Man Card Violation

[skb12172]

Being the little brother and having been guilty of things like this on occasion, I'll simply say "I resemble that remark." Still funny, tho...

[Greg]

Or, he's just being a younger brother...

As the youngest, nope. That's 'middle child syndrome'- to hear part of what someone is telling you, fill the rest in with the ambient noises in your head, then go running off to do something that makes no sense whatsoever but *does* manage to make life more difficult for those around you.

The oldest, my brother, is pretty bright and pretty competent. He also has very clear ideas of how things should be done, and no ability to articulate those ideas at all. He tends to get VERY upset when you do what he tells you to do, instead of what he thinks (but can't say) you should do. So the only way to live with him at all is to simply ignore most of what he says, just skim it for background info, figure out the problem on your own and then do what's necessary. Hee hee, he says he communicates much better with me than with most other people.

My FIL is exactly the same way. We get along well, and he says I'm very good help on his projects because I understand him better than most people. (Yes, because I don't actually listen to him, but let's not tell him that.)

[Greg]

Posted for review; these should be some fairly basic concepts, but some people OBVIOUSLY cannot grasp them, so I figured I should say something.

When somebody leaves a message on your voice mail, telling you that they are at the sporting goods store, and that they are going to need some help moving a new safe IN A COUPLE OF DAYS....

You do NOT head straight over to their house without calling them, while they are still on their way home from across town.

And UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you announce to his wife, that you are there to help move the new safe.

This is a violation of the Man Card. With extra demerits for doing it to family.

That is all.

There's actually 2 separate Stoopids here.

1) The mind disengaging when it hears something like "I need you to..." and flying off to the rescue- or to someone's house. Without listening to the rest of the message, like ".... this coming Friday".

2) Having a total 'need to know' information control failure. You don't voluntarily tell people things they don't need to know, particularly if it's going to make trouble for someone.

[Netpackrat]

The hell of it is, I probably would have told her about it right away anyway. I usually can't keep my mouth shut about new stuff. But if I had been the one to tell her, it wouldn't have been any big deal, and I wouldn't have been accosted as soon as I walked through the door with questions like, "will it fit in the same closet (yes), will anything else fit in the closet (no), and maybe this is a sign that we need a bigger house (AGNTSA)".

The problem is that she knows that there is already a safe in that closet, but she never really thinks about its size because I've got the rest of the closet full of my stuff and she can't use it anyway. In the female brain, this is interpreted as "the safe fills up the closet so that there is no room for anything else." So, she hears about a bigger safe, and immediately starts to wonder where it is going to go, especially since I almost never get rid of potentially useful stuff (like the old safe, which I'm actually going to sell), and then she has X number of minutes that it takes me to get home to run all the possible repercussions of that in her head.

So yeah, a typical little brother move. Sow chaos everywhere you go, while leaving the older brother to clean up the mess. The only really intelligent thing that he did was to be someplace else by the time I got home. If it had been rocket science, he probably wouldn't have f---ed it up at all. His lame excuse was that I did not specifically ask for "covert" or "ninja" moving assistance. You would think that somebody with his background would know to employ the concept of "need to know" without having to be specifically told.

[Termite]

And so we wait for TRX to post an excuse............

[arctictom]

I usually age stuff at work for a while , then move it home , just easier all the way around

[Cybrludite]

I usually age stuff at work for a while , then move it home , just easier all the way around

I just stay single. Even easier, and a bigger budget for toys... Of course, the whole "always waking up alone" thing bites, but it's been worth it so far.

[HTRN]

I usually age stuff at work for a while , then move it home , just easier all the way around

I know a few people who's method is "store it in the back of the safe, where it won't get noticed for a few months".

[SoupOrMan]

I just stay single. Even easier, and a bigger budget for toys... Of course, the whole "always waking up alone" thing bites, but it's been worth it so far.

That's what I tell myself. "I need another stick. This one doesn't feel right." "New gear? Well, the old stuff is going to my cousin so he can learn to play hockey." "Maybe these elbow pads and gloves will fit together better so I don't catch another slash across my forearm again." "Who doesn't need a Springfield 1903 Mark I?"

(For those of you with a spare Springfield 1903 Mark I, I'm always willing to work on a good price.)

Also, it's not so much waking up alone as it is not having backup.

[arctictom]

I usually age stuff at work for a while , then move it home , just easier all the way around

I know a few people who's method is "store it in the back of the safe, where it won't get noticed for a few months".

O man I forgot I had that , cool, I have 'stuff' I should sell but cant seem to part with , mil-spec M1A mags , couple ziess scopes , laser sights, etc. and they are in the back of the safe.