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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Little white lies - need some perspective! (really really long, sorry!)

37 replies

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 10:36

My boyfriend and I have been together for about 5 months. Its a semi long distance relationship and we see eachother maybe one night a week or so, but Im really starting to fall for him.

However, he has told me on several occasions, things that just arent true. I have some issues with trust from prior relationships which I was trying to put behind me but now Im not sure if Im being reasonable by being upset over the fibs.

Lie 1) He lied about where he lived when we met. Now, in fairness he admitted it about a month later and said that it was because he didnt think I would date him if he lived so far away. Which may have been true, I dunno, but anyway, on its own, this wasnt a big deal to me.

Lie 2) The night before a romantic weekend away in May, he was coming up from his home town by bus after work. An hour after he should have got on the bus he called me to say he had missed it, but was getting a lift with someone who was coming up to near my area that night. I had gone in to the city to surprise him off the bus, so thought Id just call a friend and see if they wanted to go for a drink, since Id a babysitter and all anyway.

Walk into a bar, and there is my boyfriend at the bar (amazing coincidence as its a city with lots of bars) He didnt see me and we left quickly. He was with a group and I knew Id cause a huge embarrsing scene if I stayed. He came to my house about 3 hours later really drunk (he rarely drinks) and said he had been drinking vodka on the way up in the car. I didnt tell him I knew. I couldnt work out if he had lied because he thought Id be upset that he wanted to go out with mates the night before our weekend away, when we barely see eachother. I know I wouldnt have minded at all, as he isnt in the city much to see them and we were about to have 2 days together. I did mind the lies.

ANYWAY, we spent most of the last week together. It was his birthday and I arranged a night and 2 days away, day trips with my DD etc. It was lovely and I was forgetting all about lie 2) etc. On the Thursday I had to work so he was going into town to see mates and said he would be back at 5pm, and we and dd would get a dominoes (huge treat for dd-she was v excited) and have a games and movie night. It got to 7.30 and I went ahead and started making DD dinner. She was sad to not have a dominoes, but I cant eat them (intolerances) so it would have been wasteful to get one anyway. We still played games etc. At 8pm he came in and I was a bit sarky - "phone not working" etc Blush. I told him I wasnt feeling well (I really wasnt) and was tidying up after dds tea then going to bed. So he went off and huffed in my living room. I let him. About 11pm I finally went and got him and apologized for being cheeky and asked him to come on up to bed. We chatted and made up and he apologized etc. However, one thing he said was "I hardly play football or see my mates now Im dating you" I felt like saying about Lie 2 but was feeling so unwell I just wanted to sleep and I didnt say anything. (He had said before he didnt mind missing these things for me)

He went off on a lads weekend and texted lots and was v sweet. The night he came back he stayed with me and we chatted some more. Convo came around to hinesty and I saw the chance to bring up lie 2. He tried to cover his tracks a bit and I didnt really get the full story in the end. BUT, he promised no more lies etc. He was in love with me and never felt like this before etc. ...

Lie 3) On his way back from said weekend he said he was getting the bus at x time. Ive just found his ticket -must have fallen out of his pocket- and he got the bus an hour earlier (he would have been on the bus from airport when he texted me he is getting the later bus!)

ARGH! Am I right for these things to bother me? Is it a "have a serious discussion" thing or a "dump his ass" thing? The next day Ill see him is 9 weeks away, on my birthday, at about 10pm (apparently!) and hes taking me away the next day for an overnight somewhere. Should I make up an excuse for him to cancel the night away? (Only booked last night, so he could get his money back Id imagine)

OP posts:
TequilaMockinBird · 13/06/2012 10:41

For me, these are red flags.

Why does he need to lie about these things? Do you think he's possibly being unfaithful?

rubyrubyruby · 13/06/2012 10:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 10:42

I dont know :(

OP posts:
OfMiceandCats · 13/06/2012 10:44

You don't see him that often so I think you'll not be missing much if you tell him to take a hike. Sounds like he's living his life as before, but just coming to see you when he fancies being in a relationship.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 10:47

Well, he lives 2.5 hours away (2 buses), and neither of us drive, so Im not sure its "whenever he feels like having a relationship". He makes a lot of effort to come here rather often. More effort than Id go to if it wasnt something that meant something to me!

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/06/2012 10:47

I think people who routinely lie to get make themselves look better rather than tell the truth and face criticism are pretty immature. Rather than 'I missed the bus' he could have said 'I'm going for a drink with a friend and I'll be on the next bus'. Be honest however. If he'd said 'I'm going for a drink' would you have jumped up and down or would you have been OK with it?

claudedebussy · 13/06/2012 10:50

lying is second nature to him. you can't trust him. sorry. there is no way i'd be happy with this.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 10:52

Cogito - I would have been ok. But I dont know if he knew that really. On Sunday night we talked and I said I was really glad he had the night out (the one I caught him on), but I wished he had said about it, rather than lie. I didnt see the bus ticket til today so technically he knew he had lied and didnt admit it then.

He hasnt really had any long term relationships before. Maybe he is feeling a bit hmm. trapped sounds a bit severe, but like that! Hes just used to doing things in his own time where Im more "Ill be doing this at x time for an hour, then Ill do this" so maybe he wants a bit of space.

As long as he wasnt being unfaithful, I wouldnt care what he did inbetween getting off the plane and getting here!

OP posts:
Portofino · 13/06/2012 10:53

I would have dumped his ass after lie 2. Sorry. You deserve much better than this.

TequilaMockinBird · 13/06/2012 10:55

Have you met his friends or family yet?

oldwomaninashoe · 13/06/2012 10:56

He has an issue with honesty, and feels the NEED (probably completely unecessary) to fib and not be honest. (He is probably not seeing anyone else)

I have a friend who married someone like this, it didn't go well, as time went on the fibs got bigger until he was living part time reality and part time fantasy, and he couldn't see that his lies were'nt reality ,ie his reality.

I would suggest that you get shot before it goes any further and you get really attached.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 10:58

Ive met his family, but not his mates as I dont go to him often as nowhere to stay with DD.

I texted him there now to say I found the ticket and I didnt understand why he would lie about it. :(

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/06/2012 10:58

If you've explained that you'd prefer the truth to a lie and that you wouldn't go up the wall as standard then I think you dump him because he sounds a bit thick. He probably isn't used to what it means to be in a grown-up relationship but he'll never get the hang of it if he thinks the way to deal with it is to lie. Dishonest and unfaithful are just two sides of the same coin.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 11:02

Well, the big chat we had was after the three lies. But now Im sitting here thinking, would I even believe the reason he gives for telling the lies.

Guess the solution is very clear. :(

OP posts:
SoSad007 · 13/06/2012 11:12

The thing is bluecarrot, it sounds like honesty is an important value for you, and as ruby said above, if he's lying this early into the relationship, what do you think the lies are going to be like 2 yrs in? 5yrs in? 10yrs in? Can you see what your future might be like?

And then imagine that because he lies to you, and you want to believe those lies, then you have to start decieving yourself. I haven't been on these boards long, but long enough to watch women who are decieving themselves about the truth about their partners in some way or another.

As always "To thine own self be true", and if you are seeing the lies this early in the relationship, these are major red flags.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 11:22

:( yeah. I know. I think I already knew all this but hoped I was being unreasonable due to anxiety over lies in previous relationships.

Hes just replied to the text. He said that his mate had to wait an hour for a lift once they got to the city and didnt want to wait by himself. He thought Id be upset that he didnt come straight home as I was unwell. (I had told him not to come because I had had d&v the night before but he insisted on coming to stay and look after me. I figured he was mad)

It actually is a really reaonable reason, isnt it....

I replied that I can handle a horrid truth better than knowing he is lying. (obv horrid truth not related to the staying with a mate situation)

OP posts:
bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 11:23

And my friend just called to see when I need a babysitter for my birthday weekend and I burst into tears and hung up :(

Really sad as I really did like him a lot.

OP posts:
bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 11:23

I still do in fact

OP posts:
Thistledew · 13/06/2012 11:30

My ExP lied to me about some fairly insignificant things early on in our relationship - eg that he had arranged a free lift for a friend of mine, whereas he had actually paid for a taxi for her. Or that a stereo he bought me was half price in a sale so not expensive (he was supposed to be paying his mum some money back). Or that he had split with his ex 3 months previously, not three days.

Like you, I found the dishonesty quite troubling, but let it go as it was really no skin off my nose.

Later in the relationship I found out that he had lied about some major events that he had claimed had happened to him, which turned out to be pure fantasy. These really shook me as they undermined how I viewed him as a person and how I had made certain allowances for ways in which he had behaved.

Dishonesty to the degree you describe would be a deal breaker for me, as it is a way of controlling your reaction to him and avoiding engaging with you honestly. With regards the missed bus/night out with friends, he denied you the chance to say "actually, that is not ok with me" but instead manipulated your understanding of the situation so that you would react in a way that suited him.

Portofino · 13/06/2012 11:31

I am Sad for you. But in fact your previous experiences mean you are even more deserving of a man who isn't a lying shit. It doesn't matter that the lies are stupid, or that he can give a good excuse for making them. The important thing is that nice, normal men do NOT do this. It is so disrepectful to you.

bluecarrot · 13/06/2012 11:37

Thank you all for being so lovely when Ive obviously been so silly and naive :( I know what I need to do.

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 13/06/2012 11:38

Yes, you like him, but clearly you can't trust him.

I wouldn't want to be with someone you couldn't trust. It seems as though he's told you stupid lies - so what does that mean he thinks of you?

Anyone who can lie like that is someone to be avoided, I think. At the very best they are very immature and think you will overreact if they tell the truth.

No, no. You have to get rid, OP. I'm sorry.

SoSad007 · 13/06/2012 11:48

Good on you bluecarrot, for respecting yourself and saying no to a liar. This is a win for you and your self-respect Smile.

ChitChatFlyingby · 13/06/2012 12:01

If you really think that he has only told you 3 lies then you are fooling yourself, I'm afraid. He has told you 3 lies that you KNOW about, and countless many others that you don't know about.

This is a person who will never take responsibility for his actions. Instead of making thge tough decisions, he will do what is easiest/more fun for him and lie to everyone else.

What happens when he lies about something that REALLY matters to you?!

SarahBumBarer · 13/06/2012 12:39

Bluecarrot- it is a reasonable reason for getting to you an hour later than he could, yes.

But it is not a reasonable reason for lying to you again.

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