Mandolines are nice when you need a whole lot of uniform slices. Otherwise, not so useful.
I have a Bron fancy French one and don't use it all that often- I'm not a production cook - but when you really need a bunch of slices, it's great to have. I have a whole bunch of cooking and woodworking tools which I have justified with that argument.
My wife continues to buy this excuse, as long as a: I do a lot of the cooking and b: I make furniture for the house. We're pretty well furnitured-up in the condo now, and I don't know how much longer I can get away with that part of the deal. I'll just have to keep cooking.
I, too got a cut-resistant glove to lower my own anxiety about using the Bron. I'm not sure it would do much good on the table saw.
Mike