Mr. Milan and I have a problem:Â We are both indecisive about little things.
We might decide we want to go out to eat. (In fact, since I am on deadline and he is working weird hours, we often decide this.) Usually, the conversation devolves into something like this:
Me: Where should we go?
Mr. Milan: I don’t know. Where do you want to go?
Me: No fair. I asked first.
Mr. Milan: I asked last.
Me: Okay, let’s each list criteria about the place we would like to go, and when we narrow it down so much that there’s only one such place, we will know where to go.
Mr. Milan: Great. I’ll start. The place we go must serve food.
Me: It must serve edible food.
Mr. Milan: It must serve edible, yummy food.
Me: I see this is going to take a long time.
My whole family is like this. At one family reunion, we decided to order pizza and two of my brothers-in-law watched the pizza-ordering process devolve into an endless rehash of toppings we liked and didn’t like. Luckily, they were smart and took the bull by the horns and made decisions themselves. I think they have a secret pact to make decisions for us–and I suspect they were more than a little bummed to discover they had not won themselves a new ally in Mr. Milan.
Of course, there are some things I am not indecisive about. In fact, some of my biggest life decisions I have made in all of three seconds, without need for dilly-dallying.
Are you ever indecisive? If so, how are you indecisive?
What about the super-alpha brother? Does he sit around pontificating over pizza toppings too? 🙂
Oh sheesh, i’ve had this conversation many times with many people: friends, realtives.
As for the marriage, most likely you’ll get over this in a couple years. Then your conversation will go something like this.
“Where do you want to eat?”
“Olive garden sounds good.”
“Oh.”
“Whats wrong with that?”
“Nothing. it’s fine.”
“Well obviously you want to go somewhere else, so just say it.”
“You know Olive Garden makes me sick.”
“So what, you’re saying I dont care?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You’re obviously implying that.”
“I am not. i dont care where we go.”
“Just forget it. We can go home and you can make your own damn food.”
The older brother is the worst enabler of indecision. Every time someone says something like, “Okay, how about green pepper with sausage?” his nose will wrinkle and he’ll say something like, “Green pepper? With sausage?” He acts as if every potential pizza combination is a harbinger for the anti-Christ.
Now, you might say that the easy response is to tell him not to eat the green pepper with sausage pizza. Doesn’t work. He sees it as his God-given right to steal food from any and all of us. This means that every pizza purchased must be created to his personal satisfaction.
Lori,
To avoid that particular round, Mr. Milan and I also play the “name 7 eliminate 1 each round game” which avoids the “I don’t want to choose but I don’t like your choice” dilemma. 🙂
But what is wrong with the Olive Garden? I like the Olive Garden!
Absolutely, food. My conversations with my fellow usually go….
Me: What do you want to eat?
Him: Food.
Me: Oh yes, as opposed to cardboard.
And as to pizza. I’m always indecisive about whether I should get it. At whole foods, I walk up to the pizza stand then convince myself to walk away…. but then I start thinking. Mmmm. Tomato sauce. Woodfire pizza. Feta cheese. Spinach. And then as if my feet have brainpower of their own I am back in front of the pizza stand. To get or not to get will start a long line of internal dialogue. If anyone else was privy to it, I would be shipped off to the nearest mental institution.
Indecisive? Me? Guilty as charged. I go back and forth between decisions, especially the “little” things. Big things, I seem to be able to quickly make my mind about and then I wonder if I made the right decision. LOL. But, I have no problem in telling other people what to do (maybe it’s the Oldest Child syndrome?).
Courtney – I so have had that conversation of the last 20 years. We are just the same in my house. Deciding what to order for take out can take an hour. :o)
Tracey and Elyssa, I have heard that the new iPhone has an application that will take all the restaurants in the area and roll dice and tell you where you’re going. That is probably the biggest draw for me. 😉
Now if only they would do that with menus!