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Bust

One Poll

18 November 2010

Men admit they are useless at washing up - and often cut corners to get the job done as quickly as possible, it emerged yesterday (Weds).
A study of male kitchen habits revealed while most feel comfortable at scrubbing and cleaning pots and pans, doing the dishes is beyond many.
Four out of ten said they always do a 'rush job' often leaving food on plates and not drying dishes properly.
One in six even went as far as to admit they deliberately do the job badly - so they are not asked to do it again.
Louise Perry, spokesperson for plughole and sink cleaning brand Buster, said: ''It's no secret men try and dodge doing the washing up.
''But it's interesting to see just how many regularly avoid the kitchen sink and getting their hands wet.
''So many blokes employ naughty tactics - like swinging saucepans around and cut corners, while some even get their kids to do it for them.
''Many people simply rinse their plates rather than washing and scrubbing which can lead to a host of nasty bacteria lurking in our kitchen sinks.
''If you make it part of the daily routine, take it in turns or let the person who cooked dinner off for the night then it doesn't have to cause so many arguments in British households.
''But no matter what, the fact we spend a massive amount of time and large chunk of our life in marigolds doing the dishes, we may as well do a good job of it.''
The study of 3,000 men and women found the average Brit washes up at least twice a day and spends 19 minutes in total sorting the dishes - including washing, drying up and putting stuff away.
Each week that totals two hours and 13 minutes - which is nearly five days a year - or 10 months during the average adult lifetime stuck behind the kitchen sink.
But women spend more than a month longer sorting the plates and glasses than blokes.
The survey found seven in ten adults find doing the dishes a chore, and the dinner time routine causes arguments for four in ten households.
More than a quarter of Brits make up excuses to get themselves out of donning the marigolds and using the tea towel.
One in ten men gets their kids to do it for you, while 71 per cent leave items on the draining board and two thirds of men swing saucepans and utensils around in order to dry them.
Nearly half of men (44 per cent) said 'the tea towel is designed to remove excess food stuck on plates' and one in five said they know their partner is better at it so deliberately leave it to them.
A cheeky 39 per cent of men wished they 'got more help'.
An unfortunate 55 per cent of those polled DON'T have a dishwasher, and of those who do, a quarter said they couldn't live without one.
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com