Dad Men…
I know we’re all embracing this vintage “it’s a [mad] men’s world,” and watching it with a “Boy, weren’t the olden days crazy” lens, there is one place where the executive desk set is still alive and smoking in the boys’ room.
The Father’s Day card aisle.
They must have stopped coming up with new ideas circa Don Draper. Standing in the aisle, searching every greeting for one that is even mildly appropriate, you’ll find fewer than a handful of variations. If you were to construct a father from their themes, you’d come up with a weird visitor from another era. Or one that could comfortably guest star with Roger Sterling.
According to the cards, all dads play golf. They’re depicted either by a giant #1 trophy or a tie. They’re looking for any excuse to skip out of household responsibilities and retire to their favorite chairs. And they’re the wallet.
We celebrate the activities that get them out of the house on the weekend for hours at a time, understand them as whatever it is they do during the day, and know to leave them alone when come home. Unless we need allowance. That doesn’t seem like much of a greeting.
If you take these stereotypes and apply economics, you get some more nonsense. Dads’ workload is worth 20k to that of moms’ 60k. Because men know how to work the tools, obviously.
Or, we could ignore what the mommy books and daddy cards tell us we’re supposed to be, and just be people.
This post was not sponsored by the PGA.
