In Wall E they weren't in the chairs due to laziness, but a loss of bone mass.
Obviously her mate isn't lazy. The man picked up a chair by the side of the road and is going to make it work again. I detest rude statements about people you don't know, based on one side of a story. Maybe he is a liar by nature, but that is a bigger issue.
Sorry, if my husband said he was in pain, I'd be supporting him. Just because the wife doesn't think it is bad enough doesn't make it true. My husband likes to joke that labor wasn't that bad. He was there, and I made it through.