If I had a dollar for every sock I've picked up off the floor (usually about six inches from the biggest laundry basket Target sells), I would be rich enough to spend my days laying on a beach while paying someone else to deal with my husband's daily dirty sock debacle. Seriously, it's as if throwing his dirty clothes next to a laundry basket instead of into the laundry basket is encoded into his DNA.
While the very act leaves me stupefied each and every time, it turns out I'm not alone. In fact, influencer Brenden Guy (@brendenandellie on Instagram) has created an entire series on what happens when men leave their bachelor caves and become [shudder] "domesticated."
Brenden Guy is a British expat currently living in the suburbs outside Philadelphia, PA with his wife and daughter. In the last year, he has amassed a following on TikTok and Instagram for his videos on the "culture shocks" he has experienced as a "Brit" living in the U.S. Now, he's making waves with his series, "Weird Things That Happen to Domesticated Men." While the series is satirical, it's also incredibly relatable.
Inspired in part by other content creators discussing the unsolvable "mysteries" of how men stereotypically behave at home, Guy decided to put a fun twist on the trend by pairing his observations with a Twilight Zone meets The X-Files vibe. The result? Pure comedic gold.
In the series, Guy pokes fun at himself and his fellow domesticated brethren by taking on topics like heading to the grocery store and coming back with the wrong items.
In one video, Guy goes to the grocery store to get a pint of milk for the family. He thinks he's buying the right thing but when he returns home his wife discovers he actually bought chocolate milk. He is shocked. The video immediately reminded me of when I was pregnant with our twins and I sent my husband to the store for a few necessities. Thanks to a "buy-one-get-one-free" sale on meat, he spent $441 and didn't even buy a single vegetable.
In another video, Guy marvels at how as soon as all the clean socks get used up, clean ones suddenly appear courtesy of the "laundry fairy" (pretty sure her name is Tess, Brenden's better half). It seems Tess and I both attended Laundry Fairy University because my husband once announced to his fellow nurses in the operating room (all women, mind you) that he couldn't believe how the shirt he was currently wearing under his scrubs was dirty just yesterday, but 8 hours after returning home, it reappeared in his drawer clean and folded. He was honestly fascinated. I don't think his audience had the same reaction, though. Fancy that.
The comments on Brenden's videos are packed with theories as to why guys can't let go of their old ways. Guy himself likens men to Peter Pan, the iconic fictional character who refused to leave Neverland and embrace growing up.
"There's a begrudging acceptance that we're grown up and mature now," Guy tells LoveToKnow. "Just watch how men act when they get together with their old high school or college buddies, and I'm sure this manifests in ways like failing to correct old, bad habits."
Speaking of bad habits, there is a particular one that Guy's wife Tess really can't wrap her head around: his inability to see what is literally in right front of his face. It can be a pile of crumbs sitting on the recently wiped counters or clothes sitting a mere few feet from Guy. She sees it, we see it, the guys do not see it.
Right there with you, girl. While some may get their feathers ruffled by the stereotypes portrayed in his videos, for many of us - men and women alike - we can't help but smile at how funny and spot-on he is. Content like his provides not just a chuckle but a sense of relief and validation that these things don't just happen in our own home.
After the success of "Weird Things That Happen to Domesticated Men" and "Culture Shocks I Had as a Brit Living in the U.S.," Brenden tells us his followers have been urging him to take on the mysteries of parenthood. And to that I say, YES. PLEASE. I'll definitely be watching.
