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AIBU?

To fall out with OH over questions?!

186 replies

Georgeofthejungle · 16/06/2016 07:52

My OH and I had what I would say is our first proper arguement. He was off with me, I asked him what was up and he told me he doesn't like how I speak to him sometimes. He says I snap at him when he asks me stuff and make comments which make him feel a bit rubbish.
Now I totally know I do this (well not the comments bit, I don't like that), but I can see me doing this and understand why I feels like that. But the reason is because I am so fed up of him asking me things before he has even remotely thought about the answer for himself. It drives me crazy.

For example:
After our darling little dog decided to wee on the floor - where's the floor cleaner? It's always in the same place and he knows this. I said where do you think it could be and he tells me where it is. So why ask me?!

Changing our DS - has he got clothes? You know full well he does and you know where they are kept.

Making tea - how do I cook this/how long does this take? Read the bloody packaging.

These are a tiny few examples of the automatic questions I get constantly (I should note these are not my actual responses but what I'm screaming in my head(. Now I 100% wouldn't have any objection if he had taken a second to think and genuinely didn't know but this is simple stuff that he could quite easily use his own brain to work out. I explained this to him and also explained that when he is helping out with DS or Making dinner it's so great but with the constant questions I feel like I be aswell have done it myself! And it doesn't give me a chance to switch off. He says I'm weird and that that's how people communicate and he doesn't understand why I get so annoyed. I said how will he learn if he keeps asking me, how does he think i know these things or find out when he asks me?! Then he stomped off to the shower and we've not spoken since (this was about 10.30 last night).

Am I right to be so frustrated by it? I feel bad to make him feel rubbish but It really does drive me crazy. If he just thought about things for a split second he'd know the answer to most of the questions he asks me! Arghhhh.

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Georgeofthejungle · 16/06/2016 23:13

I know! Help out is my wording not his.
But to be honest I do feel like the buck stops here and everyone else is just a helper. I think it's because I am EBF and it's such a big tie.

Although tonight after our chat of 'stop asking me stupid questions' OH just changed DS nappy without a word. No 'do you think he needs changed', no 'where's this/where's that'. Just did it. I liked it. It felt like he took proper responsibility. So silly I know.

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blowmybarnacles · 16/06/2016 23:15

Sounds like you have nipped it in the bud Grin

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Georgeofthejungle · 16/06/2016 23:25

I hope so bmb! Hmm

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CantGetYouOutOfMyHead · 16/06/2016 23:42

I am reminded of a time when I 'left supper ready' for my (then) H, which was homemade pizza dough, tomato sauce, and a full fridge, leaving my four children asleep so I could have dinner out with friends.

Several texts about how to assemble a pizza. When I got the text 'do I take the paper off the chorizo?' (I don't know: do you like eating chorizo paper?), I switched my phone off.

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Georgeofthejungle · 17/06/2016 00:13

Loling at chorizo paper!! Grin

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BibiBlocksberg · 17/06/2016 00:40

Ex DP was an asker of superflous questions, one of the many reasons we are no longer together.

Never forget the time he was checking the towels on the drying rack/airer thingy, turned to me & asked 'are these dry'?

No idea said i (parked on sofa, half a mile away from said airer) you're the one with your hands on the towels, you tell me. Cue major arsey strop from him.

Fridge contents (when it was his turn to cook dinner) eternally baffled him too.

He'd emerge from said kitchen proffering an opened package and looking at me with a cross of lost puppy & baffled scientist. 'what does your nose tell you darling'? Do you think it's off etc etc to which the answers were helpless i don't knows until I got up, examined said item myself & declared it fine or 'off'

Ooh, that was cathartic :)

Congrats on the cessation of stupid questions during nappy change OP, just goes to show it can be done, hope it extends to other household task peace very soon.

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Georgeofthejungle · 17/06/2016 00:52

Thanks! I am resisting the urge to praise him for his silent nappy change. I think that really would be patronising!

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Mamia15 · 17/06/2016 08:08

cornberry

I'm very sorry but it's not sexist it's simply a fact that men, for whatever reason, on the whole do not get things done as efficiently at home. If you have an exception living with you then that's great. My OH is a wonderful human being but he has never once had the initiative to clean the bathroom or make sure we have enough bin bags. It's not sexist, it's a fact.

The fact is that your OH is lazy, lacks initiative and views these menial chores as "women's work" which is frankly disrespectful Hmm He must think that he is far too important to empty the bins or clean the loo. Lovely.

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TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 17/06/2016 10:04

I think MN is changing the dynamics of my marriage in many ways.

Text from DH "Mate X is coming over on Friday night to help with the babysitting" [I was on a rare solo night out]
Me "It's called parenting" I included a pic of the bloke in the t-shirt with the slogan. Not passive aggressive at all me...

No response to that Grin

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StayAChild · 17/06/2016 10:29

Grin at chorizo paper.

DH was 'helping' prepare a salad. I passed him the cucumber, knife and chopping board. He picked the cucumber up, looked it up and down then asked 'how do you get the film off it?' Hmm What he really meant was do I cut a chunk off then remove film, or take it off the whole thing. What does it matter? Just do it how you like FFS!

He's pretty good around the house. Does a more thorough job than me with cleaning, but get him in the kitchen and he acts like he's 5. It's painful to see his body language as he is so uncomfortable and holds his breath whilst performing food prep tasks Grin. He needs reassurance with every single thing, even asking, when preparing something for himself, 'how much of this do I have?' It drives me insane.
Also, he's such a perfectionist that it's so much quicker and easier to do it myself rather than explain and wait 10 minutes for him to peel a potato.

He's another one who can't see anything if it's not right in front of him and never knows which cupboard any lesser used items from dishwasher go in, so leaves them out for me to put away. I've started ignoring stupid questions and I talk him through where the dishwasher stuff goes instead of doing it myself, in the hope he'll remember next time.

He means well, he really does, but it's so frustrating at times.

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eddielizzard · 17/06/2016 10:40

i would tell him that you loved that he did the nappy change completely off his own bat and that's exactly what you need him to do.

in future ignore the questions or answer with 'dunno'.

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BeYourselfUnlessUCanBeAUnicorn · 17/06/2016 10:57

Argh YANBU!

My DH does this. I am deferred to on every little thing, I do all household admin stuff, everything to do with DCs that means organising them down to taking clothes out and telling him he needs to dress youngest in the morning and brush her hair, she has long hair, he will ask me why he has to brush it ffs. He is incapable of choosing clothes, will think nothing of putting a pair of tights and a top on and taking her out, it's not fucking rocket science to realise she needs a bloody skirt or dress as well.

I constantly get asked "where are my keys/phone/wallet" my usual answer is "where you last dumped them down" often I've seen them and know exactly where they are but I won't tell him. Sometimes I even need to make suggestions about has he tried looking X and X place. In some ways I find it worse than looking after a child. Oh and he will also ask me what setting to use on the washing machine, um the same bloody one that is always used. Although he doesn't do the washing often. He wouldn't iron their uniform unless I specifically said but he can remember to do his own shirt each morning. It's so infuriating.

He's a manager in work with quite a lot of authority and he copes there ok so I don't know how he can't manage simple tasks at home, oh I know, he can't be bothered to think for himself.

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BlackVelvet1 · 17/06/2016 11:22

I have had the same problem pop up after having DC (probably didn't notice before that). I went with: "I am having a break, do however you want, it will be fine.", it worked eventually:)

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Crinkle77 · 17/06/2016 14:50

Drives me mad too. The constant where's this, where's that, how do I do this, what do I do with that?

To make matters worse we are currently living in his parents house while we save some money. He has always lived there so should know where stuff is but he asks me where is such and such? I mean it's his fucking house that he has lived in for years. How am I supposed to know if he doesn't? Aaarrrggghhh

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Georgeofthejungle · 17/06/2016 15:34

Stayachild I totally get the perfectionist thing!! My OH always says to me 'oh you are so quick at making sandwiches' (or similar) and I think to myself well that's cus I don't piss about making sure everything is precision cut! Halo

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trafalgargal · 17/06/2016 20:16

All men do it........I don't see any point in snapping- I find teasing about it works better - and makes me feel less of a bitch

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JuliannalovesCliveBixby · 17/06/2016 20:20

To put another slant on this, I don't believe this is a male brain thing at all. Because:

I recently learned to drive. When I was in the car with dh, I would make stupid mistakes, forget to look in mirrors, ask him what lane to go in, ask him if that sign for no right turn meant I could not turn right. That sort of thing. Yet when I was with my driving instructor, I was a perfectly competent driver. Dh said to me that I obviously just relied on him too much to be the one responsible for me not killing us. Once I passed my test and had some experience driving by myself, I stopped relying on him and stopped being an idiot when he was in the car.

And yet, he still does the shit talked about in this thread and insists he's not sexist. Hmm

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Ratty667 · 17/06/2016 20:20

My DH does this, last week I was cooking sunday lunch, all the trimmings.
I was at the stress bit where you get it all out, plate/dish it up, making the gravy etc etc.

I had asked him to carve the roast. Two seconds later is this knife clean?, can I use this one for carving? How do I...

I snapped, really one fucking job! One!! and you need help.

I do like ,..."well I could look, or you could...."

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LaContessaDiPlump · 17/06/2016 20:32

Someone asked why we don't just explain to our partners how their behaviour makes us feel. For me, it's because a) I'd be explaining to him that he's being a lazy c**t every 5 fucking minutes and b) he would then deny that it was every 5 fucking minutes and strop off. And then he'd be lazy again 10 minutes later and then I'd just have to murder him. So I have stopped trying to explain anything.

I sometimes have a happy daydream where I imagine how difficult he'll find domestic life when I die. Or, y'know, divorce him.

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mrsc118 · 17/06/2016 20:32

I get the same I've stopped answering through fear I'll be rude! I'm not sure when my husband turned into another child but it happened shortly after our first child arrived.

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Micah · 17/06/2016 20:41

Someone asked why we don't just explain to our partners how their behaviour makes us feel. For me, it's because a) I'd be explaining to him that he's being a lazy ct every 5 fucking minutes and b) he would then deny that it was every 5 fucking minutes and strop off. And then he'd be lazy again 10 minutes later and then I'd just have to murder him. So I have stopped trying to explain anything.

I sometimes have a happy daydream where I imagine how difficult he'll find domestic life when I die. Or, y'know, divorce him


This. If I don't tell him where the bloody washing machine is I get accused of being nasty, it's a simple question and costs me nothing to answer.

It's difficult to explain why it's a problem in a lot of ways. I could just say "in the kitchen dear" and everyone is happy. But the fucking washing machine has been in the fucking kitchen for 10 years, why do you need to ask?

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EmGee · 17/06/2016 20:51

I empathise with you all. My default answer for everything has become 'I don't know' which just makes the situation worse because of course, I do actually know. But I get so fed up of hearing 'Where's the...where's my...how do you...' etc. Just use your eyes and your nous!!!!!!!!!!

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ninjapixy · 17/06/2016 20:57

Have to say I'm guilty of both being snappy at OHs idiot questions and also of asking idiot questions myself. If either of us are cooking something that the other normally cooks we're likely to ask how to do it, though I'm slightly more likely to check the package instructions than he is.

I caught him putting double the recommended amount of fabric conditioner in the wash the other night and my immediate reaction was "Wtf are you doing?! Have you actually looked at how you're meant to use that?" Of course, he hadn't. I explained that there's a handy line in the cap to show him how much and he was just baffled by this.

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Tupperwarelid · 17/06/2016 21:11

My DH is the same. Most annoying is that he cannot remember anything about the children. DC2 has swum at the same time every Saturday for over a year but if its his turn to take him he always asks what time it is.
Me " at his normal time"
DH "yes but what time is that?"
Me "same time as last time you took him"
DH " I can't remember, just tell me"
Me "FGS...."

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abbsismyhero · 17/06/2016 21:15

my EX husband still does this to the degree when i suggested to him a month ago he could have his kids on fathers day he planned precisely nothing he never took them out for almost 18 months after we split till i told him he should when i asked him what his plans were for fathers day he said i dont know what do YOU think WE should do i lost my shit and told him he had a day and a half to sort it out ring me and let me know what time he was collecting the kids he tried whining his car was playing up and he couldn't afford to take them anywhere this was the point where i inquired if he actually wanted to see his kids or not? he has now sorted out a day out and food with a little kicking from me

my blood pressure was up after that phone call

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