too giving for her own good?

Cornelia is 32 and true to what every unattached woman says about the singles scene she is meeting a lot more nice women than nice guys!

"I suppose women are naturally a lot more giving than guys," explains Cornelia, "but there's more to it than that."

"In a city where there are three women for every guy, the guys tend to get swelled heads and expect us to do all the running," laughs Cornelia.

"This sort of situation doesn't sit well with me because I have old fashioned values and expect a guy to do guy things for me."

"Let me explain," says Cornelia. "I invite a guy to my place for a home cooked dinner and go to a lot of trouble to make his time with me pleasant."

"I do this because it's a gal thing to be a good cook, a great hostess and a fabulous looking lady."

"I sometimes spend my whole salary for the week on a home dinner date with a guy," sighs Cornelia, "and if a guy heaps praise on me I am overjoyed, I really am, because I get a kick out of giving," says Cornelia.

"I don't expect a guy to bring me flowers or help me wash up afterwards or take me out to a fancy restaurant," adds Cornelia. "It's enough that he really enjoyed his evening with me."

"I'm not looking for a husband or a meal ticket or a sex toy," says Cornelia, "I just want a nice guy in my life, someone I can depend upon to do guy things for me, and I can't find him!"

By 'guy things' Cornelia means tasks that are traditionally male - such as fixing a leaky tap, changing a tire, taking the garbage bin out, moving furniture, etc.

"I'm beginning to believe that there aren't any traditional guys in the city," laughs Cornelia.

"One guy I dated for a while actually stood by and watched me glue a chair leg in the kitchen when the chair broke," says Cornelia.

"He was a big guy and he had sat on the edge of the chair and snapped its leg, and rather than offering to fix the chair for me he just left it there for me to pick up and look at."

"I had some adhesive in the cupboard and when I found it I expected him to offer to glue the leg back on the chair, but he didn't!"

"He just sat there and watched me glue the leg on the chair!"

"I didn't want to see him after that. A guy who can eat my food and drink my liquor but can't fix a chair leg is not a guy I want to spend time with."

"Another guy I dated accompanied me to my parent's home for the weekend and my dad told me to ditch the guy when he kicked up a fuss about helping my dad cut down a tree."

"I didn't know my dad was cutting down a tree that weekend," explains Cornelia, "and the guy thought I had set him up to spend a weekend working on the farm rather than relaxing."

"He insisted on driving back to the city early the next day, and the journey was awful. He complained the whole time about a pain in his back, and when we reached my place he expected me to invite him up for a massage but I feigned a headache and got rid of him for good!"

"And then there was the guy who was at my place when a carpenter came to give a quotation for replacing all the old doors in my apartment," laughs Cornelia.

"I had bought the new doors and just needed someone to fit them, and I certainly didn't expect my date to be capable of such a specialized task "

"A week later the carpenter fitted the doors and my date came over, as usual, for his home-cooked meal at my place."

"During the course of the evening he let slip that he had served an apprenticeship as a carpenter when he had left school and had worked as a carpenter before going into real estate."

"I couldn't believe that he hadn't offered to hang the doors for me a week ago rather than saying nothing and forcing me to pay a huge carpentry bill," laughs Cornelia. "That was the last time I wanted to see him!"

"And then there was the guy I was dating when I moved into this place," recalls Cornelia. "I asked him whether he'd be kind enough to help me move furniture, and he had the cheek to offer the services of his son, at a price!"

"I was going to hire a small van and just wanted someone strong to help me with the furniture," explains Cornelia, "and this guy said his son might be interested if I paid him $10 an hour. I said forget it, and got a remover to do the whole job."

"You hear stories about single women getting guys to do lots of things for them - fixing their cars, painting their places, sanding their floors, you name it, I've heard about it - but I've never, ever, met a guy who's done a damned thing for me and neither have my girlfriends."

"In a city with three guys for every gal I'm doing very well to attract a never ending stream of guys, but they're all takers and let me down time and time again when I need their help with guy things."

"OK, I'm probably too giving for my own good," sighs Cornelia, "and a giving gal like me is probably a magnet for all the taking guys out there but what can I do to attract a giving guy?"

"Do I have to become a bitch to attract a nice guy?