Boyfriend is incredibly anal in the kitchen. What can be done?
My boyfriend, who I have come to stay with for 9 weeks I have found is very anal about small things in the kitchen which is obviously irritating. I am respectful and understanding that everyone likes to do things a particular way - just as I.
When I first arrived, the first night, I was washing the dishes and he criticised that I put a few knives & forks on an area (according to him, very dirty) which is meant for where washing is drained after it's dried. It looked perfectly clean and made logical sense to me. He argued that area is incredibly dirty and he only just cleaned it before I came. I moved on from that and left it there. As other times I cleaned up or washed dishes, he wasn't happy with the way I placed kitchen wear that was trying to dry. His idea isn't logic to me. For example, he likes to let pots and pans dry on a kitchen towel that is already crummy. He will place a wet chopping board on top of another which is very strange to me. I would rather place them on what is used for letting it dry, I cannot think of the word however similar to a "washing hanging rack"
Then I noticed when we went food shopping, he was obsessed with expiry dates. A few days later, he asked why we should keep the bread out when it's about to expire (yet it has been perfectly closed) and we can put it in the freezer or fridge. He is against this as he believes it breeds bacteria yet I mentioned to him that everything has bacteria on it, including our skin, everything that we touch, cross contaminates bugs.
One night he told me not to wipe my hands afterwards with a particular towel. I believe it was that night I ate something, dropped a few pieces of pasta on the floor and he negatively said that he knew it was about to happen. One other time we were cooking and I cracked the eggs (in his view) too hard on the side of the pan, they were all okay except one that the white part of the egg went over the stove.
Last night I received something in the mail and I went to grab a pair of scissors that was somewhat sitting on the kitchen bench (to me, I just thought they were normal scissors used for anything) and opened something and placed them on his desk that he was studying at. Hours went by and he obviously didn't notice them. Later on he was cooking and asked where they were and that rudely in a particular pessimistic tone said those are only used for the kitchen then went on to tell me that he believes opening some meat with those scissors is bad if they have touched anything other than in the kitchen, if they then touched the meat. He has explained his way of doing things which I have taken on board but I just feel he is incredibly anal, germ paranoid and I am worried about his reaction when I drop food in front of him or do the wrong thing.
What is strange is that he only showers once every couple of days and when he does shower, he doesn't use soap, never puts on deodorant after he showers and doesn't brush his teeth twice a day. He is not hygienic minded in my view.
I spoke to him about this and he mentioned that he does understand he is anal and agrees with that, that the comment he made about the scissors was uncalled for and that he will stop being so anal. Any other further advice? Do I just do it the way I know and not cater to his way as it may be always somewhat wrong?
