RUSH: Here’s Mark in St. Louis. Nice to have you, sir, on the EIB Network and Open Line Friday.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Mega dittos from St. Louis. I have a question. I need your, uh, advice and basically, uh, to get my wife to believe the same way I do. Uh, I listen to your show every day, and we are getting ready to move into a new house.
RUSH: Congratulations! In a slumping housing market, you in St. Louis are moving up to a new house. I’m happy to hear that.
CALLER: Well, thank you very much, and basically our argument is over our mattress. We have a five-year-old mattress —
RUSH: That’s not a good thing to be arguing about, Mark.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: That really isn’t. It’s one place you never want to argue.
CALLER: Exactly. And she basically, you know, thinks it’s fine or, if we need a new one, we can buy, you know, a cheap one — and since I listen to you every day and listen to how you say you sleep on the Sleep Number Bed, I was wondering if I should really pursue that to get the Sleep Number Bed, if it was really, indeed, that good and, you know, maybe give me some hints.
RUSH: Well, I’ve been sleeping on it for 11 years, and I’ve had different versions of it over 11 years, but I’ve had one for 11 years. One thing I have people ask, ‘Do you really use that bed you talk about?’ How could anyone dare challenge my integrity and honor by asking me such a question? Somebody asked me the other day, ‘Do you really drive those General Motors cars?’ Well, what do you think, folks? So now basically you’re wondering, you want to know if I really use the bed. It’s probably your wife, right?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: It’s probably your wife who wonders. Does your wife listen to the program?
CALLER: She listens to it sometimes. She’s a school teacher, but I always tell her to listen to it on her break.
RUSH: What’s her objection to the bed?
CALLER: Basically that, you know, it costs too much and that we’re moving into a new house and we, you know, need more things than just, you know, a bed, but my argument is: If you don’t get a good night’s sleep, I could not do good at my job and then lose my job and we would lose the house.
RUSH: Well, that’s one way of looking at it. But, you know, getting a good night’s sleep is important for other reasons, too. You’re moving into a new house. I have to share a little philosophy with you here.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: When are you moving?
CALLER: We are moving, it should be built probably within three weeks. We’ll probably move.
RUSH: You’re building a new house.
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: I bet many Americans are wondering how in the world this is possible with the subprime and the mortgage markets roiled and going to hell in a hand basket. But I don’t want to get sidetracked with that. I remodeled my house, once, big time. I actually cut it in half and expanded it, and it took two years, and about a year and a half in, I started to get impatient, because I’d go in every day and I wouldn’t see anything done. ‘The contractor’s ripping me off! I get bills, and I can’t see anything being done, here. I’m not seeing any progress.’ So I started thinking, ‘All right, I’m going to just tell ’em forget this plan. Forget that plan. Forget that molding. Just get me ready to move in,’ and then somebody said to me, ‘It’s six months. Get it the way you want it. You’ll have it for the rest of your life. You got a long life to live yet, so get it the way you want it.’ So you’re getting a new house. You’re going to decorate it. You need things to go in it and so forth. A bed is not insignificant. Whether you end up getting a Sleep Number Bed or not, don’t skimp on this. One way to look… You’re just going to fight about it again in a couple years once the thing gets lumps in it and so forth or makes you snore louder than you normally do. You get a bed that’s quality, and you don’t have to worry about it for years and years and years. It will be done and over with, and you’ll be glad that you did it. In the big scheme of things, shoot higher. Give yourself some incentive to be able to pay for it, to go for it, to get it.
CALLER: That’s what I told her.
RUSH: Well, then what’s the objection? Is it purely the money?
CALLER: Yeah, it’s… You know, she — she thinks, ‘Oh, you know, you can buy, you know, a good mattress for, you know, cheap,’ you know, a cheap price, not as much as a Sleep Number and, you know, it probably is just a, you know, rip-off like everything else that you say is perfect.
RUSH: See? Now we’re getting to the point. I knew if I stuck with this long enough, I knew that we would get to the nub of it. The nub of it, she thinks, it’s a gimmick, right?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: She just thinks it’s a gimmick. ‘Come on! Air in the mattress? I’ve seen that. It’s probably nothing more than a raft,’ she’s telling you. Until you get on it, apparently what I say about it is not enough for her, because the thing is literally amazing. You can make it as firm or as soft as you want on either side of it; tailor it for what her firmness desires are, yours are and so forth. You gotta be able to go someplace. There are a number of stores that sell them. You can actually lay down on one.
CALLER: Right. Right. Well, I think we’re going to buy one.
RUSH: Well, that’s good! Just make the decision and just go do it.
CALLER: (laughter) I might be sleeping on the couch, though.
RUSH: No, she will, because she doesn’t want the bed.
CALLER: There you go. That’s a good comeback.
RUSH: Now, is it really…? I’m trying to help out here. I’m genuinely trying to help you. Is it just money, or is it — be honest with me — the fact that I recommend the bed that gives her a reason to oppose it?
CALLER: Well, I think, again, she thinks it’s a gimmick, and I think that, you know, she uses money as a — you know, as a — tool to cover up on, you know, ulterior motives, like you said, that she thinks it’s a gimmick and things like that.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CALLER: You know, I think we can, you know —
RUSH: Tell her they’ve got ’em in Radisson hotels.
CALLER: Right. And I think — I think —
RUSH: Go spend the night in a hotel. Hint, hint.
CALLER: There you go.
RUSH: Take her out on a date. Spend the night. Don’t tell her that you’re going there because there’s a Select Number Bed, just make sure you’ve got a room that’s got one in there and say, ‘Oh, honey, lookie here!’ after you wake up.
CALLER: Right, exactly, exactly. Because like I said, I don’t think it’s a money issue, because I know we can afford it.
RUSH: Yeah, well, man, this is just marriage. This is just marriage.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: You’re the husband and what you think and what you want, somebody’s always going to be able to convince her otherwise.
CALLER: Yeah, her friend.
RUSH: (laughter) Well, I hope I’ve helped here, but be a man about this. You know it’s a good bed; you know it’s something that you want to try. There’s no reason not to get it. This is a bed. We’re not talking about some extravagant item here. We’re talking about a functional portion of a major important room in your house.
CALLER: Correct. Correct. I agree.
RUSH: How long have you been married?
CALLER: We have been married for five years.
RUSH: How long do you want to be married?
CALLER: Uhhhh… For…ever, hopefully.
RUSH: (laughter) Then get the bed and show who’s boss. Put the foot down. Compromise somewhere else, but this is too important. You know, you’re not talking about what kind of washer and dryer you’re going to get here.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: You’re not talking about what kind of lawn mower you’re going to end up buying.
CALLER: Right. It’s a bed.
RUSH: It’s a bed! It’s the bed in your bedroom.
CALLER: Exactly. It has to be comfortable.
RUSH: Well, it is that. You can make it as comfortable as you want. It’s a fabulous bed! I’ve given these things away —
CALLER: Well, that’s what I told her.
RUSH: — and I’ve never had anybody give it back.
CALLER: Right. That’s what I told her. I told her it’s very comfortable. So… I’m sure we will buy it. I’ll tell her that I talked to you personally.
RUSH: You tell her I said this. You tell her that the bedroom is the foundation where the home is laid every day.
CALLER: There you go.
RUSH: You tell her that.
CALLER: I will. I will definitely do that.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: Thank you.
RUSH: Good luck, and keep us posted there, Mark. (laughing)