OT - Pleasing the 'Powers that be'

Many of you have likely already employed the following techniques, but I will pass them along anyway for those who may not yet have utilized them.

Regarding the issues that all of us 'men' face when we have a hankering for one or more tools and having to seek, cajole, beg, etc., the permission to purchase them from the 'boss', 'purse-strings', 'powers that be', etc., I offer my own hard-learned experience. I must say that my present wife is very understanding and virtually never questions my addictive need to add tools to my shop.

A prudent man pays close attention to the hints and suggestions his wife often utters regarding some, typically, household appliance, personal care device, or other need. At an appropriate time in advance of a contemplated expression of his own need or desire, he voluntarily acquires the object of his wife's desire, assuming it is of proportionate value, and surprises her with it - not at birthdays or other typical gift-giving times - which allows him much more latitude and support when the time comes for the purchase of his 'toy'.

For many years during my first marriage, which ended in her untimely and unexpected passing, I struggled with the correct approach to obtain permission for the purchase of any tool that costs more than a screwdriver when there were many other needs, real or perceived, that should command more attention. Once I figured this strategy out, it worked like a charm and actually provided me with other rewards as I was finally viewed as a considerate and thoughtful husband. She may well have seen through the smoke screen but, if she did, she never said so and probably wouldn't on account of the potential of receiving more of her 'toys' in the future.

Good luck to all of you who need this advice and put it into practice. Further, this may trigger some responses that are more valuable to those of us who need all the help we can get to support our tool dependencies.

I often cite a comment that Henry Ford reportedly made, "If you need a tool and don't buy it, you will eventually have paid for it and not have it." My own favorite is "I never met a tool that I did not fall in love with."

A man can never be too rich or have too many tools.

I had to laugh, as I am sure my wife does not view me as the "considerate and thoughtful husband", and I have yet to ask permission before buying a tool for the shop. But she does appreciate the balance between shop projects and house projects, and realizes that even $10-12k/yr is cheap compared to the cost of those projects if the labor and design were hired out.

I'm one of the fortunate ones who buys tools as he pleases with no need to please the powers that be. For now I can spend my hard earned money on shell mills and indexable end mills and other various shop tools that send shivers down my spine when making the first chips. But I will take the advice into account!

There's never been a worse time in history to be a man.

When was the last time you saw a TV show or commercial where the father was made out to be anything other than a bumbling fool who has to be kept in line by his wife and kids? 1974?

I suggest this - if your wife complains about a tool purchase, simply yell at the top of your lungs "Shut your mouth, woman, and get in the kitchen and make me a turkey pot pie!"

If she need a new toaster, tell het to sell off some shoes to pay for it.

He who dies with the most tools wins.