Strike one, strike two, solid line drive (OT)

This post is a little off topic, but not entirely. With the baby coming, we've been trying to get the house ready. Besides just the baby, we're also having some family over at Christmas to avoid lengthy travels.
We had that carpet put in a little bit ago in the baby's room (I guess they always smell weird at first, huh?).
But a more important (and more costly) effort is replacing some windows in the house. We have four old, single-pane windows in the front of our house. They're drafty and ugly and probably about as old as the house (around 50 years). We also have two even draftier windows upstairs. We used to have an attic that was renovated into a couple of rooms by the previous owners.
Anyway, we figured we'd make some changes before the baby came. We obviously should have done this back in the fall, rather than now, with the weather dipping into the 40s and hard rains a'coming. But we didn't.
Anyway, I figured I'd make some calls over the weekend. I opened one of those local advertising mailers and set aside the local window offerings. The next morning, I made some calls ...

STRIKE 1:
The first place I called said it was rated the top company in the country for windows. They asked me some questions, I answered. It was all going well until they asked when they could get together with me and my wife. My wife, I explained, has no interest in being part of this. We've discussed what we want, and they'd be meeting just with me. (I didn't throw in the fact that she's 8 months pregnant and usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day. I figured I don't need an excuse; I'm the customer looking to spend a couple thousand dollars). But it was no good. The representative said they would not meet with just me. I was stunned.

STRIKE 2:
So I called the next company I found. They've been in business locally for more than 25 years. I explained what we were looking for. The phone rep said they could come out and meet with my wife and me in the next week (I hadn't even told this guy I was married!) I said they'd just be meeting with me. He said they can't do that ... he claimed they had an experience where the husband had signed a contract and the wife had refused to take delivery. I said: Me or nothing. They said they couldn't meet with me. What the heck is this?

NICE LINE DRIVE:
At this point, my wife suggested I call the guy who did our carpet and ask him for a recommendation. That man was in charge of a family-run business, and he did an excellent job. I said I might give that a try, but I was going to call one more place first. I said I might try a new strategy: I'd be a control-freak chauvinist and tell the rep I got on the phone that I make the decisions, the house is in my name and the bank account is in my name, so there's no reason to talk to my wife. Amanda didn't like that much. I said it was either that or tell them (a) I'm not married or (b) my wife is out of the country for the next three months. She said we should be honest and just not do business with a company that insists on us doing something we don't want to do. And there you have one of the great things about Amanda: I'm trying to be all devious and she just gives the most honest, logical answer out there. Why should we support a company with such annoying policies?
So, I call a local company. Turns out they're a family-owned business in the area for more than 40 years. I quickly ask if they're going to insist on meeting with my wife and me. The rep (owner?) laughs and says they don't do that. I make an appointment for Monday night. I ask how long it will take, he says it will be about 15 minutes. Again, I'm stunned: We had a gutter company sales guy in our house two months ago, and he took more than two hours, all the while complaining that he was meeting only with me and not with me and my wife. On top of that, the price the local window guy gave me is pretty reasonable. It's a line drive (instead of a home run) only because he can't promise to get it done by Christmas. All in all, though, it still seems pretty good.