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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

DH half arsed attitude & half done jobs

52 replies

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:28

Aibu to despair of DH never giving anything 100%?! We've been together for over 10 years, 3 DC together and I'm at my wits end. He just doesn't seem interested in doing things, that are a fundamental part of parenting or even god forbid being an adult.

When the DC were younger I got fed up of bearing all of the mental load so gave him two "jobs" to do - sort out registering the kids at a dentist and book them onto swimming lessons. That was 5 years ago. He's done neither.

He has a work trip coming up and his passport has expired. Its the type of thing I would deal with but I've just refused to have anything to do with it so he's now flapping around panicking and had to book an in person appointment to get it sorted in time.

He has four shavers because he can't be bothered keeping track of them (I organise everything in the house so everything has a home but obviously I never use his shavers). He often shaves in the car after he's parked up about to go into the office.

I've tried to get him to help with specific things, e.g. cleaning the bathroom is his job but he will wipe down the sink but never use anything other than loo roll or kitchen roll so after a while there's a ring of black stuff around the plug. He doesn't consider the bathroom floor part of his job. He hoovers around things (even socks!) instead of moving them. He's supposed to be responsible for the weekly shop but regularly forgets to buy the specific things only I need (due to my own dietary requirements) so I often have nothing in for breakfast.

He's supposed to be in charge of the dishwasher (if he 'washes' our youngests bottle up there will still be milk residue in the crevices, so I do all manual washing up) but never stacks it right so things remain dirty, never cleans the filter and doesn't use the right setting so unclean items just sit in the dishwasher until they're eventually considered clean and put away. He often puts away crockery that's still got food residue on it.

Is this unreasonable? Am I asking too much? If I mention it sometimes it'll improve but most often he gets defensive and brings up the one time I left a cup in the living room overnight, or calls me a nag, or points out I work part time and he full time. Sometimes it feels like he's physically incapable of finishing something, I did wonder if he's ND but as a woman with ADHD it's not an excuse for me to be lazy!

I'm just so down about it. Even the non household stuff- this Christmas was the first one since we've been together that I asked him to sort the cards and gifts for his parents. I found a sealed Xmas card with MIL's name on it in the playroom when cleaning it out so clearly that didn't happen.

I feel like screaming.

OP posts:
SuncreamAndIceCream · 30/03/2024 21:30

YABU to have married and had DC with such a useless specimen

mjf981 · 30/03/2024 21:31

How someone does something, is how they do everything.

This is who he is. I don’t think you can change a person. I understand your frustration as some of that would drive me mad, but you have to either accept it, or leave.

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:32

SuncreamAndIceCream · 30/03/2024 21:30

YABU to have married and had DC with such a useless specimen

I completely agree. Hindsight is 20-20 😑

OP posts:
surlycurly · 30/03/2024 21:33

You may actually be married to my ex husband. I divorced the cretinous specimen ten years ago and have actually found doing everything easier than having his kind of 'help'. And I don't nag anyone anymore. I'm a delight!

IncessantNameChanger · 30/03/2024 21:34

Did he ever live on his own? I think this makes a big difference. Dh lived on his own in his early twenties.

My dh is quite good but he is a tradesman and can not do DIY well at home. I think they are sent to try us.

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:36

IncessantNameChanger · 30/03/2024 21:34

Did he ever live on his own? I think this makes a big difference. Dh lived on his own in his early twenties.

My dh is quite good but he is a tradesman and can not do DIY well at home. I think they are sent to try us.

No. Good point. Straight back home after uni til we moved in together and don't get me started on MIL doing his washing for him whilst he was at uni.

Looking back so many red flags

OP posts:
ZellyFitzgerald · 30/03/2024 21:38

I think you might be married to my husband 😬.

Seriously I think I could have written your post. I'm almost 20 years in and honestly it doesn't change. For me, his good bits outweigh it but in your case it might be different.

It's always a lazy answer for people to say 'it's your fault for marrying him'. Sometimes these men keep it hidden until you're married with children and then they just can't be bothered to keep up the act anymore.

Only you can decide if you can live like this, but I guarantee you he won't get better.

ChaosAndCrumbs · 30/03/2024 21:41

If you genuinely think he’s got ADHD (and it’s actually quite likely if you have, as lots of ND partners end up together), then maybe approach this way? My DH is the same (and I’m also ND) and he’s inattentive. It’s not an excuse and it’s his responsibility to sort it, but it can be difficult for the person themselves to recognise. It can be managed well, but he needs to realise it’s a big, big problem. Can you get him to try the techniques?

Honestly, the thing that made the most difference for us was my DH starting medication. He sleeps better and actually does housework (and not to a crap standard like before). Not on meds v on meds is a chalk and cheese difference for him and obvious to everyone around us. He needs to use the techniques as well, but he wouldn’t bother prior to meds, whereas now he actually uses them and so remembers things more often etc.

pikkumyy77 · 30/03/2024 21:44

F

Bryonny84 · 30/03/2024 21:45

This is my DP even after 20 years. They don't and won't change. I just stop doing his stuff and carry on. If I don't clean we live in a tip so I clean. Just not his stuff. You sound a lot younger than me so if you don't want to do this for the rest of your lives together then you'll need to rethink. If I were 25 again I'd be heading for the door.

MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira · 30/03/2024 21:46

Your children haven't been to the dentist for five years? It's not the hill I'd die on

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:50

MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira · 30/03/2024 21:46

Your children haven't been to the dentist for five years? It's not the hill I'd die on

Me either. I eventually caved and sorted them private dental care (after a year of waiting for DH) but he's supposed to be sorting and NHS dentist (ie putting them on a waiting list) and it's just never happened.

OP posts:
Wagonwheelforme · 30/03/2024 21:52

I got an eerie feeling reading this post- I thought it was one I’d written.

I also allocated 2 ‘jobs’ to my ExH. Dentist and swimming lessons. Oldest kid ended up with a filling ( stays with ex half the time, and clearly doesn’t brush his teeth there)

swimming lessons still not booked 7 years later!! I took them to intensive courses myself, but he probably still thinks they can’t swim- he never takes them!!

Turns out my ex was ADHD ( so am I and one of our DCs). But he is also still a cunt!

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:53

ChaosAndCrumbs · 30/03/2024 21:41

If you genuinely think he’s got ADHD (and it’s actually quite likely if you have, as lots of ND partners end up together), then maybe approach this way? My DH is the same (and I’m also ND) and he’s inattentive. It’s not an excuse and it’s his responsibility to sort it, but it can be difficult for the person themselves to recognise. It can be managed well, but he needs to realise it’s a big, big problem. Can you get him to try the techniques?

Honestly, the thing that made the most difference for us was my DH starting medication. He sleeps better and actually does housework (and not to a crap standard like before). Not on meds v on meds is a chalk and cheese difference for him and obvious to everyone around us. He needs to use the techniques as well, but he wouldn’t bother prior to meds, whereas now he actually uses them and so remembers things more often etc.

Thanks for this. I do suspect he has ADHD but he cba looking into it. He won't even read the simple summaries I've sent him around our sons autism diagnosis - aimed to help him understand him better, so I'm not surprised.

I find it very frustrating as I myself have ADHD, and multiple chronic health issues that I have no choice but to manage alongside everything else. If I'm honest I'm probably resentful that he can just 'opt out' sometimes.. God I'd love to be able to switch off and know the world wouldn't burn without me sorting everything.

OP posts:
Wagonwheelforme · 30/03/2024 21:54

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 21:50

Me either. I eventually caved and sorted them private dental care (after a year of waiting for DH) but he's supposed to be sorting and NHS dentist (ie putting them on a waiting list) and it's just never happened.

I felt awful too for delegating this job, but I one DC has rather complex medical needs that take a lot of time to organise. I couldn’t drop that!

HangerOverTreeFruit · 30/03/2024 21:55

And yet amazingly seems to hold down a job. What does he do for a living? Does it require any of the skills he seems to lack at home? Or does he have a boss telling him what to do every minute of the day?

MyOtherCarisAVauxhallZafira · 30/03/2024 21:58

@HalfaJobHusband he sounds like a lazy twat

HalfaJobHusband · 30/03/2024 22:00

HangerOverTreeFruit · 30/03/2024 21:55

And yet amazingly seems to hold down a job. What does he do for a living? Does it require any of the skills he seems to lack at home? Or does he have a boss telling him what to do every minute of the day?

I think about this alot. He works in forecasting which requires a lot of complex excel stuff that I don't understand. Works in a team with some oversight but minimal actual 'management'. He's progressed loads in the last 5-6 years, now earning a decent salary. Since the most recent pay bump he's occasionally mentioned things being bought by "his money" which frankly almost triggered me to commit murder. From the outset my earning potential was far beyond his but my career was untenable due to my health issues. I still work, albeit 3 days/week but decent salary and v flexible around kids etc (as he wouldn't know when parents evening was if i tattooed the date onto his eyelids)

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 30/03/2024 22:01

I'm glad you're not sorting out his passport.

Now you need to identify all the rest of the tasks related to him that you've been doing all these years, and stop doing everything that benefits him or his family (no more Christmas or birthday cards or presents from you to his side).

Do your own shopping for your specific dietary needs.

He's a pig, and if he cared about you or your children, he'd get himself assessed for ADHD, or whatever. But he clearly doesn't care

Fwiw, imo it's a case of failure to launch.

whattodo87 · 30/03/2024 22:04

This sounds like me 😬 but then I have no one to answer to, apart from my 2 kids but they are use to it 😂

However, important stuff does get done but the house and garden is a work in progress ;-)

I'm not sure what I'd be like if a partner was like this though so you have my sympathy x

Saintmariesleuth · 30/03/2024 22:07

I would honestly be re-evaluating my marriage in your shoes- I don't say this lightly. This is far beyond him being a bit useless- he is willingly incompetant and doesn't view you as a team. He is a poor role model as a husband and a father

Aria999 · 30/03/2024 22:11

he wouldn't know when parents evening was if i tattooed the date onto his eyelids

This made me giggle. No advice OP but you sound way too good for him!

HangerOverTreeFruit · 30/03/2024 22:13

he wouldn't know when parents evening was if i tattooed the date onto his eyelids

you see I don't understand this, he no doubt has a mobile phone which will have a calendar on it and the second he knows when some event is he can put it into the calendar and even set bloody reminders to go off. For me and passport renewal I set it to a daily reminder and then deleted it when I did the renewal (perimenopause has killed my memory.)

I think he is used to you picking up what he doesn't do or just putting up with it and having more children. To me it smacks of not caring, if he fucks up at his job he could lose it, does he feel he could never lose you? That you would stay no matter what?

uhOhOP · 30/03/2024 22:24

Is it possible to just get rid of him? And like another poster, I don't say this lightly.

This isn't going to change. He isn't going to change. You will change, though – you'll be worn down to nothing from picking up after him, redoing jobs he's done poorly, asking him over and over and over again if he can do something, if he has done that thing, and when can he get round to doing that thing... You'll stand over him to make sure he does it and even then he'll probably not do it. You'll then remember what you already know at this moment, that these jobs would get done so much more quickly if you just did them yourself and cut him out of the equation.

Probably you’ll come to resent him, assuming you don't already. He doesn't care about doing simple tasks properly. He doesn't care about doing simple (essential!) things for his children. He doesn't care to learn about his child's diagnosis. He doesn't care about looking into whether he has ADHD. So what does he care about?

Can you even imagine living the rest of your life with somebody like this? You might look back in twenty years' time and realise that this man has taken up time that you'll never get back, time in which you could have been enjoying yourself, happy, feeling that you're part of a great partnership, instead of letting yourself get dragged down by your spouse's incompetence.

And on top of being useless it seems he wants to lord over you with "his" money.

LamonicBibber1 · 30/03/2024 22:28

@uhOhOP said every word I wanted to say. I couldn't agree more with that entire post.

Think of him as ballast. Ballast drags you to the ocean floor. He chooses, every day of your marriage, to be human ballast. Cut the chain dude, float to the surface and swim in the sun with the kids.