Recently, all I have been hearing about from my female friends are tales of woe about how difficult it is to live with their husband and/or significant other because of all their bad habits. And the interesting thing is that all the women seem to be complaining about very similar things. They joke around that they wish he could be trained as well as their dog. It made me start to wonder if all men are part of a conspiracy to drive their women crazy at home. This is not to say that there aren't plenty of neat men out there, but it seems that those men are in the minority or save their neat genes for their own closets and their own drawers and not for the rest of the home. And this is also not to say that men don't have a laundry list of complaints about living with us ladies -- I'm sure they do. However, here is a list of the top ten things that men do that seem to drive women crazy:
1. That pesky shower towel. Every woman that I spoke to complained of how his shower towel always ends up on the floor. Doesn't he know that shower towels do not have legs that will walk them to the towel rack so they can dry in time for their next shower?
2. The toothpaste top. Even though toothpaste companies have been making toothpaste tubes with flip-tops for years, it seems that most men tend to buy the old-fashioned kind with the top that comes off. And it seems that most men love to leave that cap off the toothpaste and put it sticky-side down so there is blue or green or red gel right on the countertop. Don't they notice the sticky stuff?
3. Making the bed. Unless he is a neat freak, it seems that most men do not understand the need for making the bed. Here's a favorite excuse I'm sure we've all heard: "You are just going to mess it up when you get back into it, so I don't really see the point."
4. Closing the snacks. It seems universal that men just don't like those chip clips that we all have purchased. No matter how many we have and how many bright colors they come in, he just doesn't seem to notice or agree that food stays fresher if the bag is closed. Doesn't he know that there are starving children everywhere? And then he has the nerve to comment when the chips don't taste fresh!
5. That smelly sponge. This one is my personal pet peeve. Doesn't he notice how badly the sponge smells when it lays in the sink and isn't rung out? And even if his sense of smell isn't great, common sense would say that if you don't clean it of the food you scrubbed off of the plate or ring it out dry, it is going to harbor some pretty disgusting and dangerous germs, bacteria and microorganisms. Is that what he wants on his food and dishes?
6. Leaving the toilet seat up. He knows how many times a day and particularly at night we go to the bathroom; after all, he makes fun of us for it all the time. Hence, doesn't he realize that at 3 a.m., when we are half-asleep and wander into the bathroom with our eyes partially closed, that we are going to sit ring down in the freezing cold toilet bowl water if he doesn't put the seat down for us? Rumor had it that if a man was brought up with sisters or even just a mother, he was supposed to be trained to do this. What happened?
7. His worked out work out clothes. Does he really think putting his wet, stinky workout clothes in the hamper with all the other clothes (including our expensive lingerie) is a smart or nice thing to do? Has he ever taken a whiff of his smelly socks after a workout? Would it dawn on him to have a separate hamper/plastic baggie for those clothes or to just rinse them out before they asphyxiate us all?
8. His beer bottle. We all get it, beer goes hand in hand with watching a ball game, but is leaving the empty beer bottles on the coffee table part of that ritual as well? Some women said that at first they wondered if he left it out so he would remember he needed to get more but then when they saw that he was leaving 4 bottles of the same brand there, they knew this was not the case.
9. Toe nails and nose hairs. We know he has them -- we have them too -- but why do his end up on the bathroom counter top and on the floor all the time? Does he really think that we want to be picking up those grody little things off the floor after him? If he doesn't want to pick them up, what would make him think we would?
10.Toilet paper. We know that he thinks we use so much more of it than he does and maybe we do. However, if he, as a man, finishes the last drop of toilet paper and doesn't replace the roll and we use the bathroom after him, then we are in a serious predicament. Wouldn't that explain why we get so upset when he doesn't replace it?
Does your man have any other bad habits that you would like to add to this list?
Samantha Daniels is a well-known professional matchmaker and relationship expert. She is the President of Samantha's Table Matchmaking, a bicoastal matchmaking service which caters exclusively to busy, successful professionals who have no trouble getting dates, but who have yet to find that one person with whom to spend the rest of their lives. She is also the author of "Matchbook: The Diary of a Modern Day Matchmaker" (Simon & Schuster). You can follow her on Twitter @Matchmakersd. You can also follow her on her Curator page on OpenSky, where you can get advice and picks for shopping from Celebrities.