is asking for gratitude negates all the doing in question. Or rather, spawns a new context, which is unfavorable to the person bringing it up.
I saw it play out many times, usually in the family context, — there would be a person (usually, a woman) who does a lot for the family. Like, a lot a lot. And it would be taken for granted. And at a certain point, she would lose it (because who wouldn’t, when you’re doing a lot and taken for granted) — and the moment she lost it, she lost.
Sadly true. Guess self love and self respect goes a long way. Instead of seeing it as asking for gratitude, maybe we should see it as standing for self respect when taken for granted. People should respect one another and when they don't nothing wrong in reminding them to be respectful.