It's a matter of perception....

[Frank the Tank]

So I just had to share this story with everyone because I could not stop laughing at how some peoples perception of things is just so WAY off, you have to laugh.

My dad called me one saturday morning a couple of weeks ago because he found a kick-butt swing set/fort/slide thingy at a garage sale. Our son is three, new baby will be here in November, so we'd get lots of use out of it. Dad warned me beforehand that is was big, probably 16 to 18 feet in total length. I told the wife about it, and immediately she says "it won't fit" and "it'll take up the whole yard". I calmly remind her that our lot is 48' x 165' and we have plenty of room. She insists, that it will indeed be too big.

So I'm starting to get frustrated because these people are moving and just want $200 for the whole thing. I can't buy the lumber to make our own for $200, let alone one already put together with 5 swings, a slide, a rope ladder, and a canopy roof. I want this thing. So I grab my tape measure, grab the wifey and we go out to the backyard. I ask her to show me the area that she thinks this swing set will take up. She marks it out with sticks and I immediately start laughing. She starts to get annoyed with my giggling so I tell her to hold one end of the tape measure.

Now I know everyone is dying to know.....what does my wife perceive 16 feet to be? 48. Forty. Eight. Feet. WOW. Needless to say we went and bought it and it now sits, quite comfortably, in our backyard. All I can hope is that when she is sharing intimate details with her hot girlfiends that this "problem" persists.

Anyone else have funny stories about how things are seen by others in such a bizarre way that all you could do was laugh?

[ken0042]

Maybe she tells all her friends about how other things are 3 times bigger than they really are!

Maybe we should change your user name to "Smiling Bob."

[Ozy_Flame]

Yeah maybe it's best to let her naturally exaggerate about size when she's talking to her girlfriends intimately =)

[lifer]

I have a few examples of my perception of things being very different from my girlfriend's. Probably the most common one:
Her: "These pants only cost me $X."
Me: "only?"
Her: "Yeah, only. It's a great deal."
Me: "My pants need twice as much material and I'm choked if I pay half that much. It's a terrible deal. Don't you have 6 pairs like that already?"
Her: "Um, no. This pair is a different shade of dark blue, and it's got a diffferent cut. I guess they are similar to one pair that I have, but the button has a different design on it. Plus, they only cost $X!"
Me: "Oh. A different button. That's important. Great deal indeed."

Or, another example:
Her: "you've drank how much already?"
Me: "A case"
Her: "but it's only 5:30. That's a little excessive isn't it?"
Me: "No, I'm right on target."

I could probably go on all day, but I'm sure others have stories that will mirror anything I would say.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by lifer

I have a few examples of my perception of things being very different from my girlfriend's. Probably the most common one:
Her: "These pants only cost me $X."
Me: "only?"
Her: "Yeah, only. It's a great deal."
Me: "My pants need twice as much material and I'm choked if I pay half that much. It's a terrible deal. Don't you have 6 pairs like that already?"
Her: "Um, no. This pair is a different shade of dark blue, and it's got a diffferent cut. I guess they are similar to one pair that I have, but the button has a different design on it. Plus, they only cost $X!"
Me: "Oh. A different button. That's important. Great deal indeed."

Ah yes, I've been down this road too.

In my girlfriend's view, anything that is a good price has to be bought, regardless of need.

An example from when were were buying a shower curtain.
Her: "We need a shower curtain"
Me: "Okay, here's one; it costs $15".
Her: "But look, you can get 3 for $40!"
Me: "But we only have one shower; we don't need three".
Her: "But its a better deal. You get ripped off if you only buy one".
Me: "No, we lose money because we'll only use one and the other two will sit in the closet. Then we'll have spent $40 instead of $15".
Her: "But its a better deeeeal.... "

So how many shower curtains did we end up buying? Three. And where are the other two? In the closet collecting dust...

[worth]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Ah yes, I've been down this road too.

In my girlfriend's view, anything that is a good price has to be bought, regardless of need.

An example from when were were buying a shower curtain.
Her: "We need a shower curtain"
Me: "Okay, here's one; it costs $15".
Her: "But look, you can get 3 for $40!"
Me: "But we only have one shower; we don't need three".
Her: "But its a better deal. You get ripped off if you only buy one".
Me: "No, we lose money because we'll only use one and the other two will sit in the closet. Then we'll have spent $40 instead of $15".
Her: "But its a better deeeeal.... "

So how many shower curtains did we end up buying? Three. And where are the other two? In the closet collecting dust...

That is gold right there,

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Ah yes, I've been down this road too.

In my girlfriend's view, anything that is a good price has to be bought, regardless of need.

An example from when were were buying a shower curtain.
Her: "We need a shower curtain"
Me: "Okay, here's one; it costs $15".
Her: "But look, you can get 3 for $40!"
Me: "But we only have one shower; we don't need three".
Her: "But its a better deal. You get ripped off if you only buy one".
Me: "No, we lose money because we'll only use one and the other two will sit in the closet. Then we'll have spent $40 instead of $15".
Her: "But its a better deeeeal.... "

So how many shower curtains did we end up buying? Three. And where are the other two? In the closet collecting dust...

Reminds of the Walmart episode from South Park.

Cartman: Dude, check it out! Time Cop on DVD. Three copies for eighteen bucks!

Kyle: Why the hell would you want three copies of the same movie?

Cartman: Because one copy is nine ninety-eight! But this way you save like twenty bucks!

Kyle: You only need one copy, artard!

Cartman: Okay, fine, dumbass, YOU go ahead and buy one copy for nine ninety-eight!

Kyle: Okay, fine, I will! Huh, wait a minute! I don't even want ONE copy of Time Cop!

Cartman: Dude, you can't shop for crap.

[Thunderball]

Originally Posted by lifer

I have a few examples of my perception of things being very different from my girlfriend's. Probably the most common one:
Her: "These pants only cost me $X."
Me: "only?"
Her: "Yeah, only. It's a great deal."
Me: "My pants need twice as much material and I'm choked if I pay half that much. It's a terrible deal. Don't you have 6 pairs like that already?"
Her: "Um, no. This pair is a different shade of dark blue, and it's got a diffferent cut. I guess they are similar to one pair that I have, but the button has a different design on it. Plus, they only cost $X!"
Me: "Oh. A different button. That's important. Great deal indeed."

Or, another example:
Her: "you've drank how much already?"
Me: "A case"
Her: "but it's only 5:30. That's a little excessive isn't it?"
Me: "No, I'm right on target."

I could probably go on all day, but I'm sure others have stories that will mirror anything I would say.

Hah! Gold!

I've had the second discussion more than once with my girlfriend.

The first one tends to be her bugging me about how much I spend on clothes relative to her. She's very cheap when it comes to clothes (but women seem to be able to more than men... $15 for a pair of dress pants... not even Walmart does that for men, but if they did, they would be of disgustingly poor quality.) I buy premium brands cause I find they fit better and last longer... she doesn't understand why. I get it the worst with sporting goods though.

Of course, when its jewelry or those overpriced lululemon workout tops I have to blow money on... thats a good use of money.

[photon]

My wife is the other direction, she totally underestimates the size of things.

I love it when we're doing a furniture layout or something and she has all these things in the room, and I have to point out that no you can't fit a couch, chair, and table across a six foot wall...

And we had the same experience with the background playset but in reverse, she almost bought one and I think we have 20 feet total from the fence to the back of our house, and I had to go with a tape measure to show her that the deck we had planned and this plaything would basically consume the entire back yard (stupid new communities!)

[lifer]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Hah! Gold!

I've had the second discussion more than once with my girlfriend.

The first one tends to be her bugging me about how much I spend on clothes relative to her. She's very cheap when it comes to clothes (but women seem to be able to more than men... $15 for a pair of dress pants... not even Walmart does that for men, but if they did, they would be of disgustingly poor quality.) I buy premium brands cause I find they fit better and last longer... she doesn't understand why. I get it the worst with sporting goods though.

Of course, when its jewelry or those overpriced lululemon workout tops I have to blow money on... thats a good use of money.

I'm sure my girlfriend could come up here and type out a laundry list of the stuff I spend money on that she doesn't understand:
" you want to spend how much on a TV? It will cover half of our wall"
" How much did that steak cost? YOu still have to cook it. Jesus, we could have just gone out for dinner"
"Why are you buying a new car when you have a perfectly good 1991 Sunbird already"
"you need professional quality goalie pads why?..." To give her credit on this last one, she is a Canuck fan, so she didn't have an appreciation for how valuable a set of goalie pads can be for a goalie...until last season. Peraps she'll see my point of view on this one now.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

Ah yes, I've been down this road too.

In my girlfriend's view, anything that is a good price has to be bought, regardless of need.

An example from when were were buying a shower curtain.
Her: "We need a shower curtain"
Me: "Okay, here's one; it costs $15".
Her: "But look, you can get 3 for $40!"
Me: "But we only have one shower; we don't need three".
Her: "But its a better deal. You get ripped off if you only buy one".
Me: "No, we lose money because we'll only use one and the other two will sit in the closet. Then we'll have spent $40 instead of $15".
Her: "But its a better deeeeal.... "

So how many shower curtains did we end up buying? Three. And where are the other two? In the closet collecting dust...

As a financial planner, I'm advising you to buy a hundred of those suckers. Think of all the money you'd save.

[albertGQ]

Alot of "astute" shoppers overrate value. In their opinion, unit cost>total cost

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Originally Posted by lifer

I'm sure my girlfriend could come up here and type out a laundry list of the stuff I spend money on that she doesn't understand:
" you want to spend how much on a TV? It will cover half of our wall"
" How much did that steak cost? YOu still have to cook it. Jesus, we could have just gone out for dinner"
"Why are you buying a new car when you have a perfectly good 1991 Sunbird already"
"you need professional quality goalie pads why?..." To give her credit on this last one, she is a Canuck fan, so she didn't have an appreciation for how valuable a set of goalie pads can be for a goalie...until last season. Peraps she'll see my point of view on this one now.

Clearly, it's because a Sunbird is not a Civic...

[lifer]

Originally Posted by tanguay'sstillgood

Clearly, it's because a Sunbird is not a Civic...

Ha. Where'd the Rick Ankiel sig go?

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Originally Posted by lifer

Ha. Where'd the Rick Ankiel sig go?

I was too lazy to keep updating it, so it was rarely 100% accurate. This seemed easier.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

I get it the worst with sporting goods though.

Of course, when its jewelry or those overpriced lululemon workout tops I have to blow money on... thats a good use of money.

I get the same thing on sports equipment. She doesn't understand why I spend $70 on a pair of shinpads to protect my chronically bad knees instead of the $20 pair that can be found at SportCheck. She also didn't get it when I just went out and spent $60 a new ball glove (which is normally $120) that is longer for use in the infield vs my shorter one for the outfield.

But, if I'm spending the money on her for an mp3 player or buying her a new camera or lenses it's a totally different story.

[tanguay'sstillgood]

Originally Posted by Frankster

I get the same thing on sports equipment. She doesn't understand why I spend $70 on a pair of shinpads to protect my chronically bad knees instead of the $20 pair that can be found at SportCheck. She also didn't get it when I just went out and spent $60 a new ball glove (which is normally $120) that is longer for use in the infield vs my shorter one for the outfield.

But, if I'm spending the money on her for an mp3 player or buying her a new camera or lenses it's a totally different story.

I'm with your girlfriend on this one...that's ass-backwards. Unless, or course, it's a 1st base mitt.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Originally Posted by tanguay'sstillgood

I'm with your girlfriend on this one...that's ass-backwards. Unless, or course, it's a 1st base mitt.

Nope, need the longer one in the infield for grounders...the shorter one is perfect for the outfield with a very wide span. The longer one isn't as wide, but the extra length makes picking grounders up way easier.

[Nufy]

me and the wife are thinking about Kitchen Reno's...

She asked me about the size of the kitchen and I tell her approx 144 sq feet.

How did you get that she said.

because the room is approx 12 ft x 12 feet. Its square.

No it isn't,

yes it is...

No it isn't...Go get the tape.

So I get the tape and the room comes out to 11ft 11 inches by 12 ft 3 inches......

She says.......




See I told you it wasn't square.

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Frankster

Nope, need the longer one in the infield for grounders...the shorter one is perfect for the outfield with a very wide span. The longer one isn't as wide, but the extra length makes picking grounders up way easier.

This is wrong.