milk]] [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] this trope [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05KIBccJjT0 in one of their TV ads]]:
33	-->''It was never the postman. It was never the plumber. It was certainly never the insurance salesman. ...It was always the milkman.''
34	* One off-color commercial about the health benefits of dairy products showed an old man walking door to door in a neighborhood being warmly greeted by equally elderly ladies at each house. The commercial then notes that the gentleman is a retired milkman, who, thanks to always drinking his milk, is still doing his rounds.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comedy]]
38	* Comedian Gary Gulman has a routine where he complains about how [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore every time]] someone finds out that he's the only tall guy in his family, they say, "How tall is the milkman?" -- to which he first [[SarcasmMode thanks them for calling his mother a whore]], then points out that milkmen don't even exist in most places anymore, listing other defunct professionals his mother might have had an affair with, such as the chimney sweep and the town crier.
39	-->''"...And the muffin man. Do you know the muffin man?"''
40	* On ''The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'', a logician complains about various logical errors in the film, following multiple tangents to a rant about his wife's affair with the milkman. (It's not on the actual soundtrack of the film, which is why this example isn't under "Film".)
41	* Several of Creator/RodneyDangerfield jokes were about his wife cheating and having kids with the mailman or butcher.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:ComicBooks]]
45	* ''ComicBook/FireflyTheSting'': Logar's wife cheated on him with the pool boy.
46	* ''ComicBook/RedEars'': Various strips feature scenarios where housewives cheat with the milkman, the mailman, etc. Possibly the [[ExaggeratedTrope most over-the-top one]] was where a husband who just departed for work started fearing this outcome when he saw the plumber pull up. He drives back home and finds out that there's a ''line'' in front of his house--with the last guy telling him to wait his turn!
47	* According to one promotional material, El Súper in ''ComicBook/MortadeloYFilemon'' is the son of his family's butane deliveryman. Considering the artist, that's almost certainly a reference to the figure of the Spanish ''butanero'' mentioned above.
48	* In ''ComicBook/RatMan1989'', Clara Brakko cheats on her husband with the mailman... And likely the milkman, the plumber, and many others, given [[ReallyGetsAround how many people she cheats on her husband with]], the mailman is just the one identified for sure as he's the birth father of Brakko jr.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
52	* The ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' tie-in book "Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless" has a page on not overtly noting when someone's kids do not resemble them. The panel indicating that one is definitely entering the rude category on the subject includes the question "Is your garbageman Gus Simpson?"
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
56	* In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm tale "Literature/TheThreeSnakeLeaves", the main character's wife has an affair with their ship's skipper.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	%%[[folder:Fanfiction]]
60	%%* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14187365/5/Harry-and-Hermione-s-Unexpected-Family-Ties Harry and Hermione's Unexpected Family Ties]]'':
61	%%-->'''Harry:''' Hermione has been treated like a second-class citizen by the administration and bullied for being smarter than the inbred...oops and having muggle parents.\
62	'''Sirius:''' It's alright Harry. I don't know how I can be so handsome and powerful despite my father and mother being first cousins. My mother didn't have the same kind of marriage contract, and there was this one coal-deliverer who I favored...
63	%%[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
66	* In ''Film/BigFish'', Edward describes how he had dreams which predicted the deaths of his family members just before they happened. Eventually, a dream told him his father would die. After being told this, his father became increasingly paranoid over the next few days. Then the milkman died.
67	-->'''Edward:''' [[DontExplainTheJoke Because, you see, my mother was banging the milkman]].
68	* [[BitchInSheepsClothing Joyce]] in ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'' spends her first scene trying to flirt with an indifferent dishwasher repairman, while he keeps trying to explain to her [[NoSell that she didn't need to call him and it's an easy fix she could have done on her own]]
69	* In ''Film/TheKnowledge'', Gordon is a serial philanderer who calls on housewives, and later becomes a milkman to fit the trope all the more.
70	* Pool boy? Well, ''Film/LegallyBlonde'' has a subversion of that -- the guy turns out to be gay, and his employer genuinely wasn't interested in him, she just wanted some eye-candy while working on her tan (hence his skimpy "uniform").
71	* In ''Film/MulhollandDrive'', Adam Kesher comes home to find his wife in bed with the pool boy (Billy Ray Cyrus!). To add injury to insult, the pool boy is angry that Adam interrupted their sex, and beats him up and throws him out of '''his own house.'''
72	* In ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', one of the Merry Murderesses tells the story of her husband accusing her of cheating with the milkman, then she says, "He ran into my knife ten times."
73	* In ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape'', the title character is having an affair with one of the housewives he delivers groceries to.
74	* In the sci-fi comedy ''Film/RealMen'', when the CIA agent (Creator/JamesBelushi) first meets the meek insurance salesman (Creator/JohnRitter) he's supposed to recruit, he looks in his fridge and immediately deduces that the salesman's wife is sleeping with the milkman. At the end of the film, the much braver salesman punches out the milkman, as he's entering the door.
75	* Replace "milkman" with "window cleaner" and you have the main plot of the first ''[[AwfulBritishSexComedy Confessions]]'' film.
76	* Replace "milkman" with "plumber's mate" and you have the main plot of the first ''Adventures of...'' film.
77	* In fact, replace "milkman" with practically any blue-collar job that might plausibly send a strapping young man into the homes of bored suburban housewives and you have the main plot of at least one AwfulBritishSexComedy.
78	* Dr. Feinstone in ''Film/TheDentist'' finds out that his wife is cheating on him with the pool man. Results are not pretty.
79	* Satirized in ''Logjammin!'', the porno featuring "Bunny" (Tara Reid) in ''Film/TheBigLebowski'', with a cable repair technician in the milkman role.
80	-->'''Maude:''' "Lord, you can ''imagine'' where it goes from here..."
81	-->'''The Dude:''' "[[DeadpanSnarker He fixes the cable?]]"
82	-->'''Maude:''' "Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey."
83	* In ''Film/IrreconcilableDifferences'', Albert's girlfriend [[GoldDigger Blake Chandler]] eventually leaves him for the limo driver.
84	* Larry from ''Film/DominickAndEugene'' regularly visits Mrs. Vinson, a woman who lives on his garbage route, so he can help her with her "plumbing problems."
85	* In ''Film/FatalInstinct'', Ned's wife is cheating on him with her auto mechanic, who has been working on fixing a car that hasn't left the driveway in months. Ned just thinks he's screwing her in the financial sense, racking up huge labor costs while doing no actual work.
86	* A RunningGag in ''Film/{{Hugo}}'' has the Train Station Inspector discussing with a policeman friend the possibility that the policeman's pregnant wife is carrying someone else's baby. The fact that the policeman hasn't had "intimate relations" with her in over a year certainly makes things suspect.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Jokes]]
90	* A man and his wife are in the hospital, the wife is due to give birth. The doctor offers a new technology which transfers pain to the baby's father instead of the mother. The husband is willing to do anything to help, so he is set up with the device. They set it to 50%, and the wife feels only half the pain -- the husband said he felt nothing. They set it to 75%, and the wife feels only a quarter of the pain -- the husband again feels nothing. Finally, they set it for 100% -- the wife has a completely pain-free delivery of a healthy child, and the husband never felt a thing. The wife is in such good condition from this that she needs no recovery and they are sent home that same day with their newborn... only to find the mailman dead on the front porch.
91	* Old joke: The man who owns the town drug store notices that the milkman is buying condoms from him every day. Confused, he orders his stockboy to follow him to see what he's up to. The stockboy comes back howling with laughter.
92	-->'''Owner:''' What's so funny? Where'd he go?\
93	'''Stockboy:''' Your house.
94	* A young boy stumbled across the perfect phrase to extort adults -- "[[ParanoiaFuel I know your secret.]]" By saying those words, he'd gotten a puppy from his father, a new bike from his mother, and a few candy bars from the convenience store owner. On a whim, he said it to the milkman, who embraced the child while exclaiming, ''[[LukeIAmYourFather "Son!"]]''
95	* There's the schoolyard-esque taunt, "I'd be your father, but the mailman beat me up the stairs." Or "[[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved ...but the dog beat me over the fence.]]"
96	* A man hears his daughter says her prayers "Bless Mommy, bless Daddy and goodbye Grandma." The next day, Grandma dies. Another day she includes "Goodbye Grandpa" and sure enough, he dies too. Then one day she says "Goodbye Daddy," and the next day the man goes to work terrified, being super-cautious all day. He gets home fine and his wife says "You wouldn't believe the day I had -- the milkman dropped dead right on our doorstep!" (Alternatively, the body could still be there when the man arrives.)
97	* The supervisor of a construction site leaves the site every day at exactly 11 AM and returns at exactly 1 PM. Because of this, the workers start taking advantage of this with a longer lunch break. One day one of the workers decides to spend his break getting busy with his wife, but when he returns home, he finds his wife already in bed with someone else: the supervisor! The guy quickly leaves before they notice him and returns to work. The next day, the supervisor leaves at the usual time, but when the workers all leave to take their early lunch, the guy just stays there and keeps working. One of the other workers comes up to him and asks, "What the hell are you doing? The supervisor's not here, so we can leave early." The guy shakes his head, "No way. [[SkewedPriorities I almost got caught yesterday!]]"
98	* There's the old joke about the man who buys a parrot who has no legs and can only stay on his perch by wrapping his incredibly long penis around it. One day, the man comes home from work and the parrot informs him that his wife is cheating with the milkman/mailman/[insert job here]. The man keeps pressing the parrot for details, but eventually the parrot is unable to provide any further information because he unfortunately wasn't able to witness the entire act take place... because [[spoiler:[[RagingStiffie he fell off his perch]]]].
99	* Another old joke/urban legend evokes this trope with a case of MistakenForCheating. A housewife is about to step into the shower or bathtub, when she finds she needs to do something somewhere else in the house (get a towel from the dryer, answer the phone, etc.), which she does while still in the nude. Then she hears footsteps outside. Thinking it's the milkman (or the iceman, or the baker delivering bread) and afraid that he'll see her, she hides in a closet. But then the closet door is opened by the meter reader. The flustered woman blurts out the first thing she can think to say: "I thought you were the milkman!" (or iceman, or baker). In some versions, the meter reader replies "Lucky man!"
100	* A rich couple are talking over dinner, the husband having learned some bad new from his stockbroker:
101	-->'''Husband:''' I'm afraid we're going to have to tighten our belts for a while. If you learned to cook, we could let go of the kitchen staff.\
102	'''Wife:''' And if ''you'' learned to make love we wouldn't need the pool boy.
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Literature]]
106	* Referenced in ''Literature/NumberTheStars:'' Jewish Ellen pretends to be part of the Johansen family when the Nazis come searching for her. One of the Nazis notes her dark hair in the otherwise blonde family and sarcastically asks if they got her from the milkman.
107	* In Creator/StephenKing's short story, ''Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game'' (collected in the anthology ''Literature/SkeletonCrew'') the wife of Rocky, the protagonist, left him for the milkman. Even to Rocky, who is a laundry worker, and never reads anything aside from bubble gum comics, this situation has "sonorous classical overtones".
108	* In the [[LotusEaterMachine Better Than Life]] sequence in ''Literature/RedDwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers''; Rimmer's so screwed up that his "perfect woman" is someone who hates him and has a relationship with the pool boy.
109	* Poet Wendy Cope wrote a villanelle called "Reading Scheme", in which kids from the ''Literature/DickAndJane'' books observe that "The milkman likes Mummy. She likes them all." Then comes Daddy and his shotgun...
110	* The {{anvilicious}} and conservative Mexican novel ''[[Literature/YouthInSexualEcstasy Juventud en Extásis]]'' [[{{Narm}} plays this trope for drama]] in the part in which the protagonist's mother tells him about their past: When he was a newborn baby and his father was away on a trip she started an affair with an electric appliance repairman. Later she divorced the protagonist's father and married the repairman, who turned out to be an alcoholic, wife-beating child abuser.
111	* Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis' ''The Cartoon Guide to Genetics'':
112	-->My second wife has blue eyes like me. If our child had ''brown'' eyes, what would we make of that? Better ask the milkman!!\
113	[Cartoon of Wheelis grabbing the milkman by his shirtfront.]\
114	'''Wheelis:''' Look me in the eye!\
115	'''Milkman:''' Take it easy, sport!\
116	Sport?? Oh... Maybe it was a sport... That would explain it... Heh heh... Sorry...
117	* Parodied in a ''Creator/PeterSimple'' newspaper column, which describes a survey taken in "the notorious Bog Lane Estate, which milkmen until recently visited only in pairs, or even threes, using special high-acceleration electric milk-floats for quick getaway" because of its lustful housewives, who are "[[BrawnHilda of gigantic size and terrifying appearance]]".
118	* ''Literature/LadyChatterleysLover'': Lady Chatterley has an affair with the gamekeeper of her husband's estate.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
122	* Used in ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''. He's talking about Pitt the Younger's little brother:
123	-->'''Blackadder:''' Who is that? Pitt the toddler? Pitt the embryo? Pitt the glint in the milkman's eye?
124	* ''Series/ColdCase'':
125	** "The Letter" features a woman having a secret relationship with the milk man, passing letters back and forth along with the milk. They weren't sleeping together, and neither one was married; they were hiding the relationship because she was black and he was white, and the partner he drove with every day was one of the most racist people in town (which is saying something).
126	** "The Brushman" features a door-to-door salesman who frequented homes of attractive housewives while their husbands were at work. The team suspects this, but it's subverted in each case. One woman describes it as a "professional flirtation," nothing more; the woman he was sending secret letters to turns out to be the widow of a man he'd killed in a bar fight years before, so he's just helping her financially out of guilt; and the woman whose son he seemed to take a special interest in [[spoiler:was being abused by her husband]], and he'd recognized the signs and tried to give the boy a more stable father figure.
127	* In one episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds,'' they interview a victim's nosy neighbor who believed she was having an affair with a delivery man, who frequently backed his truck into her garage and stayed for long periods. Though the neighbor clearly wasn't nosy enough to recognize that the woman was single, and thus wouldn't need to hide such a relationship. Turns out, it wasn't an affair, [[spoiler: the woman and the delivery man were part of an "Underground Railroad" for battered women, helping them hide from their abusive partners]].
128	* In ''Series/{{CSI}}'' (original series), Warrick finds out over the course of a case that Brass' daughter isn't his biological child.
129	-->'''Brass:''' Let's just say the milkman did it.
130	* In ''Series/DesperateHousewives'', Gabrielle's affair with gardener John lasts for many episodes.
131	* ''Series/DivorceCourt'' -- at least with the scripted 1957-1969 version, likely early in the series' run, this was used as a plotline at least once. Whether it was just a standard case of a woman looking for more excitement, thinking she could get away with it, or it rose to a more serious issue with the husband's health will likely never be known as many of the 1950s-1960s run have been erased.
132	* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho''
133	** Doña Florinda tried to pass a store-bought cake as one she baked by herself. When La Chillindrina decided to tell Professor Jirafales about it, she just told him Doña Florinda was tricking him and that she could ask the baker for confirmation. Professor Jirafales interpreted it another way.
134	** The "cuernos" (croissants) episode features this. When Profesor Jirafales is told that Doña Florinda has some "cuernos" for him, he becomes worried ([[DontExplainTheJoke because in Mexico "poner los cuernos" / putting on the horns, means cheating on someone]]). When El Chavo tells him that she talks to many men, Profesor Jirafales is relieved that he meant the butcher, the carpenter, the ice-cream man, but worries again when El Chavo mentions the milkman.
135	* In the ''Series/FatherTed'' episode "Speed 3" [[KavorkaMan Pat Mustard's]] stint as the Craggy Island milkman results in a lot of suspiciously hairy babies.
136	-->'''Dougal:''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Do you think the babies are copying his style?]]
137	* Referenced in an episode of ''Series/GoodEats'', of all things. Alton is talking about pasteurization of milk, referring to "the time when we got milk from guys in white suits who went door-to-door"; he opens the door and the milkman turns around... with a handful of flowers. As soon as he sees who he's dealing with, he says "'''Mister''' Brown...", hands AB the milk, and beats a hasty retreat.
138	* PlayedWith as early as the first season of ''Series/HappyDays'':
139	-->'''Joanie:''' Do you have a best friend, Daddy?\
140	'''Mr. Cunningham:''' Sure, your mother.\
141	'''Joanie:''' Who's your best friend, Mom?\
142	'''Mrs. Cunningham:''' The milkman.
143	* Matt Parkman of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' suspects his wife is cheating on him with their blond, hunky water delivery man (not without reason, she's cheated on him before). So Matt uses his mental powers to "convince" the man to take a different route.
144	* {{Parodied\|Trope}} in ''Series/HomeImprovement'', where Tim Taylor tells Al that Jill was cheating on him with their supposed milkman as an extremely lame cover story.
145	* ''Series/ILoveLucy'' has an episode where a rumor was spread about a neighbor, Grace Foster, having an affair with the milkman while Mr. Foster is away.
146	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit''. The supposed VictimOfTheWeek turns out to have been fooling around with her package delivery guy.
147	* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''
148	** In the episode "At the Zoo", a girl scout wants to sell cookies to Al:
149	--->'''Girl Scout:''' You can't tell me you're not hungry. My daddy says you eat bugs and dirt.\
150	'''Al:''' Well, you go home and tell your daddy you have the mailman's eyes.
151	** In another episode:
152	--->'''Neighbor:''' Hey, Bundy! I had steak tonight! What are you having?\
153	'''Al:''' If I was the mailman, I'd be having your wife!
154	** He makes a similar crack in an episode where he's forced to play Santa, telling a little boy, "Tell your Daddy to come home for lunch one day when the UPS guy is there with a special delivery for your Mommy."
155	* Used more than once on ''Series/{{Maury}}'' by men who claim they're not the baby's father. It's almost always disproven.
156	* In an episode of ''Series/TheMentalist'' the victim had been cheating with the pizza guy.
157	* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'':
158	** In "[[Recap/MidsomerMurdersS4E5 Dark Autumn]]", husbands go to work and then Dave the Postman got together with some of the wives in the village.
159	** One episode has the delivery boy for a produce store offer... additional services. John Barnaby's wife, on learning about it, expresses disappointment that she only got vegetables.
160	* Parodied in a ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch, in which a woman (Creator/CarolCleveland) entices the milkman (Creator/MichaelPalin) upstairs... and then locks him up in a room containing several other milkmen, two of whom have long white beards and one of whom is a skeleton. Another episode features a woman (played by Creator/TerryJones) trying to seduce the poet repairman (ItMakesSenseInContext).
161	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' riffed on this trope for the 1950s short film, "A Date with your Family:"
162	-->'''Narrator:''' Dad will be home soon. Better tell Mother she's needed in the kitchen...\
163	'''Servo:''' ...Where the postman eagerly awaits.
164	* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "The Acorn Syndrome", Ray Doyle is driving around the countryside in a horse transport van to look for a hideout being used by kidnappers. He's delayed by an upper class housewife making repeated flimsy excuses to get him inside the house; Doyle of course has to refuse as [[RaceAgainstTheClock time is of the essence]].
165	* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', Arnold Rimmer turns out to be the son of the family's dim-witted gardener.
166	* Murdo [=McSnood=], one of Creator/RussAbbot's ViolentGlaswegian characters, boasts that he can 'trace his family right back to the milkman'.
167	* In one episode of Brazilian sitcom ''Series/SaiDeBaixo'', Magda Antibes was recalling childhood memories and the way she was describing a man made her mother realize she was talking about the milkman. When told about this, Magda mentioned remembering the milkman visiting whenever her father was absent.
168	* ''Series/Scoundrels2010'': Mr. Hong's TrophyWife Nina Hong seduces and sleeps with her husband's lackey Cal when she finds him working at his house, and she's such an insatiable SexGoddess that Cal becomes constantly exhausted at work, yet somehow Mr. Hong never notices anything. [[spoiler:It's later revealed she was not only using him for sex but to get pregnant, since Mr. Hong is infertile and she needs a child to [[TheBabyTrap cement her marriage to Hong]].]]
169	* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' part of the HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood of Elliot, Elliot's mom sexes up her pool boys. ''A lot''.
170	* Parodied in ''Series/StrangersWithCandy'': Jerry's mother-in-law cheats on her husband with her meatman [[MeaningfulName Stew]].
171	* There's an episode of ''Series/TalesFromTheDarkside'' called "The Milkman Cometh", in it a man hears that their neighborhood's milkman is a deformed freak that no one's ever seen, but apparently will grant any wish that you write down and leave with your empty bottles. [[spoiler:This trope comes into play when the guy wishes that his wife will finally have a daughter. The milkman obliges in the most direct manner possible]]. Cue {{Squick}}.
172	* Heavily implied in ''Series/{{Victorious}}'' with Mrs. Vega cheating on her husband with his partner. It's more for laughs than anything.
173	* ''Series/TheWhiteLotus'': Rich stay-at-home mom Daphne hints to Harper that she is having an affair with her personal trainer as a way to cope with the stresses of her marriage.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Music]]
177	* LordMelody's 1956 calypso "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxs0nBG7qEw The Milkman]]" deals with a milkman having sex with Melody's wife on a daily basis. Melody's son observes it and tells him, which leads to Melody's wife hastily saying that she invited the milkman indoors cause it was raining. However, he doesn't fall for this as she is pregnant: "too much bad milk swell up your belly".
178	* Implied in the song "I'm your Mailman", where every verse is a double entendre.
179	-->''I don't mess with keys or locks / I just shove it in your box''
180	* Referenced in "My Daddy Was a Milkman" by Music/TheKentuckyHeadhunters.
181	* The theme of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meri_Wilson Meri Wilson]]'s novelty hit ''Telephone Man'', and also of several follow-up songs, including ''Peter, The Meter Reader''.
182	* Some application of this trope led to the name of the punk rock band The Dead Milkmen.
183	* B.B. King's "I Got Some Help I Don't Need" details his suspicions that his wife has been sleeping with, well, just about everyone who comes by their house.
184	-->''The iceman came by this morning,''
185	-->''And you know, he didn't leave no ice.''
186	-->''Postman came by later baby,''
187	-->''[[ShoutOut And he didn't]] [[Literature/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice even ring twice]]''.
188	* Referenced in "A Town Called Malice" by Music/TheJam:
189	-->Rows and rows of disused milk floats stand dying in the dairy yard,\
190	And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts.
191	* The Walker Brothers' rendition of "Have You Seen My Baby":
192	--> I seen her with the milkman\
193	Ridin' down the street\
194	When you're through with my baby, milkman\
195	Send her home to me
196	* Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A.":
197	-->Well, there's Bobby Taylor sittin' there\
198	And seven times he asked me for a date\
199	And Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice\
200	Whenever he's away
201	* Hank Walters and the Nashville Co.'s "The Iceman" contains plenty of innuendo.
202	* Mexican band Cuca has a song called "Hijo del Lechero" (The Milkman´s Son) where the main character realizes that he is not feeling loved by his father and he does not look like his brothers then he notices the only guy that tends for him is... the milkman.
203	[[/folder]]
204
205	[[folder:Theater]]
206	* In ''[[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks04/0400021h.html The Iceman Cometh]]'' this joke is repeatedly referenced but with an iceman instead of a milkman. A few examples:
207	-->'''Rocky:''' Yeah, some kidder! Remember how he woiks up dat gag about his wife when he's cockeyed, cryin' over her picture and den springin' it on yuh all of a sudden dat he left her in de hay wid de iceman?\
208	[...]\
209	'''Chuck:''' And I tells her I'm off de stuff for life. Den she beefs we won't be married a month before I'll trow it in her face she was a tart. "Jees, Baby," I tells her. "Why should I? What de hell yuh tink I tink I'm marryin', a voigin? Why should I kick as long as yuh lay off it and don't do no cheatin' wid de iceman or nobody?"\
210	[...]\
211	'''Cora:''' Aw, yuh shouldn't make dat iceman crack, Rocky. It's aw right for him to kid about it but--I notice Hickey ain't pulled dat old iceman gag dis time. (excitedly) D'yuh suppose dat he did catch his wife cheatin'? I don't mean wid no iceman but wid some guy.
212	* Referenced in the "Cellblock Tango" from ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'':
213	-->''[My husband] says, "You been screwin' the milkman?" He kept on screamin', "You've been screwin' the milkman!" And then he ran into my knife. [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch He ran into my knife ten times]].''
214	* In ''Theatre/StreetScene'', Mrs. Maurrant's affair with Sankey, the collector for the milk company, is a frequent subject of their neighbors' gossip. One hot day, Mr. Maurrant comes home unexpectedly early, catches them together and shoots them both.
215	* Played with in ''Theatre/ShirleyValentine''. This is how Jane's marriage broke up -- only it wasn't ''Jane'' cheating with the milkman.
216	[[/folder]]
217
218	[[folder: Video Games]]
219	* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': According to the [[https://psychonauts.fandom.com/wiki/Li-Po_Backstory_Document Li-Po Backstory Document]], Boyd Cooper's mom was an inversion; her husband was a milkman whom she cheated on with (and eventually left for) a blue-collar widower.
220	[[/folder]]
221
222	[[folder: Web Comics]]
223	* The second comic of ''WebComic/BlueMilkSpecial'' had Beru cheating on Owen with the Smoking Jawa (er, that is a Jawa who smokes cigarettes) who delivers her blue milk. He later comes across her charred corpse and runs away crying, and in the Patreon-only story ''The Darklighter Chronicles'' vows revenge on the Empire that killed her.
224	* Pepe el Butanero lives by this trope in Webcomic/DiosesYOtrasTonterias. Living of the explained above myth of the butanero, he fits the physique of one to a tee as almost any woman or housewife he pays a visit to ends up falling for him. His entire powerset is basically a weaponized form of the spanish version of this trope, being able to attack and tank hits with his propane tanks, and having legendary stamina when pleasing women (which aids him against a group of demons later on).
225	[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder:Web Original]]
228	* ''Literature/AegerothACheckeredHistory'': A noblewoman admits to having an affair with the clock delivery boy.
229	* In the Creator/BaratsAndBereta short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTBIHXwSLNE&ob=av3e Milkman vs. Mailman]]'', ''somebody'' wins their FelonyMisdemeanor rivalry.
230	* A rare gender flipped example in ''Webcomic/BetterDays'' when Elizabeth comes home early one day and finds her husband sleeping with the head of their homeowner's association. To make it worse, they were trying to have a baby, which, as she drunkenly rants to a friend later, explains why she hasn't been able to get pregnant yet since he's clearly been using it all up on the other woman.
231	* As seen on [[http://bluntcard.com/launch/584.php a Blunt Card]].
232	* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends'': In "A Sucker for Love" Nutty daydreams about marrying a box of chocolates. In the daydream, Nutty comes home to find the milkman, Lumpy, leaving the house with chocolate around his lips. This causes him to kill Lumpy and beat the box of chocolates in a fit of rage.
233	* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': In the pilot, one of I.M .P's clients was a man who murdered his wife because she cheated on him with the deliveryman. He was enraged about being caught and executed and contracted the group to kill the jogger who caught him hiding the body.
234	* In the webcomic ''Webcomic/PokemonX'', it's implied that Brendan gets his hair from Mailman Joe and that Norman was oblivious to the affair even when his wife ''invited Mailman Joe to the birth''.
235	[[/folder]]
236
237	[[folder:Western Animation]]
238	* Implied in the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short\|s}} ''Father's Day Off''. Goofy is taking his wife's place for the day, so when the milkman comes, he absent-mindedly gives Goof a kiss on the lips. The same thing happens with the grocery guy and the laundry guy.
239	* The episode "Insecurity" on ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' modernizes this trope with the UPS delivery driver, followed by home security system installers, while frequently alluding to the old milkman story. All the men in town become convinced that these workers are coming to their houses to sleep with their wives and decide to start attacking them. However, there was no actual cheating going on in the episode; the plot kicks off because Gerald and Sheila were sexually roleplaying as a UPS man and his mistress, and when Ike drew the scene after walking in on it, everybody thought Sheila was actually cheating.
240	* Heavily implied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "A Clockwork Origin." Professor Farnsworth cleanses the water on a barren planet, and says it's "as sterile as my milkman-trusting father."
241	* Implied as a gay relationship in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', with this one-off like from Moe: "Ah, my physical pain is gone! Now I can focus on my crippling emotional pain. Oh daddy why, why wouldn't you ever hug me! You hugged the mailman!"
242	* The original LoveInterest to the main character of ''WesternAnimation/CityHunters'' dumps him because she's been dating her personal trainer and liked him more.
243	* Discussed in the ''WesternAnimation/RenAndStimpyAdultPartyCartoon '' episode "Stimpy's Pregnant".
244	-->'''Ren:''' Do you know how many other men tried to impregnate that barren wasteland!? There's the milkman, the mailman, the refrigerator repairman...that Jehovah's Witness bastard!
245	-->'''Stimpy:''' Don't forget about that Boy Scout troop.
246	* In 1978 short ''WesternAnimation/SpecialDelivery'', a mailman slips on the ice and dies on Ralph and Alice's porch. After Alice comes home, it's revealed that they once had an affair.
247	* On the ''WesternAnimation/FlipTheFrog'' cartoon "What A Life!", Flip and his young companion are entertaining a woman when her husband, a cop, arrives and they have to hide in the closet. The cop sees Flip's hat outside the closet door and orders them to come out or he'll shoot. Out of the closet come a parade of others -- a milkman, an iceman, a vacuum salesman, a butcher and a Fuller Brush salesman -- with Flip and friend bringing up the rear.
248	[[/folder]]
249
250	[[noreallife]]
251

Context Main / CheatingWithTheMilkman