Five More New Acts of Chivalry

Remember when I wrote a blog entitled “5 New Acts of Chivalry”? For those of you who weren’t around back then or forgot, you can read the post here. I even shared some of those tips over whatsapp with a few friends who wanted to step up their game.

Obviously, chivalry is a pretty big thing for me. I remember my high school years when my Mom was dating, and she told me about a man with whom she went to dinner. She even mentioned in a whatsapp message afterward how touched she was by his gestures.

When she came home from the date, I asked her how it was and she told me about how when she got up to go to the restroom, her date stood up, and as she came back to the table, he stood up again. She told me it made her smile because it had been so long since a man did such a thing; that it was an old school gesture she appreciated. I even joked in a whatsapp chat with my brother that we should all try to pull that off sometime.

Well, I may not do a great job of standing up when a woman uses the restroom (I try to, but easily forget), but generally, I do know a thing or two about chivalry. So here we go, five more new acts of chivalry for the modern day man to follow. And yes, I’ve shared these via whatsapp with my friends who asked.

WAKE UP BEFORE HER

There’s something about a woman waking up before me that doesn’t sit right with me. I think it’s because when I was growing up, my Pop was always the first one up in the house, and he would wake me up too, but never my sister. Looking back, I guess the idea was, “The men work, let the women sleep.” But I don’t know. What I do know is whenever a woman gets up before me (it rarely happens, but I’m not perfect), I feel a little behind, and a little uncomfortable. Like she just sat there for a half hour and watched me sleep, judging the hell out of me. I even send a quick whatsapp to warn her I’m awake so she doesn’t think I’m lazy.

Hold Her Bags

All these women with all these bags, I don’t get it, but whatever. Give me the gym bag, the Victoria’s Secret bag, the grocery bag with the walking shoes in it. I’ll hold them all looking like I’m making a trip to the recycle. The only thing I won’t hold is a purse and most women who date me are made aware of this up front. As a matter of fact, if there is a woman reading this who I dated and whose purse I held, I told you I liked you. Sometimes I even joke about it over whatsapp if I’m talking to her later.

Give An Opinion On That Outfit She’s Trying On

Whenever I go shopping with a woman, there are three things I do. The first is bring some sort of reading material with me to help pass the time as she tries clothes on. The second is I always go to the men’s section first without her to browse on my own, leave her alone for a little while. The third thing I do is go to her dressing room and try to get a quickie in (just kidding about the quickie part (just kidding about the just kidding part)). But I do try to give her an honest opinion about the clothes she tries on if she’s asking. I figure since I’m not buying her the outfit (usually), the least I could do is steer in the right direction of a good purchase. Sometimes, I’ll even send a whatsapp photo of her outfit to a friend for a second opinion.

Order Something She Would Like To Try

The only rule I have about ordering food at a restaurant is I try to avoid ordering anything I can make on my own and anything vegetarian. Once I distinguish those items, it’s open season on the menu and because I’m very open minded about the things I eat, I always ask my date what she’s having. If she’s deciding between two items, I’ll order one of them so she can take a bite. Also, if she’s allergic to something like shellfish, I don’t order the lobster. What kind of jerk would do such a thing? Sometimes, I’ll double check with her over whatsapp if I’m unsure.

The First Sip of Water

Anyone remember the scene in Love Jones where Darius is walking back into the living room with a wine cooler after he and Nina just finished knockin’ the boots? (Can we bring ‘knockin’ the boots’ back into the lexicon?) I always find it hilarious how he took this long swig of the drink, then looks at her kind of surprised and says, “Oh did you want one?” Of course she wanted one, you big old pimp, you! I even mentioned this scene over whatsapp to a friend as an example of modern courtesy.

Anyway, I bring up the scene because in real life, if a man is really considerate, he’s giving the woman the first sip of water or whatever other beverage he brings out of the refrigerator after sex. At the very least, he should take a sip in the kitchen first, out of her line of vision, then fill the glass up again and come back out. Let him do what Darius did, and in real life, the girl is getting up with mad attitude, yelling rhetorical questions like, “You’re just going to drink that right in front of me?” So yeah, she gets the first sip, but just a sip! Drink the whole glass and we’re going to have a problem. Sometimes I even send a quick whatsapp afterwards just to check if she got enough to drink.