Why Men Hate Going to Wal-Mart and Other Things Women Should Know

There are a myriad magazines/articles out there that attempt to illuminate men on things they should "know" about the more mysterious sex (this article has an interesting take on that) . Because women make up the rules that define relationships, not as much has been written on things women should know. I will dispense the top things women should know, things men think all the time yet never dare to say:

1. Your man doesn't care if you get a little fat after you've been together for a while.

Certainly, being skinny is integral to being attractive to a man in America in 2007. After a man falls in love with a woman, his evaluation of her is not so dependent on beauty as it was when he was initially attracted to her.

In fact, researchers have compiled lists on what a man evaluates a woman on, both during and after courtship. It turns out that physical attractiveness (i.e., body and face) ranks fourth on a list of male partner evaluation criteria after courtship. Of course, a smokin' body is ranked number one on such a list, during courtship. So, the next time your wife is obsessed with her weight, you can accuse her of trying to attract another suiter (imagine how many marriages such advice could ruin).

I'm not saying a woman should become an eating crew simply because she is involved in a relationship. All I'm saying is that after you're already in a committed relationship you can limit questions such as "Does this outfit make me look fat?" and "Do you think I'm pretty" to every other day instead of every day.

2. Mean what you say and say only what you mean.

Subtle hints may be appreciated, and in some cases a social necessity, for female-only social functions such as moms' groups and book clubs. When dealing with your man (or any man for that manner), the direct approach is the best. Dropping hints with the hope that he will figure out what you really mean will only serve to confuse and is sure to be the excelsior for an argument down the road.

The biggest mistake a woman can make is to treat her partner/male-friends, the same as she treats her other female associates.

If a woman utilizes a hyperbole to her husband, it will most likely serve no useful purpose. In an argument, it will simply hurt feelings and create a bad memory (e.g., "Lenny, you're the biggest mistake of my life."). In a neutral setting, it will reduce credibility (e.g., "Jake, I had the worst day of my life--you won't believe my day!"). In other words, a man usually interprets your words literally so choose them carefully.

3. Reduce the intensity of your facial expressions during conversation (or, better yet, eliminate them entirely).

Again, other women may appreciate the facial feedback you give them during conversation. Men, on the other hand, do not. Many men have trouble speaking in complete sentences. You can't imagine how much more difficult it is to explain to your girlfriend why were home late when she is rolling her eyes and grimacing the entire time.

Negative facial feedback only serves to make a man reduce the intensity of his message (i.e., lie) in order to lessen the facial feedback of his listener. If you want your man to tell you the truth, don't roll your eyes or grimace as he is talking to you.

4. A man would prefer to come home to an unmade bed and a happy woman than to a neatly made bed and an angry woman - Marlene Dietrich

This simple truism speaks for itself but I can tell you that most guys would rather their girlfriend not clean their apartment and be happy than vice versa.

If some task makes you unpleasant, halt before you become unpleasant.

5. You do not NEED to go to Wal-Mart every day.

Wal-Mart excursions should be kept to a minimum and reserved for special purposes, preferably at a frequency of only once a month or less. The only thing men hate more than shopping is shopping at Wal-Mart.

Most women claim they do not like Wal-Mart yet they always seem to find reasons to go there about every day. After reading this article, women will still deny they like going to Wal-Mart. That's fine, but let me list the reasons why men absolutely detest going to Wal-Mart and would rather be anywhere else but Wal-Mart:

a. It's invariably too far away.

b. You always end up spending way too much money even though the prices are lower because you always think of sixteen other things you need that just happen to be there and this happens during the point where the guy really wants to get out of the store so he starts to act nasty and then...

c. The whole excursion is excruciatingly time-consuming. This is, in part, because of the first two reasons above but also because the aisles are too narrow, the store is overcrowded, and the obligatory twenty minute check out time.

d. Everyone else goes there, and, as such, any popular items are out of stock, which means you will have to come there again soon (maybe Wal-Mart doesn't keep things in stock for this reason).

e. The staff and most of the customers are generally unpleasant.

6. If your man chooses to autoeroticize himself, it doesn't mean he's bored with you, his sex life, or means he's thinking about other women.

A lot of women seem to ask the question "Why does my boyfriend still choose to perform this activity when he really doesn't have to?" I will not go into detail in answering this question but it has something to do with convenience. Men are already accused of being selfish and insensitive in the bedroom. On top of that, they are accused of "only caring about sex" and "needing sex too often." Can you imagine if a man came to his wife/live-in-girlfriend every single time he wanted to get off? There are other reasons too, but this is the main one.

7. Men think about money "all the time" because if they don't, you'll spend all of their money then realize you don't want to be with a broke loser and then find someone else so you can spend all of their money.

See, part of the reason men hate shopping is because most of the time you're spending money on something you don't need anyway. In modern times, this trend affects both sexes, I concede, but I can't recall the last time I went to the store and bought a $75 pair of shoes from Dillards even though I have three others just like it "because they were cute and went with my new outfit."