Posted on 12/19/2005 8:52:52 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Call them "Desperate Husbands" -- men who wait until the last minute to go Christmas shopping. Men who wear procrastination as a badge of honor.
Girlie men shop online or visit the mall in November, wrap their presents and stash them in the closet.
Real men put off shopping until Dec. 24.
Because men don't shop. They buy. They are goal-oriented. And what they end up buying is jewelry.
Diamond jewelry, to be exact. Square-shaped or pear-shaped, from Harry Winston to Wal-Mart, from Tiffany's to Target, the most dangerous place to be on Christmas Eve is between a desperate husband and a jewelry counter.
"We have men rolling up at 3:30 on Christmas Eve," said Katie Mulcahy, manager of the Old Town Alexandria jewelry store Mystique. "They know exactly what they want. We love that. They're easier to sell if they're desperate."Men, she explained, do not have a Plan B. Most likely, in the most dire cases, say five minutes before the store's closing, they will buy up rather than down. "A lot of times you can guilt them into spending more," she said. Because at that point, the only alternative is a Chia Pet from the 7-Eleven.
Mystique rakes in at least one-third of its annual sales in the four days before Christmas, Ms. Mulcahy said. "I'm sure it's the same all across the country," she said. "Men put off Christmas shopping until the last minute. It's like homework for them."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
LOL
....not only that, but DeBeers has a 15+ year supply already mined, cut and polished. There's a diamond glut.
I already bought myself an expensive ladder, and then informed my husband it was my christmas gift. Now I know he'll be safe to send out and buy perfume or my personal fave...a classic handbag...I'm partial to Coach bags.
As a woman, I totally agree with the response to this. Don't set a guy up for failure. The husband did exactly what his wife requested, and he still gets nailed for it. That's not fair.
It's a code.
Be generous, power tools are the thing for any man. Your thoughtfulness will come back ten fold during the year.
It's in the genes for women, just as men want tools.
He did find me fresh flowers from a street vendor on Christmas morning, They were beautiful. I have one pressed in my Bible. :-)
You sound like a lawyer...an agreement? At Christmas?
My flowers were beautiful.
"It doesn't. We're wired differently for a reason."
Jeff Foxworthy does some really funny stuff on that.
We love Foxworthy in this house. He cracks us up.
Lucky family. In ours, it's just me and number two son.
Although number one daughter occasionally laughs in spite of herself.
How true. They also pay for wrapping.
My husband can't understand why my son and I watch Bevis and Butthead moronathons. You either like them or you don't. :-)
I guess not...if you and your husband came to an "understanding" that there were to be NO gifts...why would you agree to this? And then purchase gifts as a way to embarass him?
No, I'm not a lawyer...but I also don't agree to things I have no intention of honoring.
I don't need no stinkin' diamond. They're pretty, yes, but what are they good for, really?
You're driving this over the edge. Give it a rest, it was over 30 years ago....jeez. I forgave him last week over it.
"That's true, but it is scarcity that gives diamonds their value as jewelry, isn't it?"
Diamonds are not scarce. DeBeers has tons of diamonds in Antwerp that they keep off the market.
The DeBeers monopoly was broken when the Ikati mine came into production.
Now DeBeers has to hawk their diamonds in the retail market just like anyone else.
Synthetic diamonds are like recyled oil. Are you going to put re-refined oil in your car are get it fresh from the ground?
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