I recently spoke to my good friend and dating expert, Andrea Syrtash, about all the little things that men do that annoy the hell out of women… and most importantly, which things we should let go. Andrea is the go-to dating advice gal for all the big TV stations, Oprah, and is even a pretty acclaimed author (check out her book here). And, yes, she’s happily married so I think her advice is worth trusting.
1. Texting to ask you out. If you’re old fashioned, this might annoy the crap out of you but it’s OK. Men are often less communicative than women and a simple “can I see you tomorrow night?” via text might be warm and fuzzy in his heart.
2. Pretending to listen (even though he’s definitely not). At some point men just stop caring about the perfect shade of purple you picked out for your toes, what Jeanette at the office did to make your boss crazy, and how your college roomie just broke off her engagement because she thought not finding the perfect dress was a sign of doom for her marriage. It’s too much. If he tunes you out after the 3rd sentence about glittering eyeshadow you should probably be happy that he even stayed tuned for the first 2 sentences. Be real, do you listen to every word he has to say about some obscure Yankees pitcher’s batting average? No.
3. Opening or not opening the door. It really depends on who you are, I suppose. Some women love a door opened for them as a sense of old-fashioned chivalry and respect, while others find it demeaning. And if you’re a guy, it’s hard to discern which woman is going to appreciate what. You can gently remind him to either open or not open the door for you and hope he remembers. Just like he hopes you remember to buy his favorite beer.
4. Offering statistics. Many men find their “accomplishments” in the dating realm to be impressive. In fact, many men will boast about how many women they’ve been with, where they’ve been, and how they’ve been there. It’s actually disgusting most of the time, but they often are oblivious to this fact. That means we’re left with two choices: either a) tell them about all the dudes from college (and include details about their sizes and such), or b) just let it go. I assume letting it go will keep the relationship going.
5. Farting. Let’s also include burping in this one… in every guy’s mind the perfect formula is this “You fart- she laughs.” Well, realistically that’s just not the case. I know I don’t like it when anyone does anything smelly anywhere near me, ever. But, for whatever reason that science has yet to explain, men just love gas. I know this is true because the first time my son ever smiled was because of gas.
