An on-line shopping question

As a boy I liked going to the department stores at Christmastime. I enjoyed the decorations and the ‘hype’. Now I am a middle aged; I’d sooner eat rats in Tewkesbury than go to a store at Christmas time.  (Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel exempted). 

For Grinches like me, the internet is a godsend. Catalogs by the cartload arrive in early autumn. I browse and set some of them aside for an afternoon to make all internet purchases or phone calls. Christmas shopping is done.

In my line of work I hear all sorts of interesting tales. I recently heard something extraordinary: a fellow was unhappy about having to brave the department stores to find his girlfriend a Christmas present. Why not use a catalog or go on line? Apparently ‘this was not enough effort’ in his wife’s eyes – and he added a lot of women think that way. Apparently the man is supposed to ‘exert some effort’ rather than move a mouse and point and click.  Really!?  I have never heard of this.

The notion men ‘need to work a bit’ when buying a gift for a women sounds odd.  My first reaction was his girlfriend seems a bit of a shrew. 

Questions to Spo-Fans 

A)   Have you ever heard of this?

B)    Do you feel the gift is ‘less’ if you know it was ordered on line?