Who Wears the Pants in this Relationship?

I realize that I have recently neglected the word 'dishwashers' in my blog title. Work has proven to be fairly mundane over the past few weeks, but this week has definitely been something to write about. Without boring you with the details of my job, the showroom in which I manage, is just that, a showroom. There is no pressure to buy, no deal making, strictly a resource center for people to come and learn about the appliances prior to purchasing or if they have already purchased, many people come to learn how to better USE their appliances. (AKA, "I haven't nor will I ever read my manual, so please tell me how the F to operate these things!")

It seems the economy is either taking a turn for the better OR the clients in which I deal with haven't been effected by the "recession" because I had quite a few couples come into the showroom and tell me they recently purchased all of our appliances and need help using them. I am happy to oblige. However, the clients this past week have been animals! Granted, I am in the customer service field and I see all types of personalities on a daily basis, but what is it with people thinking I am a marriage counselor? For example, a client made an appointment the other day for her and her husband to come in and get an overview of all of the appliances they just installed in their kitchen. They walk in looking almost like Ken & Barbie (well Barbie being 8 months pregnant), and even more, he's Australian. They appear to almost be angelic. We begin with reviewing the washer and dryer. They immediately start firing questions at me, right and left, but talking over each other. I know the answers to each question, but find it hard to answer them because I'm not sure which question to answer first. Then when I do answer one of their questions, the other one gets pissed off because I didn't answer their question first. What is this, kindergarten? I find the tension between the two of them rapidly increasing and then, BOOM, it finally comes to a blow. The wife, turns to ask me a question about something else, and her husband tells her to "focus and stop getting off track" (in a bit of a raised voice). She literally, stops, slowly turns back to face him and screams, I mean screams like the chandeliers in our showroom rattled, screams, "I AM FOCUSING! THIS IS IMPORTANT TOO!" At this point, I wonder what I should do. Do I walk away? Do I act like this is normal? Do I call 911? What do I do? I am so dumbfounded by her reaction that I stand there, I believe with my mouth dropped open. We continue with the demo, but I couldn't help but wonder if this is normal behavior for this couple? Maybe it's just her horomones being that she's 8 months pregnant, but something tells me it's not. I initially think that I can't even imagine what they are like at home if they are like this in public, but on the other hand, they are probably no different. I imagine they act the exact same way in public as they do in the comforts of their own home, since screaming at him seemed so second nature to her.

In another situation, I had a husband and wife come into the showroom with their designer where the wife decided she wanted to add an additional appliance to their kitchen layout. The designer and the husband both tell her they don't have the space and it's too late because the cabinets have already been ordered. And unlike anything I have ever seen before, this 30 something year old woman, starts flapping her arms and stomping her feet. Seriously, stomping around whimpering that they can't tell her no and she has to get what she wants. Again, I stand frozen in amazement wondering if I should walk away or laugh. The husband and designer seem humiliated so I decided laughing was probably not the best idea. I told them I was going to leave them to discuss their options. I mean, come on! Who behaves like that except for a 5 year old child who has just been told no to their favorite piece of candy?

I have been married for a mere 7 months, but like to think that my husband and I make joint decisions. Sure there are times when we don't agree with each other, but we make compromises, we discuss things, and come up with the best solution. We never argue in public, in fact, we very seldom argue, but when we do, it is behind closed doors. However, seeing these couples and I only named 2 of them, there were more, I wonder what is the best way to behave? The first couple I encountered appeared to be like Barbie & Ken, but after spending 10 minutes with them, they were more like Heidi & Spencer. I immediately knew who wore the pants in that relationship. The 2nd couple, I knew the husband was more like the father in that relationship, but assumed that the wife was going to get what she wanted in the long run. Is it wrong to put on a front for people when out in public? Is it fake? Or is it about making your company feel comfortable and having them wonder who wears the pants? And moreover, what's so wrong if my husband and I both wear the pants?