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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH work issue

302 replies

MaybeIABU · 24/01/2022 12:49

Maybe I am being unreasonable, I'd like a straw poll to check if I need to give my head a wobble. I don't want to go into the details of what DH does work-wise, it would be too outing.

DH has a piece of work that he has to do for a couple of months on a Sunday. He says that do to this he has to have complete silence, as he is on and off calls to important people. He needs us all off the broadband so that he has the full bandwidth for his work use. So me and the DC (aged 12 & 14) have to disconnect from WiFi, any devices that use the WiFi around the house are disconnected (Alexas, TV etc) Our house is quite small, so basically this means that he is downstairs for the 3 hours this takes and we have to stay upstairs with no WiFi and aren't allowed downstairs and need to keep really quiet.

He could go to his office which is half an hour away. There, he would be completely alone with no threat of interruption or noise etc full use of the internet and phones and general peace & quiet. He insists that I'm being very unfair asking him to go to the office when he could easily do it from home, if we adhere to his conditions, saying "it's just 3 hours on a Sunday evening". My argument is that it's THREE HOURS ON A SUNDAY EVENING!! For 8 weeks in a row. It's such a complete pain the arse and I'm sick of it. Yes, I could take the kids out for the few hours but where to on a Sunday evening? I suppose I just don't think it's fair that 3 of us are completely inconvenienced for 3 hours every Sunday when it could just be one person slightly inconvenienced (by having to travel, everything else he'd still have to do anyway)

So, AIBU to ask/expect him to go and do this work in his office every Sunday?

OP posts:
phishy · 25/01/2022 01:37

Send the selfish twat to the office.

phishy · 25/01/2022 01:38

@saltinesandcoffeecups

I have not RTFT, just the OP’s posts.

Honestly, split the difference 4 weeks you all find something to do off internet and 4 weeks he goes to the office.

Have we lost the the ability to compromise and problem solve?

This isn’t compromise, this is him dictating that everyone walk on eggshells around him with no internet, no tv, no talking. Fuck that.
Nat6999 · 25/01/2022 02:33

Buy a payg mifi & use it just for the time he is working, look for if it is cheaper to buy an amount of data or to buy for unlimited data per month.

rainbowstardrops · 25/01/2022 05:58

How did the 'chat' go OP? I hope your selfish reasonable DH has seen sense now!

TurkeyRoastvBubbleandSqueek · 25/01/2022 07:43

@rainbowstardrops

How did the 'chat' go OP? I hope your selfish reasonable DH has seen sense now!
^ This ^
ExcaliburBaby · 25/01/2022 07:47

Absolutely fuck that. He is being totally ridiculous

MaybeIABU · 25/01/2022 09:07

Good morning and thank you to all the posters who made me feel justified!

I had intented to tell him that the vast majority of the internet thinks he's a twat about this, but I didn't need to because he told me himself when I came through the door yesterday evening! On reflection, he realises that his OCD or whatever it is about his work/this project and the internet etc. is his problem and will be greatly alleviated by him doing his work in the office. We didn't have a long chat about it, he knows he was being a complete arse and I'm happy with that Grin He'll go to the office from now on, unless I decide (and tell him in advance obviously) to go out and do something with the kids but I don't feel any obligation to do that every week and he knows it would be unreasonable to expect me to.

So, normal service has resumed, thank you all Smile

OP posts:
WetLookKnitwear · 25/01/2022 09:11

That’s a nice update op

draramallama · 25/01/2022 09:16

Good outcome Grin

TheOccupier · 25/01/2022 09:23

Hurrah!

countrygirl99 · 25/01/2022 09:25

Great result. Sometimes people just get too caught up with one issue and need some time for reflection.

Dixiechickonhols · 25/01/2022 09:41

Thanks for updating and glad it resolved for you.

MaybeIABU · 25/01/2022 09:47

Sometimes people just get too caught up with one issue and need some time for reflection.

Yes, absolutely. Turns out he had some problems with it on Sunday night (not internet related!!) and this is what put him in such bad form over it and started our row. He really does need to do something about his attitude to work which verges on anxiety but that's something for another day. I'll bring it up with him when this project is over.

OP posts:
mummytotwoboys0600 · 25/01/2022 10:55

8 Sundays in a row makes it difficult. One or two wouldn't be so bad as I'd just kids out for tea or watch a movie in bed. The fact he's making you all come off the WiFi. With kids, that's torture 🙈
Can you not negotiate that every other week he goes to the office?

AryaStarkWolf · 25/01/2022 11:13

Glad he saw sense by himself OP!

unname · 25/01/2022 11:33

That’s great news!

Notjustanymum · 25/01/2022 11:58

I wfh ALL the time, with many important calls. I use a noise-cancelling headset. I’m in an office upstairs. In 2 years I have only once been aware of TV noise from downstairs, and this was because DH was watching one of those films that go from zero to deafening decibels in a moment. One polite word and he turned it down.
Unless your walls are paper, I’d suggest that he works using headphones, and the rest of you get on with your lives (including tv) on a Sunday evening.
If he’s taking family space to work at home currently, get a small folding desk, too, and banish him to a corner of the bedroom instead! It’s only 8 weeks, after all (remind him that for him, it’s 8 separate days, but for you and 2 DC’s, it’s 24 days collectively… he should understand capacity requirements)

TurkeyRoastvBubbleandSqueek · 25/01/2022 12:23

I am really happy to hear this OP, and that your DH isn't the d* he was looking like. We are all allowed the occassional off day, as long as we give a genuine apology afterwards. I think that your DH will actually be grateful after his first stint back in the office, and he realises how well he can concentrate there, and then how nice it is afterwards to be able to go back home and relax with his lovely wife!

Patapouf · 25/01/2022 12:31

He should fuck off to the office, or if this job is so big and important he should pay up for better broadband.
He is being unreasonable!

SamphiretheStickerist · 25/01/2022 12:51

Sometimes @Patapouf reading the OPs posts are helpful.

There's a fairly new thing on all of an OPs posts "See All" makes it quite easy to do.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 25/01/2022 13:35

Great that he worked it out for himself.

I work on large projects and people have had children climbing on them, pets appearing etc. nobody minds it makes everyone a bit more human.

I once left a voicemail for our very hardcore New York lawyers on a multibillion dollar litigation where DS1 (who was about 3 at the time) could be heard in the background announcing he was in a cupboard and that it was dark in there. They thought it was hilarious.

AmaryllisNightAndDay · 25/01/2022 15:29

Result! And nice that he didn't need the whole internet to tell him Smile

godmum56 · 25/01/2022 15:34

I do love a happy ending

GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 25/01/2022 15:39

Excellent outcome and thanks for the update.

WeAreTheHeroes · 25/01/2022 16:58

Glad to hear he's seen sense!