I forgot I needed a penis!!

[thefinerthingsinlife]

My car had a flat battery so I took dh's car to Halfords to buy jump leads.

Whilst looking for said jump leads a youngish man came over and asked if I needed help. I asked where the jump leads were and he took me to them. I picked up the box and looked at it andhe asked if I knew what I looking for, I replied that I was checking it was for the correct engine size and type. He then asked me if I had a husband at home to help me jump start the car . I calmly looked at him and said "I didn't realise you needed a penis to use them".

I left him there spluttering. I'm bloody annoyed as I know exactly how to jump start a car and find it insulting that he thought because of my sex I wouldn't!

a nice question would have been 'are you ok with how to use them??'

i think they should do penises you can plug in to the cigarette lighter.

Forgot to say, the title of this thread is brilliant. I will have it running through my head in many situations henceforth.

Also the assumption that the hypothetical husband would obviously know how to use them. I doubt my DP would have any clue about such things (or is it marriage, not just the possession of a penis, that infers this magical knowledge on a man?)

Someone I know is a SAHD, wife works full time. And even though he is the main caretaker, people ask all the time if they can talk to his wife about something or other concerning the kids. Doctors, teachers etc either call the mum to ask her something while the dad is standing right there and would know the answer way better than mum. Or they ask him to give her a message, usually about something really important that dads obviously cannot handle, like that next week little Susan or Oliver should not have this or the other in the lunchbox or similar.

Apparently, for some things you need a vagina..

Ephiny, that's the funny thing my DH hasn't got a clue how to jump start a car, he came out when I did it so I could teach him

Very nice response!!

I was set upon by a PTA person last night and strongarmed into helping out at some coffee morning or other. While DH stood there unmolested, presumably thanking his lucky stars for that Y chromosome.

Good response but surely you need two people to jump start a car - one in each vehicle?

Maybe I am just too laid back about this stuff but I cannot see the offence in his comment - it sounds like he simply wanted to make sure that you were going to be able to get the car started.

No you just attach the leads, start the booster car then start the flat car, easy.

Ah I see - presumed you really needed one person in each car.

Even so you do need two cars which most people don't have - I still think he was simply making a clumsy association between an extra pair of hands and the likelihood of a husband and not suggesting you needed a man per se.

the sad thing is i bet he won't say that again and will be less helpful in the future, well done sisterhood

This reminds me of a friend who took her car into a garage because of a rattling noise from the rear. The mechanic asked if she had dropped her lipstick in the boot??? Still makes me larf 20 years on .

He could have asked if she had another car at home? Or someone with a car she could use? Or just asked whether she was happy with how to use them, and she could have said 'yes thanks, I've done this before' and no one would have needed to take any offence

I wonder if it had been a man would he have said 'do you have a wife at home to help you'? I would guess in that case the question would have been phrased differently, or more likely, he would have assumed the man knew what he was doing, and knew that two cars were needed and was capable of making sure the necessary arrangements were made.

Point is sea he shouldn't say such patronising things again... One doesn't need a penis to jumpstart a car. He should change the way he thinks about Little Women and hence the way he talks to them.

It's great that he was helpful and he should continue to be so. The fact that finerthings explained she knew what she was looking for and was checking suitability for the engine size ought to suggest that she knew what she was doing. As Ephiny says there are lots of ways he could have phrased the next question other than referring to a bloody husband and if it makes him think again before he opens his mouth in future then GOOD.