Too often have I heard the bitter complaint, “nice guys always finish last”.

And who is to blame for this terrible mistreatment? Girls.

It’s because, of course, girls are always choosing the wrong guys. The jock, the jerk, the bad boy, the musician. . . Because clearly all of these types of guys can never be good partners.

Well, look. I hate to break it to all the self-proclaimed “nice guys” out there, but girls are not to blame.

Ironically, the guys that actually claim to be “nice” aren’t all that nice. Because these are the guys who feel entitled to girls liking them.

Well, news flash: no one owes anyone their affection.

Granted, there are actual nice guys out there, I will admit. Do they always finish last?

Not usually.

But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, there is a truly nice guy who is always passed up for the more “exciting”, less safe option.

There could be a number of reasons for why this poor soul is finishing last:

• Hygiene
• Too quiet, i.e. they never actually approach or talk to a girl they like
• Too nice. Strangely enough, this is actually a problem. If someone is too nice, I often feel like I have to be polite and reserved around them. And that’s the last thing I want to be in a relationship. I want to feel comfortable and natural. Not like I’m at an interview.

So there it is, the answer to the age old question that has been plaguing generations of nice guys: they’re not actually nice.

Allison Galbreath can be reached at [email protected] or @agalbreath19 on twitter.