Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

stupid fight about prosecco

162 replies

TotHappy · 23/03/2018 10:17

But not really about prosecco i guess.
I'm going away this weekend with old friends, I'm driving while they're training so I've got all the food and drink and they're saying me back. The money for this weekend has come out of payment for some overtime i did in the last couple of months - so over and above my regular wage. Dh and i pool our wages and after all bills are deducted, split the remainder 3 ways - the usual result is £150 each as spending money plus £100 joint 'fun money' to do things together or as a family.
When i got this extra lump of cash we discussed what to do, i said i wanted to do this weekend and he agreed (enthusiastically). He got a similar amount recently (unexpected inheritance) and spent some of it on paint and other stuff to decorate the kitchen - his,idea, his choice, i actually didn't know about it until he'd started. I assume the rest went into his general spending money.

Last night i picked him up from a,meeting and after dinner he asked if we had any wine, i said no, he said can i have one from your stash (for the weekend), i said no, it's for the weekend. He said, you could replace it tomorrow? And i said 'if i wanted to go shopping tomorrow (on the way there), i wouldn't have gone today! Bit rude, admittedly, i was stressed out about packing etc I'm afraid.

Later on he said he was really angry at,being told 'no' like that. He said a lot of things, over and over, but the general gist is that its how you would speak to a junior at work, and he didn't like coming home from a day at work, followed by another stressful meeting to be just told 'no, you can't have that' about something we do have . This escalated to a huge row all about finances in general and me being controlling. The back story here is - he is shit with money and,has,been since we married, so a few years,ago we moved all the direct debits etc to my bank account, every month he pays his wages over to me minus his spending share. I recognise that i am quite controlling of our money, because i worry so much about him pissing it all up the wall, but i dispute his argument here that the weekend prosecco was bought with 'his' money. It didn't come out of the family budget, i bought it on cc, will be partly reimbursed by friends and pay the rest off when my overtime comes in at end of the month. He says if I'd asked him, he would have agreed in a heartbeat and gone out to replace today. He agreed i have a 'right' to say no but says,he never would to me.
I feel he's implying I should say,yes to whatever he asks, even if inconvenient and i think, why? To me it was just a casual request and a casual denial. Nothing stopping him going out to buy some for himself. As it was he went ahead and opened it anyway so i had to drive out at 10pm and replace it as i really didn't want to stop today.
He agreed in the argument that.i am right 'within the letter of the law' but clearly felt i was,being a tight, selfish bitch. I feel that if you ask for a favour/gift and are then outraged that its refused, then you weren't really asking but demanding, and he's basically implying that whatever he asks for, i have to give him if i love him properly.

All this over fucking prosecco!!!! What,do you think? Am i just being tight and selfish? Our views are so totally opposed that i felt genuinely bewildered during the row and need some perspective.

OP posts:
BelindasRedPlasticHandcuffs · 23/03/2018 12:42

@peacheachpearplum what if it was chocolate he had bought for a present he was due to give the next day? Would you expect him to run out and make a special trip to replace it?

It wasn't Ops prosecco. She was holding it for the group.

TheKitchenWitch · 23/03/2018 12:50

i cant relate to this at all, you say you had no wine at home? Shock

Missingstreetlife · 23/03/2018 12:53

He is pissed off you are going away, but he didn't say when you spoke about it. Both being a bit silly. I see what saucy jack said but bet the shoe is on the other foot somewhen. If not, it should be, who gets more stuff for the common good usually?
Fighting over drink is a bad sign, alanon may help you be clearer whether that's an issue and he needs help, that could be why he's crap with money.
Don't get all this it must be family money stuff. Different people have different styles, everyone needs a little time, space and money for them self. Some people manage it better, some are useless. Makes perfect sense to have joint money and separate.

NWQM · 23/03/2018 13:08

I'm in the 'you are not being unreasonable' to be annoyed. As you can see here though you have two camps going so not sure if you are keeping score. Unless there is a huge back story then for me he'd had a bad day and was a bit rude. He then spat his dummy out when you said no and did it anyway. I'm sure you have vocalised to him that you feel he was being unreasonable. Go. Enjoy your weekend. Don't over think this or you wont enjoy it. Raise a toast to 'MEN' said with a suitable raising of eyes and in the words of the song 'let it goooooo'

HonkyWonkWoman · 23/03/2018 13:12

This all seems very petty.

But how I see it is, you are off for a weekend with your mates and on your last night with Dh you can't let him have one of the bottles you bought for your trip.
He wasn't worth a ten minute detour the next day to replace it.
Not a very loving couple, are you?

punchyKate · 23/03/2018 13:14

I think you were being pretty mean and if you're often like this I can see why he railed against your attitude to him.

I'd be happy to do a little detour in the morning to be nice to DH.

@YouBetterWORK

What the fuck are you on? "Rapey"?

LittleLionMansMummy · 23/03/2018 13:15

i cant relate to this at all, you say you had no wine at home?

Grin
BasinHaircut · 23/03/2018 13:17

mummmy2017

The best comment on here is about picking your battles.
A need to be in control of things that your not willing to share a bottle of wine and it causes all this flack says something about how you value and prioritize things.
Had you asked him for a tenner to replace it and told him just one bottle so you had a nice night before you went away for a weekend, meaning you either stopped for a replacement the next day or brandished the tenner to your mates tomorrow and had a laugh about you and your other half nicking one of the stash meaning happiness.
Or you stuck to your guns had a massive argument just so you can be right..

But that argument works both ways? Why shouldn’t he have picked his battles and left it at no? All so he can have a glass of fizzy wine? Says a lot about how he values and prioritises things rather than the OP IMO

BasinHaircut · 23/03/2018 13:18

OH and the OP’s DH sounds like a cunt

RunRabbitRunRabbit · 23/03/2018 13:20

I think you were entirely reasonable. The wine belonged to the group not you. If it was OK for you to be inconvenienced tomorrow to replace it, why wasn't it OK for him to be inconvenienced last night: he could have popped out to the shop for a bottle?

Why couldn't he pop out for it? Why did it have to be you who had to go to tomorrow instead? That's just daft of him. It's not you who has been controlling in this particular case.

ReanimatedSGB · 23/03/2018 13:20

I can see the point of the poster who said 'rapey'. It was, after all, a very clear demonstration that this man is not going to go without something he wants, despite the OP saying No to him. Any man who insists that his female partner must never refuse him anything he wants has a worrying attitude towards women.

And I suspect it isn't the first time he's overridden her wishes and blamed her for disobedience and non-compliance, while doing something that is going to annoy and inconvenience her, or worse.

punchyKate · 23/03/2018 13:23

"And I suspect it isn't the first time he's overridden her wishes and blamed her for disobedience and non-compliance, while doing something that is going to annoy and inconvenience her, or worse."

You should be ashamed for that disgusting insinuation. What the actual fuck is wrong with you?

Luckyme2 · 23/03/2018 13:24

Yuk - warm prosecco from the back room (misses point of thread entirely)

agbnb · 23/03/2018 13:29

OP, YANBU.

The wine was bought as prep for your group thing, and wasn't yours alone to give away. Hell, it hadn't even been properly paid for as you hadn't yet got reimbursed by the group. AND having to do a detour the next day...

I think the problem here is that your DH thought nothing of inconveniencing you to please himself (i think it's really rotten he put you in that situation by asking).

And he seems happy to let you take all the responsibility for managing money, because then he doesn't have to - whilst he can vilify you and complain about you being controlling. Having his cake and eating it.

Your DH sounds really quite rotten.

peacheachpearplum · 23/03/2018 13:30

@peacheachpearplum what if it was chocolate he had bought for a present he was due to give the next day? Would you expect him to run out and make a special trip to replace it? Yes, well it wouldn't be a special trip it would be a stop on a trip he was making. No big deal and I would do the same for him without a second thought. The OP has bought all this stuff, hopefully she gets repaid but at the moment it is hers not the groups and it wouldn't be impossible for her to text the others and say she was a bottle short and could they pick one up on the way to the station. Travelling by train doesn't mean you lose the use of your arms and legs.

I think in all relationships there are days when we need to be the carer and days when we need to be cared for. As long as one of you isn't always the carer then it is good. On the occasions you both need TLC then the answer is to share the prosecco/chocolate.

BerylStreep · 23/03/2018 13:39

I probably would have said yes to the bottle of wine so long as he took responsibility for replacing it. Although if you drove out at 10pm to replace it, why couldn't he have driven out to buy himself a bottle?

I think you are right, this isn't really about the prosecco. Do rows normally escalate out of control?

ReanimatedSGB · 23/03/2018 13:42

@punchyKate I'm not ashamed of myself at all. There's clearly a back story of poor behaviour on this man's part, and his actions as described by OP (asking for something that he knew was planned for another use, when he could easily have gone and got an equivalent for himself, then picking a fight over it, then taking what he wanted despite her objections) - this behaviour doesn't come out of nowhere. This is a man displaying the attitude you generally find in a woman-hater and an abuser, or an attitude which can progress to abusive misogyny - that his wife must give him what he wants and that his wishes always come first.

punchyKate · 23/03/2018 13:47

I feel sorry for you. No, not because you're in a patriarchy blah blah but because you have a very strange outlook.

Spend less time on the feminist boards.

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 23/03/2018 13:48

So it basically boils down to your DH thinking that you are responsible for knowing that he would want some wine with his dinner, you are responsible for ensuring that there is wine in the house in case he wants some and you are responsible for replacing the prosecco that he helped himself to which was bought for your weekend away. Yep classic case of wifework in action. It is your responsbility to plan and purchase all food and wine for your husband's consumption. If the fuckwit knew he wanted wine with his meal, he should have asked you (you know, his chauffeur) to stop somewhere on the way home so that he (tho' probably would have been your job) could buy some. When you said No, and he helped himself anyway, that says loud and clear, I will do what I want no matter what you say. I am the more important person in this relationship and I will have what I want.

sockunicorn · 23/03/2018 13:59

@TotHappy without knowing the backstory in terms of how much he does for you its hard to say. However I would say YABU. Its a bottle of wine and can be replaced. Its 30 minutes out of your day (i presume, unless the shop is hours away) to replace it.

With you saying "family things" do you have DC? If so I would presume OH has them this weekend? So I would also take that into consideration.

Overall though I just wouldnt say no. I am an extreme planner and always have everything ready, but giving someone something last minute really wouldnt bother me. Infact I love being useful and being able to go "here you are!" when people ask for things I happen to have. Kind of justifies my OCD planning in my head!!

Also no you should have to say yes to everything. But petty little things like this I would expect you would want to say yes. I can understand his tight comment but not so sure he went about it the right way. Flowers

coffeeforone · 23/03/2018 14:09

I don't think opening a bottle of Prosecco should have been an issue. In our house it would have been open before my/DH's answer!
Easily replaced, or if one of us didn't get a chance I would even just later explain to my friends that sorry, we are one short because we drank a bottle and I couldn't replace for x reason!

However, there are much bigger issues here. You say you can be controlling but your OH seems much more so. It should never have escalated in to a row. Was this a one off or do you often have arguments like this?

DairyisClosed · 23/03/2018 14:15

Is your husband an alcoholic? I can't imagine a grown person ever reacting this way over unnecessary food stuffs like wine unless they have a problem. It's not like he was hungry and you refused to let him have a sandwich because you had non immediate plans for it. His reaction is quite inadequate.

agbnb · 23/03/2018 14:59

I would even just later explain to my friends that sorry, we are one short because we drank a bottle and I couldn't replace for x reason!

If I were your friend, I would struggle to not judge you.

You couldn't leave a group stash of wine alone 1 night, so we're one bottle short? And the reason is merely DH fancied one and hadn't communicated/planned/etc?

Sorry i just think that's really crap behavior.

I think this thread is really about people who plan VS people who don't.

And the second lot somehow things it's cute or no big deal to inconvenience the first lot, who actually have their shit together.

Trinity66 · 23/03/2018 15:06

*I think this thread is really about people who plan VS people who don't.

And the second lot somehow things it's cute or no big deal to inconvenience the first lot, who actually have their shit together.*

Nah not really. I would say I'm a good planner but as well I've often sat home thinking oh I'd love a glass of wine when I may not have thought about it during the day at any stage. I just couldn't imagine saying no to my DH if he fancied a glass and there was some sitting right there and vice versa as well. It just seems like the most petty thing to argue about.

teaandtoast · 23/03/2018 15:16

Why didn't he 'pop' out for a bottle if it's so bloody easy, or pick one up on the way home?
Sounds to me like a deliberate point he was making about money, rather than anything else.

Swipe left for the next trending thread