Wanna Put Your Relationship Through Its Paces? Try IKEA!

Sometimes, you look at a romantic partner, and you think, “I’m really feeling this, but how do I know if Snugglepants here is really along for the ride?” Well, if you’re looking for a relationship stress test, you could do worse than a trip to your local IKEA.

The Washington Post welds together several recent pieces about the emotional power of IKEA. Apparently it makes a great first date; the Wall Street Journal also recently reported that therapist Ramani Durvasula sometimes assigns couples to put furniture together. And don’t get her started on the sprawling stores themselves:

“The store literally becomes a map of a relationship nightmare,” Durvasula told the Journal. “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.”

Think about every time you’ve ventured into an IKEA with a loved one. I’ll wager you’ve learned quite a bit, whether it’s about their patience or their particular style of getting annoyed or their willingness to compromise or whether you can deal with their ways of handling conflict. What better way to probe for underlying fault lines?

And really, this works with any relationship in your life—a trust fall but for cheap modernist home goods. Moms, siblings, roommates. Give it a try! See what happens!

(Jezebel will not be held responsible for any breakups or long-term grudges that result from this post.)