Would also find it weird?

[Labille]

I have been with this guy for 10 months. He is American.

I started buying tools and learn DIY on youtube which I find very daunting.
He mentioned he is very good at it and had the best tools back in the US but didn’t bring then here.
I asked him if he could help me put a couple of pictures on a wall and teach me the basics.
He refused explaining that since the walls here are different from the US and the tools I have are different frim his, he doesn’t think he can do a good job and I better call a professional.

I don’t drive. He does.
I told him I wanted to go to Ikea and buy lots of things. I asked if I paid for us to hire a car and payed for petrol, would he be able to drive us there and back?
He said no because ‘people in the UK don’t drive properly’.
We are in London. How are all these people driving not driving properly?

I know his a perfectionist and I have a sense he doesn’t want to do something out of his comfort zone and fail. Once I wanted us both to cook a recipe I found. He was ok with it. We bought the ingredients. Once he realised I had never cooked that before he became grumpy because he had never cooked that before either. He only likes to cook for people the recipes he had perfected overvthe years.

I’m easy going. I’m thinking this is a incompatibility and can be quite draining long term.
Or am I overthinking?

He sounds exhausting

No lol
I seldom pay for anything but he is all about having table reservations and going to good restaurants only.
The line was very long indeed and the place was full. Since he had never eaten there before and I knew exactly what I wanted, I grabbed a food trolley and told him to find a table.

Did you have the meatballs and mash? A staple meal for ikea!!!
He does sound like hard work.

Has he got a job, if so, do I what?

Rather he say he is insecure about doing stuff than shift the blame on tools or a whole population who apparently can’t drive - could have said ‘the roads are narrow and the driving is on the opposite side I’m used to’

He'd rather lie than lose face. Which means he both has low self esteem and uses excuses to get out of things.

Not very attractive.

I couldn’t respect someone like him.

For a grown man, he sounds utterly pathetic.

I wanted the meatballs and mash but he chose the fish and chips because it looked a bit better for him. He was surprised by the gravalax. Ate salad as well and liked the daim cake.

He ate all the fish and cheaps to the last pea but initially he only agreed because I said if I go to Ikea I must eat there and we went at lunch time

Does he think people won’t notice??

He is a professor but hates teaching and thinks all his students are not very smart

Gosh

Thanks for the questions so I can see the whole picture

When you point a finger, three point back at you.

Students, UK drivers, you, all thick as mince while he is a genius, chef, prof, DIY maven...

This guy is giving me the shudders. Dump him quick.

So he doesn’t have a car? Are you sure he can actually drive?

Also are you sure he is a professor?

I bet he doesn’t know anything about DIY or cooking either!

I wouldn’t believe a word he says.

Labille, to be diplomatic, he becomes less and less likeable with every post you make about him. Being less diplomatic for a moment, he's quite simply a massive, irritating twat.

It really, really shouldn't be this difficult 10 months into a relationship.

Nah he sounds more like a lazy bullshitter, I really enjoy DIY and am happy as a pig in shit when I've got a job to do! Most of the walls in the states are 'dry walls anyway and we have more than enough options and fixings to tackle any such situation over here. He's just being a knob.
Let him go especially if he likes Trump.

Purely on the driving front, he'd be driving on the opposite side, and possibly having to drive a manual (unless the rental place had automatics) ...he's clearly too scared/reluctant/apprehensive to do that.

But he won't be honest and instead blames British drivers en masse.

Which is dishonest and silly.

He does sound like an expert at everything...until he's actually asked to do it.

He's a bullshitter extraordinaire and cannot do the things he says he can do. He's making up excuses so you don't discover what a liar he is.

Dump the twat.

Anyway, if you're super at DIY ...wouldn't you just watch videos of how to put up a shelf - having established if it's a brick or stud wall?

Being good at DIY doesn't mean you're only good at it in one country, with one type of construction. You'd be capable of looking up online how best to do something and then trying it.

Also I seriously don't think he couldn't find reasonably effective tools for putting up a little shelf.

He sounds full of shit.

Full of bravado/ego and then full of excuses.

He sounds miserable.

His attitude to his students seems a bit shit too.

Sorry but they're not all going to be crap. There's be a range.

So he claims the students here are thick, nobody can drive, he knows better than you what you want (IKEA and recipe). Tell us, what are his good points? He sounds utterly, utterly tedious.

does his name start with an R by any chance?

No
Do you know someone similar?

Honestly?
Learn how to do DIY yourself.
Learn how to drive
Learn how to cook.

If you empower yourself and become more independent then you won't need to rely on him or anyone.

With that knowledge and confidence you are in a better, more neutral position to decide if this person is right for you

Not sure she is reliant on him. She's asked for help with a couple of tasks over 10 months and he's refused in odd, obfuscatory ways managing to insult a load of other people in country in the process.

The refusal is fine, the manner is the issue and it's showing in other ways too. These are just examples.