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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
'Female Issues'
In two of my previous jobs I was lucky enough to have had a very able assistant, who for the sake of this post I'll call Jane (not her real name). Jane and I moved together from one subsidiary in a large corporation to another, but our working relationship remained pretty much the same.
I hated referring to Jane as 'my assistant' because she was better educated (and probably smarter) than I... and also had much better people skills. She was the 'assistant' and I was 'the supervisor' mostly because I had more seniority within the company, more work experience... and of course I was the one who hired her. I couldn't very well hire someone to be my boss no matter how talented I thought she was.
Anyhoo...
Over the course of several years of working together Jane and I developed a very nice friendship and could joke about things that in some corporate circles might pass for 'inappropriate'. Of course these jokes were almost as much about what wasn't said as much as what was.
Allow me to clarify... one of the things we occasionally joked about (without actually talking about)was the issue of 'female problems'.
Early in our working relationship Jane asked me if she could take the afternoon off for a doctor's appointment. The professional thing would have been for me to simply say 'yes'. But a combination of curiosity and empathy compelled me to ask her if everything was OK.
She looked at me with her head tilted sort of sideways and a half-smile on her face and said "It's a female thing".
Just like that the discussion was over.
There are some things that are so far beyond the scope of what men want to know that they are utter and total conversation stoppers! Saying "It's a female thing" is a perfect example of this genre.
Of course she took the afternoon off and I never asked her about it (as I surely would have if she had said she was going to have her vision tested or to see a podiatrist). But she must have noticed that 'deer in the headlights' expression on my face because from then on, whenever she needed time off... regardless of the reason... she would simply say it was 'a female thing' and smile while I covered my ears and said "lalalalala I can't hear you" while shooing her out of my office.
Further proof that she knew perfectly well that she held an unbeatable trump card was a Dilbert cartoon that frequently passed between us which dealt with exactly this scenario:
[click to see full size]
I honestly don't know what it is about this very tiny subset of physiological/medical topics that sends men running for the door with their hands over their ears... but women seem to be perfectly aware of it.
At least most women seem to be. Unfortunatly, my wife and daughter aren't among them.
You see, my wife and 12-year-old daughter have taken to discussing, er, certain feminine undergarments that start with the letter 'B' ,and general topics related to, uh, women being a bit more, um, 'moody' according to a fairly predictable cycle... and I honestly don't know where to run and hide anymore.
I have to be straight with you... my 10-year-old son and I are ready to pitch a tent out in the yard and avoid their company altogether if they insist on continuing to bring up these, um, topics at meals.
With Jane there was at least the 'don't ask don't tell' pact between us that allowed us to smile about it without actually having to discuss anything. But the two women with whom I live are really starting to freak me out!
Look, I'm having enough trouble dealing with the idea that my daughter is, ah, developing into a woman before my averted eyes... do we really have to talk about it all the time???
Lalalalalalalal... I can't hear you!!
Posted by David Bogner on January 17, 2006 | Permalink
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I can see why you don't want to talk about it, and I'm sure she'll love the fact that you blogged about it ... ...
Posted by: Dave | Jan 17, 2006 2:05:12 PM
There are also "male issues" - like the worker who asked me for a day off - to get circumcised!
And another who needed the afternoon off to give a "fertility sample".
Although I'd discussed Brit Milah previously with the first guy, I do wish there had been a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the fertility case.
Posted by: Ben-David | Jan 17, 2006 2:16:18 PM
This is so true!!! That is why I always prefer a male teacher, or boss because a woman is no where near as compassionate because she goes through it and hey it's not such a big deal. In school 6th grade and up, the male teachers and Rabbis always let us go to the bathroom no questions asked because they were afraid of "women problems." It's the only plus side to having hte woman problems!
Posted by: Rebecca | Jan 17, 2006 2:32:02 PM
"developing...before my averted eyes."
hahaha - that really is another brilliant treppenwitz image!
as a parent dealing with the same issue I can honestly say that....there's nothing you can do!! hey, with 4 females in my family all I can hope for is that the rumor that girls who live together tend to share the same cycle is true. I've heard this about dorm or apartment mates and perhaps some of your readers can shed some light from experience.
tell ya this much - if it isn't true and I'll be dealing with 4 different ones - well, then move over, because my son and I will be joining you and your boy in that tent.
Posted by: yonah | Jan 17, 2006 2:33:55 PM
Oy vay... men!
Yonah - -yes, it's true that when women live together, their cycles do tend to 'line-up', but not always, so I fear, you may have a month when things are crazy continually, but then there'll be months when things are only crazy for a week. Good luck!
David - please. It's very cool that your wife and daughter are not self-conscious about discussing this (there's nothing SO wrong with this) in front of you guys. It means that they're comfortable and that's a good thing. And it's good for Gilad to hear this discussion, as well, and then maybe when he grows up and has a family of his own, he won't have the "lalalalala I don't hear you" mentality that you seem to have.
Here is a perfect opportunity to 'break that cycle'! Of if it's already too late for Gilad, maybe you can be more open and 'cool' about it with Yonah!
Posted by: val | Jan 17, 2006 4:16:50 PM
I have 3 daughters and a son. Oldest daughter is 7. How early do I need to reserve tent space next to you and Yonah?
Posted by: Doctor Bean | Jan 17, 2006 4:17:23 PM
Oh and the Yonah I refer to at the end of my comment is my youngest nephew, not the commentor!!! ;)
Posted by: val | Jan 17, 2006 4:17:50 PM
Dave... Look, when Zahava has my daughter model her new sports br..., um, I mean 'athletic foundation garment' in the living room while us XY chromosome people are around... she can't be too surprised when I gripe about it here.
Ben-David... The real dilemma is how to get out of shaking this guys hand ever again. :-)
Rebecca... So let me understand this... you prefer to have male teachers and bosses because your emotional kryptonite doesn't have any effect on women? Just checking. :-)
Yonah... Oh crap! I hadn't thought about the whole scheduling thing. Kill me now if that's just a myth.
Val... Well, I guess I'll have to turn in my 'superdad' tights because I can't hide my feelings from my oldest son. Maybe by the time Yonah grows up he'll be so conditioned to having girls tossing around these topics that he'll be a bit more enlightened.
Doctor Bean... No problem, plenty of room. I have my Bibler Bomb Shelter which sleeps four comfortably.
Posted by: treppenwitz | Jan 17, 2006 4:19:20 PM
Now, having a science background, most of this stuff doesn't give me the "ickies" in general (I was very much not a hit in our lamaze class when I exclaimed "cool!" after our instructor described a particluarly gruesome procedure), but I will admit that walking down the "feminine hygiene" section of the drug store while shopping for The Lovely Wife(tm) always makes me feel like a pervert...
Posted by: efrex | Jan 17, 2006 4:42:08 PM
Would you prefer the routine used in my home where such subjects are completely and utterly taboo?
Personally, I think that the "it's not such a big deal" mentality is a far better one.
Posted by: Frummer??? | Jan 17, 2006 4:44:11 PM
There will always be a fine line between the completely taboo and the 'TMI'. I think it's great that your daughter is not embarassed to have Zahava bring up certain topics with you around. She has a healthy body image, which is all too scarce these days among girls her age. I guess living in Israel may contribute to that a little. But your wife sounds like a terrific person who is raising really well adjusted kids (with your help, too, of course!) :)
Posted by: Essie | Jan 17, 2006 4:52:44 PM
I'm still laughing. :)
Posted by: Ezzie | Jan 17, 2006 5:08:41 PM
My Beloved tells his friends that he is "awash in an estrogen sea" at home with me and 3 teenaged daughters. We discuss things fairly openly, which doesn't seem to bother him - maybe because he had no sisters?
The thing that remains a mystery is this: how come a 15 year old girl can wear a shirt that SHOWS parts of her bra, but she cannot let her mother SAY the word "bra" in the lingerie department of a store?
*sigh*
It's a great adventure. Enjoy. :)
Posted by: Talmida | Jan 17, 2006 5:51:37 PM
How funny! I'm with Essie, by the way.
Reminds me of the time I was telling a close male friend of mine about a sewing project I was doing. When he asked me what it was, I warned him: It's a female thing. Are you sure you want me to tell you? He said: Go ahead, shoot, and I told him. He got all embarrassed, and added how he felt embarrassed when he had to buy certain products for his wife in the supermarket.
I told him: Hey, look, we're talking about a normal biological process here (and one that none of us would be here without, by the way). Do you get all embarrassed when you buy toilet paper?
He saw my point even as he admitted that he was still embarrassed. But he did think that the sewing project was cool (as well as economically and environmentally sound).
Posted by: Rahel | Jan 17, 2006 5:57:41 PM
Rahel:
I LOVE watching the way some men out shopping with their better half try to bury the sanitary towels under the rest of the shopping on the conveyor belt!
You've made your own and reuse them???????? Why do I find that worse than terry nappies? Deep down, I'm still a male.
Posted by: Frummer??? | Jan 17, 2006 6:45:11 PM
I grew up in a house in which there four women and two men, my father and I.
I am not thrown by any of this stuff. I also learned as a young lad that there were certain male tricks that I could employ that would trump the female problems card.
Although I should admit that thinking about my daughter in those terms is a little bit different.
Posted by: Jack | Jan 17, 2006 6:53:55 PM
Now you know how we women feel when surrounded by men who find nothing wrong with making endless bathroom jokes...at the dinner table.
Revenge is sweet!
Posted by: westbankmama | Jan 17, 2006 7:06:50 PM
Cooties.
Posted by: Scott | Jan 17, 2006 8:06:25 PM
I definitely tune in with those who welcome Z's and A's relaxed attitude towards these topics. Tabooing it all out leads to children who develop an utterly wrong relation with their own body and a low self esteem. Our body is Creation, and learning to feel ashamed for it by tabooing it out (or knowing parents knowingly avoid these issues) is a bad start.
Posted by: mademoiselle a. | Jan 17, 2006 8:07:00 PM
All I can do is laugh and secretly languish in the power we women have over most men-
Thanks, David, for forcing a smile and a hearty HA! out of me when I really didn't feel like one this morning!
Posted by: Regina Clare Jane | Jan 17, 2006 8:22:47 PM
I'm stranger than all of you. I can talk about anything with women, but with men other than Beloved, I can't stand to have such things acknowledged. When I buy feminine things, I purposely seek out a woman's checkout line. I think this taboo is because of my dad and junior high classmates being very crude and disrespectful. Beloved, OTOH, is very sweet and sensitive about these issues, and I'm glad my daughters won't feel awkward or embarrassed when the time comes. We certainly won't be modeling lingerie for Daddy, though!
Frummer, go get something disposable (diaper, pad, paper towel) and a soft t-shirt. Rub each of them against your face in turn. Now tell me, which would you rather have pressed against the most sensitive, irritable part of your skin? I go so far as to blow my nose on pieces of old t-shirts, and when I have the worst cold, my nose rarely hurts.
Dr. Bean, you're a doctor! You're supposed to be cool with all this biology stuff!
Posted by: Kiwi the Geek | Jan 17, 2006 9:37:04 PM
Oh c'mon, man, get a grip. Chill out.
On the other hand, why for the love of Adam don't women understand the depth of the male stay-away-from-my-no-no-place reaction? I was at a bris a few weeks ago, and my friend whose son it was was a complete wreck. He literally cried more than the baby. And while all the men around understood what he was going through, all the women were just telling him to calm down and didn't understand the instinctual protection mechanism at work.
Posted by: Steg (dos iz nit der šteg) | Jan 17, 2006 10:00:43 PM
Efrex... Thank G-d my wife doesn't send me shopping down that aisle! I was right there in the delivery room for all of our kid's births (and even managed to be a passable coach), but I stayed away from the business end of the bed.
Frummer... I would go along with that. I'm not saying it should be taboo, I'm just saying that there is a time and place for everything. OK, maybe I'm a hypocrite. :-)
Essie... I think you've hit the nail on the head. TMI is what we're dealing with here. I'm secretely delighted that my daughter is becoming a woman, but I don't need to hear the play-by-play.
Ezzie... Don't thank me, I'm a giver. :-)
Talmida... I'm not 'awash' just yet... more like putting my toe in the water. But I can hear the waves crashing. As to the whole 'strap issue' you described... that won't be a problem because the nun habit I have picked out for Ariella doesn't reveal much. Hey, I decided against the Burka... I'm not a complete Neanderthal! :-)
Rahel... OK, cute story... up until the point where I ran screaming from my computer shouting lalalalalalalala with my hands over my eyes! Nice... I appreciate that. :-)
Jack... I'm convinced that having daughters is G-d's revenge on men for the way we looked at everyone else's daughters. Now where is that nun habit...?
Westbankmama... Bathroom humor can be an inclusive thing (provided everyone present is a willing participant). There is no way you can tell me that us XY folks are ever going to feel included in a conversation about menstruation or bras.
Scott... Yup... absolutely!
mademoiselle a. ... In my defense, I don't think Ariella and Zahava have any idea how much their conversations throw me for a loop (well, after reading this Zahava will). The problem is clearly mine and I'm really trying to be a good sport.
Regina Clare Jane... At the end of all this hand wringing is the fact that I really know how silly I'm being about this. If I couldn't laugh at myself a bit I would never have written this. I'm just glad there are a couple of people laughing along with me so it doesn't sound so creepy. :-)
Kiwi the Geek... OK, so you have an inkling of how I feel about some things being more 'private' than others. It's not that men are prudes about bodily functions and biology. Heck, we will gladly write our name in the snow with pee in front of our buddies and make the crudest of jokes about the body. But there are limits... you won't find too many guys talking with their buds about rectal itch or constipation. I'm just saying... TMI.
Steg... Men are from Mars and women are just insane. Think about it; girls grow up revealing the most intimate secrets to their friends. They then turn around and are insanely cruel to these same friends, using all those secrets as the worst sort of weapon against one another at the slightest provocation. I liked being a boy... we didn't tell each other squat and only hit each other once in a while. I have to tell you that the occasional bloody lip was nothing compared to the emotional havoc young girls wreak on each other.
Posted by: treppenwitz | Jan 17, 2006 10:24:19 PM
Um... I don't know what to add to all this, except I would never discuss this sort of information in front of men. I'm totally open to discuss it with my mother and very close women, but other than private matters stay private! LOL, but it's hilarious to hear the guys' take on these things!
Posted by: Irina | Jan 17, 2006 10:49:18 PM
Ever been in the room with two or more women, and one or more of said women have recently given birth? They will have no qualms discussing every gory detail. Run.
Posted by: ralphie | Jan 17, 2006 10:54:01 PM
Then maybe I'd better warn you, David -- soon I'm going to be putting up a post explaining why I have certain items on my sidebar under the heading "For Women Only."
But don't be scared: it won't be TMI or anything gross. It'll just be about how women can be kinder to their bodies, their wallets and the environment all at the same time.
Posted by: Rahel | Jan 17, 2006 11:07:11 PM
Jack... I'm convinced that having daughters is G-d's revenge on men for the way we looked at everyone else's daughters.
I am with you on this one. I have already begun plotting how to scare the boys away. Her big brother is undergoing intensive training as a personal bodyguard.
Posted by: Jack | Jan 17, 2006 11:23:52 PM
Ummm.... honey?!
When I started to tell you (at the dinner table) that I'd managed to find some (training) bras for Ari, and you put your hands over your ears, screwed your eyes shut tight, and started intoning Lalalalalalalalal I can't hear you I got the picture THEN and didn't really need today's post to understand your feelings on the subject!
Oh! And if you think that your daughter wouldn't be mortified by the contents of this post THEN YOU REALLY NEED TO LEARN JUST A TOUCH MORE ABOUT WHAT MAKES PREADOLESCENT GIRLS TICK!
It is one thing to talk amongst those you love and who love you.
It is quite another to have this discussion at full volume in a fishbowl.
I'm just saying....
Posted by: zahava | Jan 17, 2006 11:37:01 PM
Uh Ooooh! David's in TROUble. Bold. AND caps. eeeeeeeek
Posted by: Scott | Jan 18, 2006 12:08:57 AM
No trouble. Just my idea of comedic/dramatic emphasis alá the speech patterns of the Chandler Bing character from Friends.
Trust me. If there was anger involved, the caps and the bold would be the least of it -- I have a decent vocubulary and am not shy about using it.... :-)
Posted by: zahava | Jan 18, 2006 12:25:53 AM
As far as 'Jane' goes, she simply figured out a method of getting an afternoon or noons off without answering to you.
Its like what a woman would tell any guy, when the guy walks into a room in the midst of a conversation you don't want them to partake in. "ahh.. girl talk" (aka, you wouldn't be interested)
Posted by: Shevy | Jan 18, 2006 1:26:49 AM
Oh oh! Looks like David's in the bomb shelter...
Posted by: Doctor Bean | Jan 18, 2006 2:00:02 AM
Poor David!
and Efrex, you ARE a pervert! Any man who wears tights and a skirt in public........
Posted by: Faye | Jan 18, 2006 4:06:07 AM
Faye:
Geez, spill *all* the secrets, why don't you? As if David and Zehava didn't have enough doubts about my orientation as it was... Also:
1) they were leggings, not tights, and 2) 40 collegiate theatre geeks does not quite count as public, thankyewverymuch!
(*sigh* okay, not that anyone cares, but here's the quick version: as an undergrad, I performed in "The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged)," a three-actor, 90-minute romp through all 37 Shakespeare plays, which included my donning wig and skirt to play the ugliest Ophelia, Juliet, Lavinia, and Gertrude in the history of Bard-dom. In a fit of insanity, I invited several of my friends to see this debacle, and Faye decided to actually maintain our friendship after being subjected to the sight)
Posted by: efrex | Jan 18, 2006 4:31:52 AM
Dave - they discuss it in front of you because they KNOW it freaks you out. They were probably laughing their heads off about it later on.
MH
Posted by: mata hari | Jan 18, 2006 6:11:39 AM
Remember this sage advice:
"Always trust the first commenter on any post"
Posted by: Dave | Jan 18, 2006 9:16:27 AM
Irina... I don't know you well, but the little I've gleaned from your blog tells me that you are much more traditional/reserved than the typical American. This might be because of your Russian background or it may simply be something unique to your own family dynamics. whatever the reason, I think it's wise to err on the side of saying too little. :-)
Ralphie... ooooh, I'd forgotten about that bit. After each of our kids was born I had to endure lots of table conversation between Zahava and any present women about the most intimate details of the birth and recovery process. I especially 'enjoyed' the stories about the pain and itching associated with the episiotomy while trying to enjoy my shabbat chulent. :-)
Rahel... I've noticed that link in your sidebar several times over the past year and have never once been tempted to click it. When something says 'for women only', I take them at their word. Thanks for the warning.
Jack... I'll stick with the burka, um I mean habit. :-)
Zahava... And you were wondering why I only let Ariella use the computer under my supervision? :-)
Scott... Actually I only recently taught Zahava about html tags for ital, bold and such, so she uses it quite freely. Trust me, if she was really mad at me the post would have been yanked pretty quickly. :-)
Shevy... Actually I am still friendly with 'Jane' and we exchange IMs and emails on a semi-regular basis (she also chats with Zahava quite frequently). She emailed me last night and said she found the post quite amusing... although she set the record straight by assuring me that she never used that excuse except when she really had to go to the doc about 'female stuff'. In any case, even if my memory of events was not 100% accurate, it was nice excuse to be able to say a few of nice things about her on my site.
Doctor Bean... See my reply to Scott.
Faye... Thank you for that. I'm now looking for a sharp object with which to poke out my mind's eye.
Efrex... Yeah, yeah... denial is a river in Egypt. :-)
Mata Hari... You've eaten enough meals in our home to know that Zahava isn't that calculating. And I honestly think Ariella is simply taking her cues from her mother. As some of the commenters have pointed out, that's probably for the best.
Dave... sage advice.
Posted by: treppenwitz | Jan 18, 2006 10:14:23 AM
I'm noticing an angle here that has my feminist antennae quivering just a bit.
Your comment to Jack: "I'm convinced that having daughters is G-d's revenge on men for the way we looked at everyone else's daughters," is not the only time I've heard that sentiment. I know you're speaking with humor (mostly), but I'm remembering a conversation I had when I was a guest in a particularly strict religious community here. My host, an American man who had lived quite a free lifestyle before becoming religiously observant, told me how strictly he intended to bring up his daughter, who was then a toddler. His plans involved quite a few restrictions that I considered a bit much. When I asked him why he intended to restrict his daughter as much as he did, he answered: "Because I remember how I was as a young, non-religious man."
I left that conversation thinking that girls can't win either way, at least according to this man's manner of thinking. In his former world, they were fair game, and in his current world, they must be restricted and guarded for their own good. It seemed to me that this man had simply exchanged one form of extreme thinking for another -- and sadly, he's not the only one who has done that. Either way, it's the girls and women who end up paying the price.
Posted by: Rahel | Jan 18, 2006 10:54:23 AM
David,
Tell us dummies about Hevron. Israpundit says one thing. Allison says the opposite. What's the straight dope? Are these activists the same people Jerusalem Post is reporting on that are rioting because some family in their neighborhood is not religious enough? Or there is no connection, correlation, or simile there at all?
Posted by: Scott | Jan 18, 2006 11:37:09 AM
(note to self, sign in first, then type comment, else lose the whole novel)
Sooo, again,
In my defense, I don't think Ariella and Zahava have any idea how much their conversations throw me for a loop
I can't believe you posted this here first instead of bringing it onto the table at home. Where you counting on this male-bonding-thing backup of sorts from among your male Treppies?
Posted by: Account Deleted | Jan 18, 2006 12:58:49 PM
That was intended as a joke - at least it struck me as funny when I was writing it late at night.
Posted by: mata hari | Jan 18, 2006 2:27:52 PM
Rahel... Sorry to set your antenna to twitching. Yes, there is an element of paternalistic over-protection at work in some of the comments I've made here. Would I be as protective of my son? No. But let's be realistic, there are different physiological and psychological things driving boys and girls. Sure there are exceptions in both genders, but as a rule the boys tend to be much more aggressive about exploring their sexuality than girls. More importantly, boys have the tool (pun intended) necessary to inflict their 'explorations' upon girls. Therefore I think it wise to teach both genders about proper behavior... but boys need to be taught more restraint while girls need to be taught more caution. No amount of enlightenment will change raging hormones.
Scott... OK, you wore me down. Today's post (which was sitting in my recycling bin/trash since Monday) is up.
mademoiselle a. ... As often as not I count on both genders to nudge me in the right direction. This isn't the first time I've explored feelings and ideas here on treppenwitz rather than at the dinner table, and I'm sure it won't be the last. This usually happens when the problem is with me and not other members of the family. Talking with Zahava or Ariella about this would have been futile since a) they aren't really the problem, and b) they can't offer the same distance/perspective that relative strangers can. This is one of the wonderful thing about having a mostly-trustworthy readership to lean on.
Mata Hari... No harm done. :-)
Posted by: treppenwitz | Jan 18, 2006 4:24:39 PM
Rahel, I wished my dad was more protective of me. In high school, I acquired some friends who were, and it made me feel so valuable, that a man thought I was worth protecting. Protection is one of the things a girl needs from her father.
Posted by: Kiwi the Geek | Jan 18, 2006 4:59:41 PM
David:
it was actually quite entertaining. Efrex is MUCH mroe talented then his self-deprecating wit will ever allow him to take credit for. And as a side note, Efrex: did you just call me a theater geek???
Posted by: Faye | Jan 19, 2006 1:44:40 AM
David: Do I think that parents should protect their children? Absolutely. I also believe that there is a difference between healthy protectiveness and undue restriction.
Kiwi the Geek: I sympathize. I feel that my parents could have been a bit more protective of me in that way, too. To be fair, they came from a different time and place -- but still, I think it would have been helpful.
Only I wasn't talking about healthy protectiveness here. I don't remember exactly what sorts of restrictions this man was going to put upon his daughter when she got older, but I remember thinking at the time that they were excessive (even for me, and I'm pretty conservative in my tastes). I also detected more than a little hypocrisy on his part. He'd already had his fun -- evidently plenty of it -- before he'd "seen the light." Now that he was "pure," he was going to bring up his daughter according to the new, extremely restrictive lifestyle that he had adopted, and she would not be given any freedom at all.
All he'd done was go from one extreme to another, from total licentiousness to total restriction. Neither one requires a great deal of thought, judgment or engagement.
And that's without even mentioning the issue of trust between parent and child.
Posted by: Rahel | Jan 19, 2006 1:31:25 PM
My daughter is back from college for a week and the boys are back from yeshiva as of yesterday.
Us guys were having one of our usual laundry arguments ("stop stealing my UNDERSHIRTS!!"), when my daughter came in the room and asked,
"Do any of you have my sports bra?"
Now THERE'S a conversation killer if ever there was one.
Posted by: psychotoddler | Jan 23, 2006 5:49:11 PM
Just reading this post made me reach for my ears and intone "la la la...." - while laughing of course.
Note to self: do not allow yourself to miss a Treppenwitz post again! So much to catch up on...
Posted by: mcaryeh | Jan 23, 2006 9:33:06 PM
I only just read this and it cracked me up!
On the subject of "b's"... I used to work at a Maidenform outlet which sold them - hardly a Victoria's Secret in terms of merchandise (more PG than R :) ... and all new clerks soon learned there were two types of male shoppers there accompanying their wives/girlfriends: 1) The embarrassed types who lurked as close to the front door as possible so they could make the fastest getaway at the first possible second, and could barely be dragged to the register to help their wives choose between items on pain of death, and 2) Men who followed behind their wives every step of the way, pulling out everything red and/or lacy and saying "how about this? Hey, did you see this one? Hey honey, what about this?!?"
Funnily enough, the wives of the type-two men almost always just rolled their eyes and kept on walking :)
Posted by: StepIma | Jan 23, 2006 11:53:42 PM
I was just searching out a "patenting" site for my hub, when I somehow... someway came across this page..... and ended up just laughing my arse off at your story about your wife/daughter.... dinner table... poor guys... rotflmao... that is all... back to my poker game now. Thanks for the laugh, I hope you are able to learn how to accept and embrace your daughters growing up.... tee hee tee hee!!!! All the best!
Dunky
Posted by: Em | Feb 3, 2006 7:34:49 AM
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