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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be so ashamed of my husband causing a scene?

588 replies

Vaterinadf · 18/06/2021 19:51

It was so horrendous. We have 2 DC, 4 and 5 months. Yesterday we couldn't be arsed cooking and our 4 year old has never been to a restaraunt so I suggested we go to the local Pizza Express for dinner. 'D'H whinged about money. He is always complaining about money. Yes things are tight but we are able to stretch to the occasional treat as we have around £150 spare each month, but DH always gets in a tiff about it. I'm not regulary hounding him for treats, but the occasional "Ah shall we just get a takeaway for tonight?" will subject me to a half an hour long rant about how hard he works and about how I waste all his money. I work part-time but am on maternity leave. He reluctantly agreed to go.

As soon as we get in and are sat down, the whinging starts. "It's way too expensive, I want to go somewhere else, come on" (I was BFing 5mo at this point and didn't fancy traipsing around town for somewhere else to eat). I firmly said no, and that the DC will need to be in bed as soon as we get home and I'm not spending time wandering around.

Then he's rude and demanding to the waitress who was literally only a teenager. She asks if we're ready to take our order and we say yes. There's a technical issue with the order taking system she's using and she says "One second, sorry." and DH does a loud, extremely obvious tut that he clearly intended for the waitress to hear. The technical issue was sorted in literally seconds and was an absolute non-issue, the tut was just obnoxious and unnessecary. We then noticed her and another waitress kept glancing over our table so we'd clearly been marked as 'problem' customers. I've worked in hospitality previously and I've found myself risk-assessing tables before, so I felt awful. I did not want to be 'that' table.

I take baby to the bathroom to be changed and come back and the food is being served. DH again continues to just be rude and blunt. The waitress doesn't do anything wrong so he doesn't make complaints but I heard him say "No." (without a thank you) when the waitress asked if he'd like anything else. I thought that was rude. He whinges the whole time while we are eating about the food, the service, the decor etc. I didn't get to have a word in edgeways. The idea of a casual chat over a meal seemed to be lost on him. It was tense and I hated it. Even our 4YO could barely say a word over the monologue.

The waitress ends up dropping a fork on the floor when collecting our empty plates and is extremely apologetic and clearly nervous. DH again tuts and says that he's found the service disgraceful and it's horrendous we weren't offered a high chair for baby (Baby is 5 months ffs, the high chair at home is still boxed up so he was just looking for anything to complain about! It was quite obvious that baby was too young for a highchair so of course we weren't asked.). We ask for the bill and I tell him I think he's been absolutely disgusting and I'm ashamed of him and tell him to go and get the car. He then leaves but starts whinging and being sarcastic, saying crap like "Sorry for breathing." He's gone by the time we get the bill, it's a different waitress to the one who served us. I go up to the one who served us, apologise profusely and give her a £10 tip.

We argue about it when we get home and then he started the pity party about how he is depressed. I'm not saying he makes up his depression, but he only talks about it when I'm upset with him for something. "It's my depression that makes me like this!" and yet he never seeks help. I would never, ever say he just uses depression as an excuse but surely it is now his responsibility to seek help? He's a completely unpleasant human being and I dread him coming home from work every day. He is not the man I married, who I loved. He was kind and loving. I mean it, so kind. Everybody told me I'd got a goodun with him. I miss that man so much. He changed after first DC but has been absolutely insufferable since our recent baby. I don't know what to do. I enjoy being at home during the day with my 2 little ones, and then once DH comes through the door suddenly there is an unbearable tension.

OP posts:
MorriseysGladioli · 19/06/2021 10:55

I would say eating out is a pretty life changing experience for a 4 year old who has never done it.
But perhaps I'm more easily pleased?

Robin233 · 19/06/2021 10:55

@Macncheeseballs

Robin233, ah so its the fact they have different outlooks that's the problem, not the fact that he is a massive self absorbed joyless twat
^

Or someone who is carefully with money.

It's a case of each to their own.

Unless you're been depressed you can't understand how it makes you feel or act.

Not an excuse but a reason.
This was a man op fell in love with.
He's still that man but suffering from a depression.

iklboo · 19/06/2021 10:56

They are one pay check away from debt .

They have £3k savings.

Macncheeseballs · 19/06/2021 10:57

Sure if suffering from depression means being an arsehole to all around

MorriseysGladioli · 19/06/2021 10:58

What a weird discussion this is!

baldafrique · 19/06/2021 10:59

Noone should take out their resentment on a teenager doing their job

PassionfruitOrangeGuava · 19/06/2021 11:01

I bet if he wanted to be an arse to a big burly guy he’d manage to hold it in. Telling that he behaves this way to a young woman. Shameful.

Guarantee your life will be a lot less stressful and fraught without him in your house.

baldafrique · 19/06/2021 11:01

@PassionfruitOrangeGuava
Absolutely. These weak nasty men only ever bully young women who cant answer back. Yuck.

iklboo · 19/06/2021 11:03

He's still that man but suffering from a depression.

Who refuses to do anything about it. I know the old 'men don't like admitting they need help' but when it's negatively affecting the family to the extent a four year old is walking on eggshells something fucking needs to be done. And I speak as someone who was less than 10 minutes away from suicide.

Robin233 · 19/06/2021 11:03

@MorriseysGladioli

I would say eating out is a pretty life changing experience for a 4 year old who has never done it.
But perhaps I'm more easily pleased?

^^^^

Surely op has taken their 4 year out to a cafe.

I'd often take ds when he was small to Morrisons cafe / hardly life changing.
Sit still and eat is what most kids experience during eating out. A trip ti swings and slides is much more fun.

Trevsadick · 19/06/2021 11:04

His behaviour was ignorant and rude and no excuse but don't underestimate the immense pressure it is for one person to carry the entire family financially as the main earner - there is clearly some resentment on his part also going in here

Why do people act like mumsnetters must not know what being the main earner is like.

My exh was shit in a lot of ways. When we split I became was a single parents. Hi. Seeing the kids was hit and miss and his self employed status meant cms was pointless.

So as a single parent, I was solely responsible for financial stability of my kids. Alone. Just me, not warming very much. I also did not have a partner taking care of the kids. So all those responsibilities were on me too. Housework, school runs school trips, uniform.

Over the years I have managed to get higher paid jobs and now have a dp. And I am the higher earner, again.

I have alot pressure on me and have had in the past. I am also diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I still don't abuse my kids, my partners or waitresses.

This isn't just snapping OP says he would never do it to a man, only to women. So he can control it and it's not a one off.

Phineyj · 19/06/2021 11:05

She said in the OP that she has a part time job, so he's not 'carrying the whole family financially'. I have a part time (professional) job. It pays about £35k and makes a significant difference to our lifestyle. Maybe the OP is similar. He is also (presumably) not paying for much if any childcare, with the OP on mat leave, and the children are spaced sufficiently that the eldest will potentially be in school before the younger goes to nursery. They're not overdrawn and have savings. Could be worse!!

Anyway, OP, I came on to say do you have full oversight of your mutual finances? Just that your DH's extreme reaction suggests to me there's something going on. Could he have debt or an expensive habit you don't know about?

I don't think there is a type of depression that makes you bully women and children.

Bullying and depression are different things.

MorriseysGladioli · 19/06/2021 11:06

I would say a balance of activities is better.
That includes plenty of days at home.
I don't subscribe to the idea of filling days with constant lessons, dates, and trips.
But a family meal once in a while should be nice, in a relaxed place.

MsTSwift · 19/06/2021 11:09

Both mine really enjoyed eating out from a really young age still do as teens. Lovely but expensive habit 😁

MorriseysGladioli · 19/06/2021 11:09

Lots of lone parents here, some, no doubt, with issues such as anxiety or depression.
I'm sure most understand how it can be sometimes.

pointythings · 19/06/2021 11:10

A lot of the apologists on here seem to have missed the fact that this isn't a one off - he's been like this for four years. Plenty of time for him to have realised there's a problem and do something about it - but he hasn't, and won't. This isn't about Pizza Express. He's an asshole on the beach (free) too.

And I am so bloody tired of posters defending The Sanctity Of The Marriage - yes, divorce has consequences. So does staying in a household with a miserable parent who makes his DC walk on eggshells and trains them to not ever enjoy themselves.

tenlittlecygnets · 19/06/2021 11:11

What's he like with his own money? Does he spend money on himself?

You need to sit down and discuss all this with him or it will ruin your marriage - and affect your poor dc. It already is.

Trevsadick · 19/06/2021 11:12

Forgot to add there are lots of people posting here that are the only wage earner for their house. And manage not be cunts.

MinesAPintOfTea · 19/06/2021 11:14

Those who say the husband should have sympathy because he’s depressed: he has been that way and refusing to explore help for four years. At what point is it acceptable to walk away?

SaltAndVinegarSandwiches · 19/06/2021 11:17

@MrsMaizel You're being completely ridiculous. They have eaten out once in 4 years. They have savings. They're not recklessly living beyond their means. You have to have a balance between being cautious with money and enjoying life while the kids are little too.

KurtWilde · 19/06/2021 11:53

Some posters on this thread have no grasp on reality.

I left an abusive marriage. My children aren't worse off for it, they're better off for not having to spend their childhoods going quiet when their dad is ranting or walking on eggshells.

I now fave the full financial burden on my shoulders and have suffered with depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation from small children and everything else that comes with being a parent.

I'm not an arsehole to serving staff, I don't make my kids feel like shit, and I have much less that £150 left at the end of the month. And zero savings. But I still manage to treat my kids at least once a month.

OP and her DC are merely existing at this point. This has been going on for 4 YEARS. It's not about a one off meal out, this is about a financially abusive man child who begrudges his family a treat because depression. Depression that only seems to be aimed at his wife and a teenage girl doing her job, and that he appears to refuse to her treatment for despite seeing how it impacts his 4 year old.

wewereliars · 19/06/2021 12:03

The people making excuses for the abusive bully of a husband do not know what an abusive relationship looks like and seem to want to lock the OP in with this twat for the rest of her days.

Many abusers ramp this shit up when children come along becuse they think they have the woman trapped. It's that simple.

Being depressed is no excuse if he refuses to get help. A paranoid schizophrenic who comes off their meds and listens to the voices telling them to kill people is jailed or complulsorily hospitalised.

RealhousewifeofStoke · 19/06/2021 12:11

Staggering thread.
And the only thing that’s really depressing is the excuses and apologies that people make when a grown man is behaving like a total prick and making the rest of his family utterly miserable, anxious and upset by his shitty behaviour and attitudes.
It’s an absolute insult to suggest that the OP is some feckless spender prepared to drive her family into debt. It’s an absolute insult ( and would only happen on MN ) to suggest that posters have no idea of the pressures that come with providing financial security for a family. We’re not all bloody Stepford wives waiting for the master of the house to dish out the housekeeping.

Clymene · 19/06/2021 12:18

The defenders have also conveniently overlooked that the OP works and is on mat leave. So shares some of the overwhelming financial burden.

I am also the only person who supports my family financially. My children aren't scared of me and I don't bully waiting staff

Egeegogxmv · 19/06/2021 12:25

I agree about the tension, that's why although I'm in a relationship I will never live with a man again, it means being subjected to constant psychological pressure to do the things that he wants, not to mention the fact that even if he did do half of the domestic work he wouldn't be pulling his weight because he eats twice as much as I do his clothes are twice as big he creates more mess etc.
Living alone without that glowering in the background is bliss.