One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was washing my truck; a 2007 Nissan 6 cylinder Frontier. A good truck but no ‘creature comforts’. There was barely room for the dog to lay down behind the seats. The body was in good condition. I just had major work done to the brakes. The tires were good but one had a slow leak. No rust. Plain fabric seats. Just 25,000 miles on it. A good truck but not a great one. You know a great truck is. One that can easily pull a trailer up long canyons, with leather interior, heated seats, lots of power, and enough room for the dog, my tools and a cooler in the back seat area. “ooooh….Honey, look at this truck”, I said, handing her my laptop. Cars.com, a great shopping site for us guys on a rainy day.
“Yes, nice. But we don’t need a truck. You have one”.
“I know”, I replied. “But this has room, and power, and comfort, and sliding mirrors, and the AirForum pages I read says it is a great tow-vehicle”.
“Yes, nice. But we don’t need a truck. You have one”. I didn’t recognize it at the time but I think this is her way of ‘explaining’ things to me.
I shot back, “But its red, it has a backup camera to help hitching up the trailer. It has heated and cooled seats! And the guys on the Forum say that with the heavy tow package, this could tow 1200 lbs!” I think I had her……
“Yes, nice. But we don’t need a truck. You have one”.
Hmmmm….. Okay, I have had training in negotiation. I know how to turn facts into an uncompromising propositions. I should be able to talk my way….oh yeah! “But Honey, if we plan to use something like this on our long trips instead of YOUR car, we save all that mileage on YOUR wonderful car”! There, that should do it. She has to agree with that logic.
Putting down her magazine, she turned to me and answered, “Okay”, do you want to go look at at trucks today”?
Me: “Yes”.
Her: “You do know what this means, right?”.
Me: “Uhhh…..”.
Her: “There is no way this fits in our retirement budget”.
Me….thinking hard now…..Damn!
Explaining aside, it is in our DNA. We’ve got to have fun, got to have our toys. And no matter what, I can create logic in my head, where there is none. Which is why I now have a shiny new red truck sitting in the driveway and I can’t wait to hitch up the trailer and take off to somewhere…..
