Turns out he does most of the food shopping and cooking at his house and he seems a pretty nice man.  He was simply making an assumption, based on past experience and available information. Something we all do, with varying degrees of success. 

For example, Verizon recently announced a smartphone "designed for the ladies" named (aargggh) Bliss.  At least it's not pink, but it comes pre-loaded with apps for calorie counting and shopping (and there are - be still my heart - accessories!)   Let the Web flames begin! I think the issue is summed up nicely by the Slash Gear headline, Phones for Women: Is Verizon’s Bliss misogynistic or just lazy?

Having worked for and with Verizon, I suggest it's a bit of the former and a lot of the latter.  Phone companies ain't exactly on the cutting edge of marketing.  I also suspect that women's response to this skew along age lines.  Younger women didn't have to fight the battles of us oldsters (the ad at right was perfectly fine, back then...and Ricky regularly threatened to spank Lucy)  - so they often take such lazy marketing in stride. What's the big deal?  And, you know, they're right.  It's not such a big deal, in and of itself.  However, the whole thing reeks of outdated assumptions and patronization.  That IS a big deal. 

Seriously? It's 2011, guys.  "Ricky, you've got some 'splainin' to do!" '

P.S. For all I know, the clueless guy at lunch was assuming I was Jill's wife, and his spouse could be a man...which changes the whole story, doesn't it? :)