For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of weaponized incompetence, it’s rather simple. Imagine a couple, living together. Perhaps they have just moved in together. It’s time to do the laundry. The man, either lying or entirely truthfully goes "I don’t know how to do it!" So now it’s the woman’s household task.

Now this suddenly becomes her regular routine chore. She asks him to learn, but he either insists it’s impossible or, even worse, he attempts to do it and does the laundry so poorly that she feels like she should do it next time. None of this to say that all women are saints, but this flavor of poor behavior is often male.

Remember, asking a grown adult to do a household task is a normal thing to do. If someone can work a job, even an entry-level one, they have the necessary skills to wash a plate, mop the floor or iron some clothes. It’s ok to not be good at it at first, although it’s really never that hard, unless the plates are truly piled sky-high.

Unfortunately, some men seem to think that doing their share of manual labor is worse than openly admitting that they can’t figure out which end of a broom to use. This entire strategy relies on the fact that no one calls them out. After all, at some point, as the live-in partner of such a man, you will need some dishes, so you will end up cleaning them yourself.

The causes are myriad, but it mostly comes down to the fact that these things simply have to be done. Most likely, growing up, these fellows had a parental figure, a maid or even a sibling who picked up the slack while they relaxed. They never mature into adults who take responsibility for the environment around them, to the detriment of their partners. Even worse, they can’t do the most simple things, like finally taking out the trash (themselves.)