Let's face it ‒ men and women just work differently. I'm not talking about what they do in an office, I'm talking about romance, friendship, and everything in between. And that's where the real trouble begins ‒ that point "between" being friends and being lovers.

A lot of the confusion between men and women comes down to the fact that men basically want to and are willing to sleep with any woman ‒ sisters and mothers excluded. Women, on the other hand, are able to juggle two entire sets of relationships: 1) men they'd like to sleep with, and 2) men they just couldn't sleep with. Some people call this a ladder system, others call it the friend factor. I'm calling it the "2 Scoring System."

Basically, when a man meets a woman, he scores her in relation to every other girl he's ever met or seen. Jessica Alba, for instance, is probably a 10 for about everyone. Rosie O'Donnell is (hopefully) a 1. Every other woman that a man meets will fall somewhere in between, on a single scoring system. So, if I walk into a bar and there are 4 girls there, right off the bat I'm placing them in my scoring system ‒ perhaps a cute face with a nice body scores an 8, while a flabby drunkard might garner a 4. Every guy does this whether he wants to or not; it's nature. Here's the way the scoring actually breaks down though:

10-7: You'd absolutely sleep with her, and you'd probably like to continue to do so. Definitely going to be bragging about this conquest. 6-5: You'd sleep with them, but you probably won't be shouting about it from the rooftops. Might take a drink or two to make her really "attractive." 4-3: Line up a few rounds of Jaeger, and she's bearable. You'll likely sleep with these girls only if you don't have even a remote chance with any girl better than this one. These girls are sometimes called "scooters"–fun to ride, but you don't want any of your friends catching you doing it. 2-1: The bottom rung. Odds are you will never sleep with them, and you just can't drink these ones pretty. On some occasions though, you'll flirt with them, but almost exclusively for the fact that 1's and 2's sometimes have 6's and 7's as friends (semi-pretty girls like to have uglier girls around to make them feel better about themselves).

Women, on the other hand, actually have 2 sets of scores. Notice how a man just puts every girl he meets on the score board? Well, here's the reality: women have a scoring system for men they'd sleep with or even consider sleeping with, and then there's an entire other scoring system for "friends." Here's how this mystery breaks down: "I'd sleep with him" scoring system: 10-7: This guy is great looking, responsible, wealthy, kinda mysterious, possibly a hitman or some other exotic career. Or a doctor. Women LOVE doctors. 6-4: This guy is definitely worth sleeping with, but possibly not the perfect specimen. Perhaps he's extremely ambitious or has a great body, but there's some flaw. Usually it's because he's stupider than dirt. 3-1: These guys are last resort guys that she'd sleep with. Usually there's one defining characteristic about this rating of guy that appeals to a woman ‒ great sense of humor and a good smile, wealthy parents, etc.

But here's the catch...Women also have this bizarre second scoring platform where they put all the guys they'd never sleep with. And men don't generally have that. Here's how this scoring system breaks down:

10-7: Great guy, but when she met him he was with a really great girl that she couldn't possibly betray. When the two of them break up, this guy is permanently on the friends list. She'll likely give this guy great references and try to hook him up on a date with a friend, but nothing more than that.

6-4: A guy that is totally open to her emotional needs. He's available morning noon and night to discuss her emotional problems. He takes her out to dinner and is just the sweetest guy imaginable. However, she just never felt a spark when she first met him, and so therefore he's forever banished to friendship status, even though he regularly flirts with her and when drunk he tries to kiss her. She puts up with it and makes him think that there might be a chance because she likes having an emotional crutch.

3-1: Usually a pretty good guy, they like to see them in social situations, but there's never any sort of one-on-one connection. Also, this guy is just really unattractive, overweight, has a speech impediment, the list goes on. But she knows to give him a hug when they're in groups of friends and make sure he keeps buying her drinks.

Okay, so this list might be a little biased (I am a guy, afterall) but the basics are all there. The tricky part comes down to the fact that a lot of guys end up on the friendship scoring system, and don't even know it. I'll be back in a couple days to demonstrate how to find out where you stand, and how to do something about it. In the meantime, keep scoring and trying to score!