A man invites friends to a tool party. Hammers and saws demonstrated and sold in his living room. The response would be universal.

The difference between men and women: A buddy sends an invitation to me and a dozen other close friends inviting us to a party where he will be serving beer and some light snacks while demonstrating a selection of top-of-the-line, brand name tools. Following the demonstration, we will be given the option of purchasing any of the products if we so desire.

Hammers, jigsaws, ratchet sets, drills, screwdrivers. A wide selection of toolbox staples will be made available. We may even be given the chance to try out the tools in some makeshift living room workshop.

Or maybe instead of tools, our friend is selling golf clubs or poker paraphernalia or fishing tackle.

The actual merchandise doesn’t matter. It’s our reaction to our friend’s invite that makes the difference.

Upon receiving the invitation, it would immediately become a race between all of the invitees to see who could arrive at our friend’s doorstep first in order to punch him in the face.

Men would not stand for this kind of nonsense. We understand the dangers of the slippery slope. Allow just one man host one of these “parties” and before you know it, we’d be getting invitations for all kinds of retail-in-the-living-room nonsense.

Hell no. A punch in the face seems quite appropriate in a case like this.

Extreme situations call for extreme measures.

Women, by contrast, reluctantly agree to attend these product parties. They politely purchase an item or two that could have otherwise been purchased in a store or online, and then they complain about the “party” after the fact.

I have heard three different women lament their grudging participation in these parities just this month, and as a man who works almost exclusively with women, I can assure you that this month is not unusual.

Women do this to themselves by agreeing to polite.

Men understand that polite isn’t always the best course of action.