Harriette Winslow

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Harriette Winslow is a fictional character who was on the third and fourth seasons of the show Perfect Strangers, and the entire series of Family Matters. The role of Harriette Winslow on Perfect Strangers was played by Jo Marie Payton-Noble, as was the case from the first season to the first half of the ninth season of Family Matters. She was played by Judyann Elder in the last half of the ninth season of the series.

Harriette (maiden name Baines) is married to Carl Winslow and has three children: Eddie Winslow, Laura Winslow, and Judy Winslow. Her sister is Rachel Crawford, a widow with a young son, Richard (aka Richie). The Winslows' neighbor is Steve Urkel, the ultimate nerd who had the ultimate crush on Laura. Harriette sometimes feels that her husband Carl is intolerant of Steve. Harriette graduted from the police academy.

As of 1987, Harriette Winslow was working as an elevator operator in the Chicago Chronicle. In 1989, in the third episode of Family Matters, she was fired from the Chicago Chronicle when she asked for a raise. The Chicago Chronicle decided to have a self-service elevator. They told Harriette that they would have gone self-service years prior but that they did not have the heart to fire her. After this she got a job as director of security officer for the Chronicle.

In 1993, Harriette was fired a second time from the Chronicle – this time, when she refused to lay off members of her security staff when the newspaper was making budget cuts. She quickly found work in the customer service/returns department at Ferguson's Department Store. By 1997, she was promoted to head of sales, replacing the incumbent (Mark Linn-Baker, Payton-Noble's one-time co-star from Perfect Strangers) who lost his job after continual complaints that he was verbally abusive to employees under his watch.

Her character was always too sharp for her husband Carl. She is the Yoda of the show, as she always teaches people a lesson.