Me, Jane - You, Tech Boy

If you’ve ever really wondered what boys are good for, go check out JB Hi-Fi on a Saturday. Floating around the audio visual/technical type sections you will invariably see a host of male sales assistants and a number of male shoppers drooling over the merchandise. What females you do see around there, are usually accompanied by their boyfriends - even she is the one making the purchase.

Now I’m not saying here that females are inept in this field (or even that all guys know what the hell they are talking about). My sister for example, is one funky tech chick and gets excited over things like Leatherman Waves and other accessories I don’t know how to use (let alone know what to do with) but even she has her limits. Buying a car stereo was one of them. And her story is all too familiar. I’m pretty sure that on any given weekend if you were out and about, you would be able to overhear a conversation somewhat like the following.

Salesman: Can I help you at all today sir?
Boyfriend: Yeah, my girlfriend is looking for a new car stereo. Something with MP3 and WMA playback capability that could also read CD-R’s and CD-RW’s. That’s what you want isn’t it honey?
Girl: I just want something that will play all my CD’s. That one looks kinda nice.

We have now established that the boyfriend is potentially not just there for show and may know what he’s talking about. The boyfriend has after all showed interest in what the product actually does as opposed to what it looks like. The girl on the other hand will now be known as Blonde for the rest of the conversation.

Salesman: Yes, this is a great model. Its been really popular with the multi-colour dot-matrix display that also has a contrast adjustment and slot lights unlike some other models.

Salesman makes a pitch at both the Blonde and the Boyfriend to establish if they are real contenders or if they merely read an article yesterday about what to look for in car stereos. Also whether they are worthy of a normally-its-X-but-specially-for-today-its-Y discount or a more serious I-obviously-can’t-bullshit-you-so-I’ll-just-impress-you discount.

Boyfriend: What other features does it have though? Does this one have a 4-band parametric EQ?

Boyfriend has now upped the stakes, suggesting that he really does know what he’s talking about and opening the door for geek-speak so he can Battle for Blonde by impressing the hell out of her and getting a good deal.

Salesman: No, but this model over here might be what you’re after. It has a 4-band parametric EQ in addition to 4-channel digital time alignment and MediaXpander.

Salesman now waits to see if Boyfriend can reply appropriately to answer still open 'Blonde and Brains vs Blonde and Brawn question'.

Boyfriend: That’s a fair bit more money. I’m assuming it also has a 3-position crossover and subwoofer level and phase controls then?

Boyfriend has now proved his worth and impressed Salesman.

Salesman: Naturally. Its also XM radio ready. I can see you are a discerning listener. I normally don’t do this but if you want to take this today I can offer it to you for X (naming a price that is at least 25% lower than ticket price).

Boyfriend has now also impressed the socks off Blonde who when asked for her input, naturally gets right to the heart of the matter.

Blonde: Does it have pretty colours and do you think it’ll match my car?

ps. I have nothing against Blondes. I myself would be 'Über-Blonde' in this situation.
pps. I also have a sneaking suspicion I may have completely embarrassed myself by using lots of big words I don't understand.