At a party one night I heard a woman regaling some other women about how clever she'd been the week before, and how happy her women friends were when she and her hubby hosted a dinner party at her home. She has a fabulous chef, and the sit-down dinner for 5 other couples was delicious and lovely as usual.
After the guests finished the main meal the hostess announced that dessert was ready in the study. As the guests arrived in the study they found an out-of-town jewelry designer there with his goods displayed on a "buffet." The husbands were expected to buy "dessert" for their wives and, of course, try to out-do each other with their generosity.
Now all of these guys have megabucks and could easily afford a bauble or two, but who wants to be maneuvered that way? I couldn't tell if all of the wives were in on the scheme or not. One of the husbands was in hearing range of the storyteller though and the expression on his face said that he definitely did not appreciate the scam.
Interestingly enough, most of the wives who got dessert that night are no longer the wives of the gentlemen "marks".
