Husband going into hyperdrive when workmen are around.

[DidgeDoolittle]

Does anyone else's husband do this?

My husband has worked in an office all his life. He's average at diy but we do need to get workmen in occasionally.
When a workman is imminent he goes into headless chicken, hyper drive mode. He's up at the crack of dawn making sure everything is out of the way and perfect for said workman. He couldn't possibly be caught still in his pjs. The disgrace.
When man arrives, husband goes up a gear. There's lots of " yeah mate, yeah mate, I'm sure you'll be using your blah blah blah on that". It's like he's a different person, eager to impress the manly man that has entered his domain. My kids ( now adults) take the piss something terrible. He gets very bad tempered.

He's just refused to help me unload a massive supermarket shop as he's 'assisting' ( distracting) a neighbour with manly garden things. This is top priority and cannot be interfered with in any way.

Anyone else have a partner that does this?

My dad was the opposite of this. He was always telling my mum to 'just get a man in to do it'. Once when my mum exasperatedly reminded he was a man he looked at her deadpan and said 'i meant a real man'.
He was know for his fondness of Italian loafers and designer shirts though so I think he just felt digging and drilling was not his area 🤣

snigger

Wtf even is 'slugger'?

@Minceandonions

Yep. It's always me who gets tradesmen round to give us quotes, me who decides who we will go with, books them in and sorts every aspect of the job. Sometimes it's me who's paying for it too. DH swans in when they arrive and does his "I'm masculine and really competent at diy" performance, complete with a fake cockney accent (he's from an area where he might have one, but doesn't).

That sounds very familiar. In addition to the manly crap, dh is also reluctant to actually get anyone in. He can do it apparently. He never does though. I book it all and he swans around being manly and weird

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/man-cant-help-putting-on-weird-accent-when-he-talks-to-workmen-20180420147719

Reminds me of this. Dh doesn’t do it.

@frogsbreath

I have an engineer DH who can do all the manly things but doesn't often have bloody time. However, if we get another manly man in to a task DH insists on hovering (if at home) and diagnosing problem or discussing how he's so very busy that while he could do this, he can't.

I've told him he's getting embarrassing and his dad is the same and he complains about him but can't see it in himself.

My husband does this .he did a degree in electrical engineering but that doesn't mean he is actually qualified as an actual electrician. When we were having some major conversion work done he nearly came to blows with the fully qualified electrician because husband new better. Like 2 stags butting heads.

Ha ha! Yesterday the engineer came to fix the dishwasher. Dp at the door 'Hi mate''Nah, leave your shoes mate', 'Cuppa?' All said in a loud cockney, Artful Dodger-like voice.

DH does this! Loads of "mate" & man chat. He tried once to do a bit of "her indoors choosing... him paying" bants and I swiftly ended the conversation with an explanation of why that was total bollocks and putting him on the spot regarding why he said it (poor tradesman must have thought I was mental but I was fuming).

bollocksthemess

Same.
Anyone who comes into our house realises very quickly that he is not interested in discussing anything.
He keeps out of the way and makes himself as invisible as possible !

Does he call them “gaffer” or “guvnor”?

Asking for a friend...

My husband does this because he gets anxious about his very literary/white collar career when presented with a guy come to fix the loo etc but because he isn’t British, his equivalent of “awright mate?” and accompanying body language is completely undetectable to anybody not from his country, and so is quite useless, but who am I to tease? 😁

@Frederica852

My dad was the opposite of this. He was always telling my mum to 'just get a man in to do it'. Once when my mum exasperatedly reminded he was a man he looked at her deadpan and said 'i meant a real man'. He was know for his fondness of Italian loafers and designer shirts though so I think he just felt digging and drilling was not his area 🤣

Love the sound of your Dad! Haha!!

My husband diesnt have a special voice but does suddenly start using the word "gents " an awful lot. As in " OK gents so what's the plan for today ". It doesn't matter what the plan is for today!!!!! Think he dies it to make himself feel tradey and manly. Makes my teeth itch

DP is a plasterer by trade and pretty handy at most things, but he won't touch electrics or plumbing. He gets other "mates in the trades" to do these jobs (normally in exchange for a skimmed ceiling). He's a proper big bearded manly man, but even I don't recognise him when they're here. His alpha maleness goes stratospheric and my eyes roll so far back I can see my shirt collar. Obviously I completely take the piss out of him when they leave "Why do they call you Chopper, your name is Mike?!"

DH is a retired engineer and excellent- though very slow- at DIY. When we have anyone in, he puts his work clothes on and goes into apprentice mode. Just let them get on with their work ffs!

The silly voice is covert prestige.

Oh yes! The anguish of the peripheral alpha

Not here - mine is relaxed

My OH ramps up the 'mockney' when there's tradies in, it drives me insane

Me and DD then start ripping the piss out of him, we sometimes even throw in a 'cockney walk' for a bit of extra jhuzz if we're feeling energetic and there's room to do it in the space that's being worked on

Overheard him saying to the decorators the other month 'it's alright mate I'll get the old girl to make you boys a cuppa'

He was promptly told to fuck off

DH is a big manly tradesman but isn't British so doesn't do a "geezer" voice, but often comes home saying the guy he's doing work for is cockney/from Essex (we're nowhere near London). I'm now wondering if actually they're just trying to impress him with their faux manliness!

@ThreeWiseBuddhas

My OH ramps up the 'mockney' when there's tradies in, it drives me insane

Me and DD then start ripping the piss out of him, we sometimes even throw in a 'cockney walk' for a bit of extra jhuzz if we're feeling energetic and there's room to do it in the space that's being worked on

Overheard him saying to the decorators the other month 'it's alright mate I'll get the old girl to make you boys a cuppa'

He was promptly told to fuck off

I might try the cockney walk next time. It'd drive him bonkers.

Oh yes I recognise this. DH actually runs a construction related business but he goes weird around some trades. I think it’s some kind of insecurity.

He always goes very rural when talking to rural people and uses the phrase “lovely hurling” which won’t make sense to anyone not Irish (and probably not most Irish people either). So the man delivering the logs says “I’ll be there at 3 this afternoon” to which DH response is “lovely hurlin’”

DH is from a salubrious suburb of Dublin so I don’t know. I think maybe it’s what his dad said to people? It’s bizarre anyway.

Mine also has the voice. It's very slightly cockney. We live no where near London.

Alphfaux male has to go in the dictionary

My lovely husband isn’t the alpha type, but he does this too.

We’ve recently moved house so have had a lot of tradesmen in so it’s getting quite annoying.

And he does the voice. For some reason, the same voice is also used when ordering at a McDonald’s drive-through. It drives me nuts.

I wonder if it’s also related to people putting on a strange slightly foreign accent when speaking to someone- in English - from another country? As if somehow a stilted delivery in a pseudo Spanish accent will help the Greek waiter feel that you’re communicating better.

I bonded with the electrician who had to tell me the pit I had dug in mid winter at significant personal cost was actually in the wrong place for his regulations. Yes I did cry. Dh stayed well out of the whole palaver.