At my house I think this may be true. It is not because dad is less valued - it is because dad goes out and buys himself what he wants when he wants. It leaves few options for special occasion giving. When a special occasion is coming up, I store up ideas of things I would like and drop hints or even make a little list - like an Amazon wish list. This year, as in years past, I asked for a professional house cleaning - this year that was translated to carpet cleaning. Which is fine. The carpets needed to be cleaned. I just wished Merry Maids was also coming by to scrub the tubs!
When the kids start asking me what dad wants for Father's Day - I may or may not have managed to come up with some ideas. This year I was pretty blank. He is getting a gift card for his favorite coffee place because I can see that he is using his debt card to buy coffee there several times a week. Our son is taking him out for a long bike ride. I was coming up really dry for ideas - then it hit me. Our local favorite restaurant has a great house wine which is not sold anywhere locally (and costs a small fortune to have shipped) but they are willing to sell bottles from the restaurant as long as they are opened (some kind of limitation on their liquor license.)
Now, I send a lot of business to this restaurant in my position at the hotel and I know people have told them I have sent them. On my first visit I introduced myself as a hotel employee to the owner - but I never have since, plus I have never expected or received any special consideration.
That said, I do admit to a bit of calculation in my thinking when I went in to purchase some of the wine for Tom for his Father's Day gift when I stopped in, in uniform, on my way to work. At first they were not so sure about allowing me to purchase 6 bottles - but the chef came out of the kitchen, we chatted and then they decided to allow me to purchase them unopened. Shhh - don't tell!
So I managed to get something Tom could not get for himself! Some good karma!
Cheers to all the Fathers!
2 comments:
My husband bought some stuff for his car -- that was his father's day gift. I bought myself a panini press for mother's day.
My husband is an amazing gift giver, but never wants anything (or if he does he buys it). I think he gets a kick out of being the legendary gift-giver, so my yearly lame Startbucks card is a gift in itself.
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