STEINSEL – A Luxembourg man has risked potentially furious retaliation from his girlfriend after deciding to buy her flowers for International Women’s Day.
At first, Daniel Barbaneagra says, buying flowers seemed like an inoffensive gift idea for a holiday with rather unclear expectations of men.
After work, Barbaneagra stopped at a flower shop to pick up a small bouquet. However, when the florist asked what he wanted, he found himself paralyzed by uncertainty.
“I thought, flowers are clichéd and sexist, like here woman, take these as cheap compensation for a lifetime of unfair treatment, and shut up,” he said. “On the other hand, she likes getting flowers.”
“At least I think she does. Or has she merely been conditioned to show gratitude when men buy them for her? Maybe she hates flowers.”
“That’s it. She feels she must protect men’s feelings whenever we give her something, no matter how thoughtless and unoriginal. Flowers? I might as well give her an old newspaper.”
“But no, women like flowers, that’s universally known, right, because flowers smell nice and look pretty and make a room cheerful.”
“No, no, no. These are myths men have created because they want to lump women together as all the same, superficial, and easy to please, and it goes to show our total lack of creativity and sensitivity. Do I even know what she really likes?”
“Wait, no reason to overthink this,” he concluded. “Flowers are a nice gift for anyone, men included, if we were tough enough to admit that holding a bouquet touches something deep within us.”
After the florist threatened to kick him out if he didn’t speak, Barbaneagra settled on six red roses, which he later presented to his girlfriend after opening a bottle of crémant.
“She seemed pleased, said thanks, and took the flowers to the sink to cut the stems,” he said. “However, something about the way she held the knife set off alarms in my head. I spent the night panicking and I didn’t sleep.”
