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[Arachno-capitalist]

I was reminded today how it was that I came to learn how to tie a tie. It was Easter and I had to know this process, but did not have anyone to ask. So my genius idea was to search AOL profiles for the word "CEO" - because a CEO needs to know how to tie a tie. So there I was, a young naive kid, IMing random CEOs to find out how to tie a tie. Eventually I landed on a private pilot in Florida who walked me through the process via Instant Message as we sat simultaneously tieing our ties in front of our computers.   

[jay-ell]

That is mind-boggling to me, for three reasons:

1) That's an incredibly clever way to use the tools you had available, kudos on thinking outside the box

2) I didn't have internet access at home until my junior year of high school

3) There wasn't anybody you could ask how to tie a tie on Easter? That might be the Saddest Thing.

[Choop]

jay-ell the internet wasn't available at home until we were juniors in high school. i learned how to tie my tie from esquire magazine, which i've been subscribing to since i started college. until then my dad just tied a tie and loosened it for me to put on over my head

[wombat]

This is mind-boggling to me because this is so clearly the child who grew up to be A-Cap.

[Nabubrush]

Word.

My dad showed me how to tie a tie, but I think I've always disappointed him because I don't tie 'em full Windsor anymore. I got internet at home maybe a week before I discovered Achewood/WiGU/Diesel Sweeties/Dumbrella.

[Arachno-capitalist]

I mean my mom was great and all, but I think she enjoyed the theater of watching me find new and different ways to do basic stuff. The result of that process is this eccentric dude who feels like no problem is too large.

[jay-ell]

This is mind-boggling to me because this is so clearly the child who grew up to be A-Cap.

OK, yes, that too. But in a way, it kind of explains a lot.

I learned to tie a tie when I was in grade school. My mom taught me at the same time she taught my brother. It was a given that women needed to know how to tie ties, too, so we could teach our sons.

Later, when I worked at a restaurant, the skill came in very handy.

[AugustWest]

Shouldn't you have called a haberdasher?

[theinevitable]

my dad talks frequently about how he had to teach himself to shave. His mom decided it was a "man thing" that she couldn't teach him, even though... girls shave. This process involved a lot of a product called "liquid skin."

[greenkoolayd]

there was no dad, but there were family friends who were dudes that showed me and my younger brother how to tie a tie(i was twelve, he was ten, and the youngest two didnt need to care).  i only knew the half windsor until last year because of curiosity and a video on artofmanliness.com.

those same dudes explained shaving, but i had to do the actual learning on my own.

[Arachno-capitalist]

my dad talks frequently about how he had to teach himself to shave. His mom decided it was a "man thing" that she couldn't teach him, even though... girls shave. This process involved a lot of a product called "liquid skin."

And I get where I am because people like your dad recognize my plight and guide me. See you fell into a situation that was created by your father's endless hard work, I didn't. People like your father are caught in a conflict where they have figured out how to get where they are, but do not know how to make their children recreate that situation. So here you are working at a grocery store at an age where he was trying to take over the world.

[jaydub]

I was taught how to tie a tie by my second grade teacher.  It was part of the curriculum at Sydney Grammar Prep.  Full Windsor, no less.

[AugustWest]

My dad taught me the Windsor, but I can't think of the last time I used it.  I stick to the simpler Four-in-Hand.

[theinevitable]

People like your father are caught in a conflict where they have figured out how to get where they are, but do not know how to make their children recreate that situation. So here you are working at a grocery store at an age where he was trying to take over the world.

actually at my age he still thought he wanted to go into government, and was working at a job that made him so nervous that he puked in the bathroom, every single day.
weird.

but I do think about the things you just said a lot.
I think this job is changing a lot of my priorities in re: "I want to have a job where I get to make decisions, and earn money."

[pmcd9]

His mom decided it was a "man thing" that she couldn't teach him, even though... girls shave.

Not so much.  Not back then.