Have you ever been on a road trip with a significant other and realized that after spending so much time together and disagreeing on everything that maybe your relationship will not work? I think at some point, people have had an eye opening experience while traveling with each other, in which they would not have gained until much later in the relationship. Well, move over road trip, there is a new King in town that will test your relationship and that King is IKEA.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, relationship experts state that a trip to Ikea will lead to an argument.
Ramani Durvasula, Santa Monica, Calif., therapist spoke with the Wall Street Journal and explained the thinking behind why furniture building is a “pressure cooker” environment:
‘Walking through the kitchens brings up touchy subjects, like who does most of the cooking. Then you get to the children’s section, which opens up another set of issues. And that’s before you’ve even tried assembling anything.”
Ramani Durvasula also stated that, “Furniture assembly often causes more friction than the shopping experience, according to March data from consumer research firm CivicScience. It surveyed nearly 7,000 adults and found that among those who assemble furniture together, 17% said they always get into arguments, compared with only 6% who said they often argue while shopping together.”
Ramani Durvasula has embraced the retailer as an exercise tool for communication. She requests couples to put together a large piece of IKEA furniture at home and has them report back to her on how it went. This exercise is supposed to bring a couple together, or highlight the major problems in their relationship.
So, the next time you are wondering if this person is a the “one”, maybe you should go buy some large IKEA furniture to make sure.
While I may not totally agree with the logic behind Ramani Durvasula theory. It would be a interesting and hopefully fun experiment.