Bill Bryson on Men & Women

"I took a place in line behind eight other shoppers. They were all women and they all did the same mystifying thing: They acted surprised when it came time to pay. This is something that has been puzzling me for years. Women will stand there watching their items being rung up, and then when the till lady says, 'That's four pounds twenty, love,' or whatever, they suddenly look as if they've never done this sort of thing before. They go, 'Oh!' and start rooting in a flustered fashion in their handbags for their purses or checkbooks, as if no one had told them that this might happen.

"Men, for all their many shortcomings, like washing large pieces of oily machinery in the kitchen sink or forgetting that a painted door stays wet for more than thirty seconds, are generally pretty good when it comes to paying. They spend their time in line doing a wallet inventory and sorting through their coins. When the till person announces the bill, they immediately hand over an approximately correct amount of money, keep their hands extended for the change however long it takes or however foolish they may begin to look if there is, say, a problem with the till roll, and then--mark this--they pocket their change as they walk away, instead of deciding that now is the time to search for the car keys and reorganize six months' worth of receipts."


From Notes from a Small Island (1997)