Indecisiveness

"D'yawanthereceiptwithyouorinthebag?" mumbled the cashier. I love teenagers.

"Ummm...yeah," answered Andrew.

She put the receipt in the bag, "Youhaveagoodnight."

"Ummmm...okay," we said.

We just bought Andrew some new shoes. We're heading up to Canada in a few weeks and since the shoes he normally wears are completely thrashed, we figured it would be a good idea to get him some shoes that had a little more sole to them.

Amazingly enough, he made his selection pretty easily. The shoes look exactly like his old shoes. There are minute details that are different--I think these new ones might be a little more expensive and am therefore hoping that they last a little bit longer. But for all intents and purposes, they are exactly the same shoes.

I looked at shoes, too. But I didn't buy any. I have a love-hate relationship when it comes to clothes shopping. It's too small, too big, too wide, etc. I think I just like trying things on because I hardly ever end up buying anything.

On the way home we discussed what to have for dinner. Our discussion went something like this,

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't know. What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't know. What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't know. I choose that you choose and you can't make me choose and it has to be something good."

That was me who said that. So I won. I didn't have to decide. That phrase is our way of copping out of a decision. Whoever says it first doesn't have to choose, but they can criticize the choice of the person forced to make the choice until it suits their liking. Usually no criticism is involved because we are both so indecisive that we are happy if the other just makes a decision.

Very often we race to say our cop-out phrase so that we end up sounding something like the teenage cashier, "Ichoosethatyouchoose'n'youcan'tmakemechoose'n'ithastobesomethin'good!"

It serves to be a most useful phrase, especially for me since I'm usually the one to use it because I enjoy playing silly immature games. The only time this isn't very useful is when you can't hear the other person say it. It's almost impossible to make a choice if you can't communicate with the other people involved in the choice.

A few months ago, Andrew and I pulled up to a four-way stop and at the exact moment our car stopped, so did three other cars. We all lurched at the same time and came to a complete stop at the same time. And then we looked at one another, trying to remember what the driver's ed handbook says to do when something like this happens, which it rarely does. As we were all sitting there staring dumbly at each other, I coyly suggested that Andrew begin a match of rock-paper-scissors.

We didn't, but had a good laugh and ended up going through the intersection last (due to the laughter). Quite often now when we come to intersections we joke about rock-paper-scissors. It's really a great way to make a decision without talking, so long as you are within eye-distance of whoever you are making the decision with. If you ever see Andrew and I playing rock-paper-scissors from across the room, I guess you'll know why.