(Strip Number 6656, Original Publication Date, 2 March 1986)
Panel 1: We start things off by having Mike tell Lizzie that Daddy is fixing his portable radio.
Panel 2: Mike irritates John by asking if he knows what he's doing.
Panel 3: John curses under his breath as he thought-bubbles angrily about how the idiots who made radios back in the eighties made them almost impossible for tinkerers like him to fix.
Panel 4: Since he thinks he's fixed the thing, John turns it on.
Panel 5: He smiles when some headache music that Elly can't sing along to comes from the speaker.
Panel 6: When John tells him that he fixed his radio, Michael makes a stupid move when he simply says "neat, thanks" in a distracted tone of voice.
Panel 7: John barks that after spending all afternoon sweating over a hot-ass soldering iron, he deserves more appreciation than that. This lifts Mike an inch off of the floor and makes him look as if he's been hit on the back of the head with a two-by-four.
Panel 8: John sits in his easy chair with a death-grip on a can of Labbat 50 as he scowls and thought-bubbles his signature Black Cloud of Rage.
Panel 9: Elly sets up the punchline by telling John that she's just washed, mended and pressed his pants.
Panel 10: Since he's an oblivious clodhopper, the irony of the situation is completely lost on him when he too comments on something someone else thinks needs more appreciation that she's ever gonna get with an apathetic-sounding "Neat. Thanks."
Summary: This, I should think, highlights why the Pattersons have so much problem with gratitude. They expect more of it than they maybe deserve and don't show enough of it to the deserving. Also, their house conserves self-awareness.