Trivial I know, but this has really upset me. Got home from work today to find DH (in charge of two young kids) 2 meters up an A frame ladder wielding hedge cutter. He was standing one leg either side on second from top rung, with both hands on hedge trimmer. The ladder wasn’t on flat ground, whole garden is in a slope and very bumpy after the drought, and he was massively overreaching because the leylandii hedge is about 4 meters tall.
I asked him to stop because it’s not safe and he refused. I said I’d go buy a long reach trimmer tomorrow and he refused saying we can’t afford one (we are stretched and not affluent but yes we can afford one) and I pointed out it’s cheaper than loosing his job if he falls of and seriously injures himself.
What followed was about 90 minutes of me begging him to stop, begging him to listen to me, and him getting grumpy that I was nagging him, then going back up the ladder as soon as I turned my back.
Eventually I got so fed up I pressed the circuit breaker and unplugged him. I’ve had years of safe ladder training drilled into me at work, and I get weekly emails with yet another death at work from fall from height (admin in building industry). I personally know friends of our family who’ve died falling off ladders whilst cutting trees.
He’s said I was totally out of order in the way I spoke to him (I stayed very calm and rational throughout). I’m now 3 hours into silent treatment. He refused to eat dinner with us.
Was I being unreasonable? I feel it’s massively unfair for him to risk his own life at the best of times but especially in front of the kids.
YABU - should have left him to it
YAMBU - he was being dangerous