Which one is better, this or that?

Making choices is truly difficult. Especially when you are a man and a woman.
Take dinner, for example. Let's say a man asks a lady.

“What do you want for dinner?”
“Anything is fine.”
“Then let's have ramen.”
“I had ramen yesterday, so no.”
“How about pizza then?”
“I don't want that, it seems fattening.”
“Then how about sushi?”
“I'm not really in the mood for sushi.”
“Huh. Then what do you want?”
“No, I told you, anything is fine.”

Then just have the ramen!

Doesn't it feel like there are options, but in reality, there aren't? This happens quite often in my house, too. Those kinds of situations.

This is a story from when the two of us went clothes shopping.
After much hesitation, my wife brought over two skirts.

“Which one is better, this or that?”

In her right hand was a brown skirt. In her left hand was a green skirt. Both colors had a calm impression, and the price and size were the same. In other words, deciding which product to choose would come down to the color.

“Hmm, let's see...”

My wife doesn't like flashy colors. She often wears calm browns or light beige. She almost never brings me flashy pinks or yellows. This time it was green or brown—aren't both of those her favorite colors? Plus, both look good on her. It's beautiful. This is... which one is better?

The answer “just buy both” is not an option. My wife is thinking about the household budget. She is determined to buy only one. I have to choose one for sure.

I relied on my intuition and pointed to the green one.

“I think this one looks better on you.”
“Hmm, I wonder. Isn't the brown one better?”

My wife tilted her head and held the clothes up in front of the mirror. She put the green skirt back on the shelf and brought over another one.

It's brown again.

This time it was brown vs. light brown. The color just got a little bit lighter. It's not different from before at all! As I was getting annoyed, I realized something. I had fallen into a trap again.

“Which one is better, this or that?”
My wife is asking again, but the real meaning is this:

“I think it's this one, and you think so too, right? Right?”
She is seeking empathy. It's only natural that stating my own opinion normally would lead to failure. But, however. I don't know, I just don't know.
I have no idea which one my wife prefers. I'm not an esper or a Newtype to be able to empathize.
But I can't make my beloved wife sad. We came all this way to shop. I want us to have a good time and finish shopping in a good mood.
So I made a proposal.

“Wife, please be a cat.”

My wife looked puzzled. I did the beckoning cat pose. In short, it's like this.

When you bring two pieces of clothing in both hands and ask “Which is better?”, I want you to lift the one you want me to choose just a little bit. Then I can empathize by saying, “This one! I knew it, I thought this one looked good on you too!”

You might say that's not even a consultation, but this lucky cat strategy has brought peace to our family shopping.
Men are insensitive. We still don't perfectly understand a girl's feelings, after all.

In the end, my wife bought the brown skirt she was holding at first. I am super happy to see my wife smiling. We went home chatting in high spirits.

"Come to think of it, a high-end bakery opened in the neighborhood. I heard it was even featured online. How much do you think it costs?"

Hmm. Since it's high-end, it might cost at least a thousand yen.

"Then 1,200 yen."
"Um, 800 yen."

Darn it. In this case, I should have guessed a lower price. The flow of the conversation was supposed to be, 'Is it that expensive and high-end? That's an amazing shop,' but I messed it up. The conversation about the bakery ended on a downer right there. It was an event that made me realize there are things where the lucky cat strategy cannot be activated.

As I thought, making choices is difficult for me.