Beige flags are the odd habits that live in the uncharted territory between red and green flags. It's the strange, different, and maybe even annoying habit that your partner has that isn't necessarily a reason to break up, but if they suddenly stopped doing it...it's not like you'd really miss it.
I recently asked the members of the BuzzFeed Community who are in a relationship to expose their partner's beige flag, and here are 17 of my favorite responses:
1. "My husband does all of his own laundry — and I mean all of it. Yay, green flag! But his beige flag is that it NEVER gets folded and put away. It just exists, clean, in a basket in our guest bedroom, and he digs through to find the article of clothing he wants. It used to drive me bananas, but now it’s just mildly amusing. It hurts no one, and the clothes are clean!"
2. "He rarely unbuttons his pants before putting them on. He'll be getting dressed, and he just grabs the clean pants and shimmies them on. He's very lean so maybe that's why it works? I have pretty wide hips so it's not even an option for me. The thing is I've seen him sometimes have trouble while pulling them up, and I'm like, just unbutton them?!"
—Anonymous
3. "My husband hums all day long, mainly to 'Deck the Halls,' no matter what time of year it is."
4. "He buys the Pop-Tarts WITHOUT frosting."
5. "She compulsively reorganizes everything every few months. So, sometimes when I'm putting away groceries, I randomly have to figure out all the new places she picked out for the green beans or the pasta."
6. "He takes forever to get his food the way he likes it before we sit down and eat. I have eaten many a lukewarm meal because he takes his sweet time with cheese, sour cream, salsa, sauce, and anything else extra that goes on his plate after cooking. I think it's partially cute sometimes because he's so meticulous with it, but sometimes my food has cooled down so much that I get a little grumpy at him."
7. "Immediately putting hot sauce on meals without tasting it first. I used to get offended, but we’re going on 11 years married, and I’ve just accepted it."
8. "He eats two pieces of a Hershey's bar every night so there’s always an open candy bar in his nightstand. 😂"
9. "When we're talking, my wife likes to contemplate what I'm going to say next and mouth the words. It's funny and cute, but also distracting at the same time!"
10. "He never uses clips to close open bags (we have a million). Instead, he'll roll, fold, and tuck them into places where they invariably open. It kills me because we have a lot of frozen fruits in the freezer that end up becoming a booby trap when I open the door or grab something that inadvertently knocks over an OPEN BAG OF FROZEN BLUEBERRIES, SO THEY CASCADE AAAALLLLL OOOOOVER THE FLOOOOOR."
11. "Leaves all doors open. Back door? Open. Garage door? Open. It's mostly just doors inside the house, but there have been a few times where the door that was left open granted access to somewhere the dog was not supposed to be. She left the door open to the cat’s food area once, and the dog ate all the cat’s wet food (dog was ecstatic, cat was PISSED). I’ve just accepted that my role in the house (and in life) is to come through and close all the doors."
12. "They always open a new jelly jar or milk jug when the old one still has a small (but perfectly useable) amount left. Sometimes I'll even find multiple nearly empty containers next to a recently opened one. I even started hiding the new container in the back of the fridge, but they find and open it anyway!"
—Anonymous
13. "For some inexplicable reason, my significant other is incapable of closing kitchen cupboard doors. He leaves them all open, all the time. You know that scene in The Sixth Sense when Cole is sitting at the kitchen table and EVERY cupboard door and drawer is open? Welcome to my life. It's both creepy and hilarious."
14. "My wife is the champion of the Irish goodbye — just walking out of any scene without so much as a word. The most impressive was when she decided that she was tired and went to bed without a word...while we were hosting friends at our own house!"
15. "My partner clips just the edge of his toenails with the clippers and then rips off the rest. He claims it’s to prevent ingrown nails."
—Anonymous
16. "Every time he parks, he has to adjust the car for a solid two minutes to make sure his parking is *perfect*."
17. And finally, "I've been with my boyfriend for over a decade. He would rather eat glass than put the new toilet paper roll on the dispenser. He'll put it on countertops, the floor, the side of the tub — anywhere but where it actually goes!"
—Anonymous