Nice guys finish last.

Why do women always seem to go for the bad boy?  She may say she's looking to settle down, looking for a nice guy she can take home to Mom, a good guy who will treat her right.  But the next time you see her she is with a jerk!
I have a theory.  No, it is not that women enjoy misery.  The bad boy can get away with being bad because he is good looking.  Women will still flock to him like seagulls to a parking lot.  If I were extremely attractive, who knows?  Maybe I too would be arrogant, self absorbed, selfish, condescending and mean.  But I am not so good looking that I can get away with bad behavior.  The unattractive man has to win people over with humor, personality and charm.  Why do you think there are so many very homely, very popular comedians?
Thus, the nice guy conundrum.  Here we stand.  We are the "nice guy."  That's right, the perpetual resident of the friends zone.  We really listen when you speak.  We remember what you say.  Sure, we'll stare at your chest, but only for a moment, just long enough to satisfy our innate, instinctive male curiosity before we return to gazing at your soul through the windows of your sparkling blue eyes.  Or green, brown, hazel... you get the idea.
So when we do finally get her number, after much cajoling, usually at the expense of much soul-crushing self-deprecating humor, she's already decided to be just friends.  We're weeping on the inside.  Any conversation will inevitably be nothing more than amicable, friendly chatter.  No flirtatious banter here.  Instead she wants to maybe chat unenthusiastically about the weather, or tell us an anecdote about her day and elicit some anti-romantic non-threatening workplace commiseration.
Then later that evening she will hop on some jerk's motorcycle and pant after him wistfully as he frequently ignores her, imagining the day when he will stop talking up every short skirt in the room and only listen to her stories.  Then he will whisk her away on said motorcycle while being chased by assorted jilted lovers who were unable to finally change him into that ultimate combination of dangerous hunter-gatherer and domestic protector-comforter.
I suspect women want some combination of the nice guy and the bad boy -- caring and kind, but also a little bit wild and dangerous.  A guy who will make them feel safe, yet a little bit scared.   Compassion and confidence.  The archetypal romance novel protagonist.  When given the option in the real world, however, so many choose the handsome jerk.  So the nice guys really do finish last. 
Unless they're rich...