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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

“Please have lunch ready for 1pm. Thankyou.”

838 replies

diydh · 21/12/2021 16:22

I’m interested to know if anyone else’s husband would say this in the morning before disappearing into his office for several hours. Please be honest.

YABU - yes, fair enough
YANBU - no, he is being quite bossy

OP posts:
housemaus · 21/12/2021 20:31

@housemaus

No.

If it were like, a particularly important day, and you'd agreed (having been asked nicely) to make sure he got something to eat in a very very small slot between unmissable meetings and a very high stress day, and you didn't have anything on yourself, and he was very highly strung about the whole thing but was normally lovely, and it was a one off...? I'd let it go.

Sounds like he's just a bossy prick who thinks you're the maid, though.

Oh I wasn't clear - it had previously been agreed and this was a reminder during a tense day. Then MAYBE.
SparrowNest · 21/12/2021 20:36

I’m at home full time (with much younger children, admittedly) and I do the vast majority of the cooking, but my husband would never talk to me like the hired help.

diydh · 21/12/2021 20:39

We can have fun together, it’s not all dire. This is the thing. He’s very good at prioritising “us” in terms of date nights, things like that. He is very good in that way. He has a good relationship with the kids and they know he’s there for them.

If I had to say, he’s very certain in his own perspectives, if that makes sense. It wouldn’t naturally occur to him that his agenda is not everyone else’s agenda, or that other people have a different reality.

In his mind, he wants me to be happy and he wants to provide us with a great life. He doesn’t want me like a slave. He will tell me to get the cleaner in more. He doesn’t want me doing housework all the time. But then, on the other hand, I’d be can’t find a shirt or whatever, he would expect me to know where his stuff is. He has expectations that are quite fixed and he’s not joking. One expectation is good being prepared for him. Other things are like, he would expect me to have the house organised and the kids organised, plus other things that are expectations with him and I can’t take the piss or tell him to do it himself. I don’t think he would stay in that type of relationship as it just wouldn’t compute in his brain.

OP posts:
thatsallineed · 21/12/2021 20:41

@Rainartist

Sounds like he has quite an archaic attitude. He wouldn't see it as wrong as he is polite but he does see you as facilitating his requirements.

It's not how I would want to live but you agree to staying at home and him to work. The children don't need need you so much now and he naturally sees your time as time to help him as he's busy.

Like I said quite archaic in attitude and not how many women live these days but not wrong exactly.

It is wrong if the woman hasn't any choice.
hopingforabrighterfuture2021 · 21/12/2021 20:44

Reading your update, it doesn’t sound too bad to be honest. If you’re being true to yourself that is, with what you’ve said.

It just sounds like a very traditional/old school marriage, of which there aren’t many about these days. It wouldn’t be for me but I can see how it would be difficult to get out of, too.

Are you happy when you’re with him on date nights etc? WFH has definitely intensified things for sure. I work 4 days (out of the home, term time) and DH works full time but mostly WFH since lockdown. He tried sending me a text message on my day off that said, ‘cup of coffee.’ It didn’t end well. But I was able to have a conversation with him about how it was completely unacceptable.

hopingforabrighterfuture2021 · 21/12/2021 20:45

Not that me making him a coffee was unacceptable, obviously. The way it was communicated.

Downton57 · 21/12/2021 20:45

I'll never forget my late mum saying to me out of earshot of my Dh "NEVER let him speak to you like that. Nip it in the bud right now." And she was so right. If you don't like the way he is speaking to you, nip it in the bud. Insist he doesn't do it again and deal with the drama.

CaliforniaDrumming · 21/12/2021 20:46

You are afraid of him. That is the reality. You are afraid that you will slip up one day and he will punish you.

Credenhill22 · 21/12/2021 20:47

Omg chill out everyone....if he said make sure you are in bed with nothing but a smile on at one.....would that make you all happy.....seriously wtaf.

StEval · 21/12/2021 20:50

@hopingforabrighterfuture2021

Reading your update, it doesn’t sound too bad to be honest. If you’re being true to yourself that is, with what you’ve said.

It just sounds like a very traditional/old school marriage, of which there aren’t many about these days. It wouldn’t be for me but I can see how it would be difficult to get out of, too.

Are you happy when you’re with him on date nights etc? WFH has definitely intensified things for sure. I work 4 days (out of the home, term time) and DH works full time but mostly WFH since lockdown. He tried sending me a text message on my day off that said, ‘cup of coffee.’ It didn’t end well. But I was able to have a conversation with him about how it was completely unacceptable.

I would reply to that with "Yes please" Seriously what on earth gets into them 😂
Downton57 · 21/12/2021 20:50

"I can’t take the piss or tell him to do it himself." Why can't you? What happens? That doesn't sound like a healthy relationship.

DreamTheMoors · 21/12/2021 20:53

Put the note between two dry pieces of bread and leave it - without a plate - on the kitchen counter for him.

Kite22 · 21/12/2021 20:58

@diydh

I am in psychotherapy, but not because of him. It’s more childhood issues that came up. But this therapist seems to just call everyone a narcissist! I can’t tell what is true and what isn’t true.

I not sure I need a job to have a purpose, but again, I can’t tell because I haven’t worked in a long time. I don’t miss having a job because I’m busy enough as it is. He would not want me working full time, definitely not. The way he is, he would be insulted. And he would see it as me abandoning my children for nothing. I know that might sound strange to some people but that is how it would go. And I can’t live with him in a mood. It’s would be horrible. It would be a bad vibe all round and he has a certain way that he looks at you. It’s difficult to describe. He’s never aggressive, but rightly or wrongly, it makes me anxious and guilty. Which l realise now is something I need to work in in the therapy! Anyway, overall, I’m not sure how a job would help me at this stage.

This is really sad OP. Perhaps even more sad that you don't seem to think it is odd that you are tiptoeing around, and walking on eggshells. Sad that you preferred it when your dh was working away. Sad that you can't have a laugh with him. Sad that it "isn't worth" you even thinking about doing something you might enjoy because it wouldn't be worth his moods. This is emotionally abusive. It really is no way to live your life.
ToootToot · 21/12/2021 21:02

Are you married to Jacob Rees Mogg?

WineAndMassage · 21/12/2021 21:04

@CaliforniaDrumming

You are afraid of him. That is the reality. You are afraid that you will slip up one day and he will punish you.
I agree with this
ftw163532 · 21/12/2021 21:06

Reading through all your posts - basically, saying no to him is not a viable option. You are under his control because the alternatives are either impossible or uncomfortable. So you don't try - or even contemplate - doing anything he would say no to.

You've listed so many things that he stops you doing that shouldn't even be his decision.

All of that is normal for you but it is not normal. Or healthy.

I mean, that is what coercive control is. And the way it affects you - feeling anxious, guilty etc - is not something faulty with you to be fixed or suppressed, it's the natural result of his unacceptable behaviour. Any human would respond that way to coercive control like you describe.

Like you said in your op, none of that means he's a "bad person" or that there aren't good times, but the behaviour is undeniably bad. It sounds like your childhood meant you were primed to accept and tolerate it as just how you should expect people to treat you?

It's commonly the case that people with abusive / traumatic childhoods will be targeted by other abusive people as adults. That's an evidence-based observation, it doesn't mean your therapist would label everyone that way but that you have a lot of those people in your life.

You kind of talk like you don't see yourself as a person in your own right - like you only exist as a satellite in other people's lives, meeting their needs without ever valuing yourself enough to consider your own ought to come first sometimes.

ftw163532 · 21/12/2021 21:07

You are afraid of him. That is the reality. You are afraid that you will slip up one day and he will punish you.

That comes across loudly.

Bloomers58 · 21/12/2021 21:07

Do you think you could be happier? Some people are happy in lives others would hate. Can you see yourself in a happier life, or are you perfectly happy. If you can imagine a happier life, does that life include your husband? If so, are there any steps you can take to work towards it. If not, are there any steps you can take to works towards the life without him?
With relationship stuff i think its always good to remember you can't change other people, you can only change yourself and your (re)actions. So think about what you can change to make things better for you. Is it to be more assertive and let him know how you feel with no agenda other than to stand up for yourself, to get a new hobby that keeps you busy/out over lunch, to volunteer part time.. could be anything. But you can only change you and you can only control your own actions.

mediciempire · 21/12/2021 21:08

I don't think he sounds that awful. Traditional? Yes but he doesn't sound like he's nasty or trying to be nasty and in some ways I can understand why he would think you making him lunch when he's been working all day wouldn't be that big of a deal. You could try asking him to be politer about it and kinder in his manner of saying because it upsets you. I don't think the therapist sounds any good either tbh.

ftw163532 · 21/12/2021 21:11

It just sounds like a very traditional/old school marriage

I disagree. Even 50 or 100 years ago this would still have been an abusive marriage. Being afraid and unable to say no to your spouse is not normal.

It's quite offensive to suggest that every "traditional" marriage was built on coercive control like this op's. Healthy, respectful marriages existed even if society precluded women from working etc.

diydh · 21/12/2021 21:11

Sorry to not respond to everyone individually, but it’s hard to know what to say, to be honest.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 21/12/2021 21:13

He's quite the master of all he surveys, isn't he?

ftw163532 · 21/12/2021 21:13

@mediciempire

I don't think he sounds that awful. Traditional? Yes but he doesn't sound like he's nasty or trying to be nasty and in some ways I can understand why he would think you making him lunch when he's been working all day wouldn't be that big of a deal. You could try asking him to be politer about it and kinder in his manner of saying because it upsets you. I don't think the therapist sounds any good either tbh.
Did you actually read beyond the first post to take his pattern of behaviour and the fact the op is scared to say no to him into account?

He exerts control. He doesn't need to be nasty because he controls the op effectively without being nasty. He uses "moods" instead.

sbhydrogen · 21/12/2021 21:14

@WasgijGods

If he had an exceptionally busy day and asked nicely

"I'm really busy today and won't have time to make lunch, would you mind making me a sandwich or something for 1pm please?"

Fine.

They way you've phrased it there, nope! Not a chance!

This is what I was going to say!
ftw163532 · 21/12/2021 21:14

You don't need to respond to any of us or say anything, op.

You don't owe us and you won't get in trouble if you don't respond.