I hated this gift given by my father-in-law : Overalls and Work Boots to Replace My Pinstriped Suits and Italian Wingtips

My father-in-law is a powerful presence in our lives. He is a bricklayer; I am an investment banker. He has wanted me to turn into a blue collar worker like himself since I met my wife. He never had a son and wants someone to take over his one-man business.

We have been married twelve years now, and not a visit goes by without a comment about how I should say goodbye to my white collar life and become the man I was made to be! All of his gifts are related to that. 

Two years ago there was a surprise birthday party for me at my office; there my father-in-law presented me with a pair of overalls, work boots and white socks - and insisted as a “joke” that I swap my business attire for his gifts.

Well, this was followed up by the whole crowd demanding the same thing, and I finally gave in and changed.

My father-in-law kept up the “joke” by stealing
my “banker clothes” as he calls them, announcing that I wouldn’t need them anymore! So by the time I left, my Armani pinstriped suit, silk tie, white shirt, cufflinks, English wingtips and black dress socks were piled in a heap in his truck and I was dressed as the blue collar man he wants me to be.

A lousy gift.