Everyone has heard that men are from Mars, and women are from Venus. In some ways, it seems to be true. Men and women do all sorts of things that drive each other crazy, and many times they do not even know that they are bothering their significant other. Part of the reason for this is that everyone is different. Each person has different pet peeves or things that bother them. As such, every new relationship involves at least a short period where you and your significant other are trying to feel out the limits of what is and is not acceptable to the other person. Those lines change in every relationship at least a little, but there are some things that crop up over and over again. These little habits are common in men, and men usually have no idea that they are driving women absolutely nuts when they do these things. A little bit of friction between partners in inevitable in a new relationship, but there is no reason to keep doing things that you know are likely to annoy your partner. Here are seven common habits that drive her crazy in the worst possible way.

It has been the punchline to jokes for years and is perhaps the most common complaint women have about sharing space with a man. He insists on leaving the toilet seat up no matter how many times a woman asks him not to do so. Men tend to roll their eyes at how women harp on the issue or laugh at the idea of their poor girlfriend falling in when she gets up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Putting the seat down, however, is simply polite, rather like hanging your towel back up after you took a shower instead of leaving it on the floor. The toilet seat is not just an issue of politeness either. It is also a very real issue of hygiene. Men may think the idea of a girl falling in is humorous, but exactly how funny would it be if men were the ones who had to walk around with toilet water clinging to their skin? Stop with the childish humor or selfishness and put the seat back down. It is not hard.

Men like to complain about how it is easy to tell when a woman has been using the bathroom to get ready in the morning. There is makeup piled all over the counter and some kind of brownish powder in the sink. Women can certainly leave a mess behind them, but men are no better in this regard. It drives women across the world crazy to walk into the bathroom and find that the counter and sink are covered in little hairs from where a man was shaving. The hairs are tiny, stick to everything and a woman may not notice they are there until she picks something up off the counter to find it nearly black from all the hairs clinging to it. This is disgusting, and there is something extra frustrating about cleaning up someone else’s bodily leavings. Men normally want their girlfriends to clean up their makeup when they are done. Return the favor and clean up after shaving.

Imagine opening the fridge one evening and being so excited that you do not have to cook dinner. Instead, there is a container of food from your favorite restaurant tucked in the back of the fridge that you saved from when you went out for lunch earlier in the week, or you are having a simple dinner because you want to enjoy that slice of double chocolate cake with coconut-raspberry ganache that you have been looking forward to eating. When you search through the fridge, however, it is gone. Someone else ate it. Men seem to have a knack for finding and eating that treat or those leftovers that a woman was deliberately saving. It is enough to drive someone to distraction. It is frustrating and disappointing to have looked forward to something all day and then not be able to enjoy it because someone else was inconsiderate. Ask before consuming leftovers, especially if it is something special. Just because it is in the fridge does not mean it is for you.

Most women get it. People get sweaty and stinky when they workout, and men tend to sweat more than women when they are being physically active. As such, it does not surprise most women when their significant other comes back from a workout reeking to high heaven. They may not want a hug, but they are not likely to be overly bothered by the sweat. The problem comes when a man who is sweaty and smells like a high school locker room decides to stretch out on the couch in his soaking shirt and watch an hour or two of TV. The smell of your B.O. rapidly fills up the area, and it is nasty to look at the couch and see a wet ring where you were laying. Despite what men claim, women do not actually care that their significant other got sweaty while working out. They care that men seem determined to get the sweat on everything else. When you get back from a workout, take a shower. Then, you can lounge around or hug your partner all you want.

It is a pretty simple habitual loop. You open something, get what you need out of it and then close it again. There seems to be something in men’s brains, however, that gets stuck at step two and then forgets step three. It is true of the toilet seat, but the bizarre refusal to close things when men are finished also seems to extend to jars, bags, drawers, cabinet doors and toothpaste tubes. For whatever reason, men are prone to opening cabinet doors and then walking away when the doors are still open. In other cases, they leave toothpaste tubes open or put bags of chips back into the cabinet when the bag is still partially all the way open. Open doors and drawers are a safety hazard. It is far too easy to walk into something or trip over an obstacle you did not even know to look for in front of you. Open containers of food or food-like substances such as toothpaste are also an invitation to bugs regardless of where you live. Close up the chip bags before you put them away unless you want to risk finding a cockroach or ants have helped themselves to your food. If you feel the risk is worth it, understand that you will probably be the one hunting the bug down, and you will be sleeping on the couch until you present proof that it is dead.

Women have complained for generations that men are wusses when it comes to pain. Even though men may feel greater societal pressure to be tough, they are often more likely to use minor issues and injuries to avoid work. Women across the world have been exasperated by a man who refuses to the dishes because he has a hangnail that is bleeding. The woman, meanwhile, can slice her hand open on a knife while cooking, bandage it up, finish dinner and then clean the house with limited complaining. No one is saying that a person needs to do things that cause them pain, but it can be hard to show sympathy when the complaints are so minor and only seem to go one way. You may simply need to decide in your household what the rule is going to be. If a hangnail is enough to avoid dish duty, then do not be surprised to find yourself in charge of the dirty pans when she has a hangnail. If you expect her to suck it up, understand she will expect the same. No one likes double standards. 

There are some issues where it really does seem like men are from Mars, and women are from Venus. Among those would be whether or not the bed should be made. As a general rule, women tend to make their beds in the morning so their bedroom looks nice. Men, on the other hand, either leave the bed a mess or slightly straighten the blankets. After all, they reason, all you are going to do is get back in the bed later and mess it up again. 

When it comes to whether or not the bed should be made, you and your lady are simply going to have to figure that one out for yourselves. You will have to decide for yourselves how important the issue is to either of you. If it really matters that much, the answer may be for her to simply take care of it or to compromise and not put quite so many decorative pillows on the bed.