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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

apparently i should get a job, but i dont want to. so what sort of job can i get??

82 replies

stitch · 27/08/2006 22:40

dh is always tellinjg me tog et a job. because apparently i sit around on my arse all day and be a parasit to him.
my family think i should gte a job to get my confidence back and showw him just how much i do at home. etc.

i used to teach. but really dont want. also, i dont know about taking orders. and office politics. and what can i do anyways. i dont want to teach. i went to university and am numerate, used to be computer literate, but now all my it experience revolves round googling and mumsnet.
any suggestions?

OP posts:
fuzzywuzzy · 27/08/2006 23:31

could you transfer the balance from your credit cards to his ones, you know the cards he lets you buy boden and groceries from.....

Tiggly · 27/08/2006 23:32

I know it's not what you want, but you have a qualification and can earn good money, with flexible hours (by that I mean, the children will be on holiday around the same times as you), just until you have paid the credit card debts off?? Get rid of the cards and tell him that you are a partnership in marriage so why should you alone carry the debt whilst you don't have an income? Can't remember the name for locum teachers, but would you not consider this as it wouldn't be full time and still give you an income and help to boost your confidence until you know for certain what you would like to do? Get yourself registered with some temping agencies just to build your self esteem. You can do this. Do Not let it all come from him, he sounds like a controlling arse from what you have written, and you are worth soooo much more. I know it is easier for you to just roll over and not argue back to get the arguement over with quickly but do not let the arse tell you your a parasite! YOU ARE NOT! you are the loving mother of his children and you opted out of your life temporarily in order to bring your children up, at home, with you. This sounds really patronising and I am sorry that i cannot word it better but please don't let this go on any more. for you.

stitch · 27/08/2006 23:34

im much calmer now. thank you all for helping me.

years and years ago, i did some temporary secretarial work through an agency. if i go back to one, perhaps they will be able to help?
will the agency ask me what my childcare arrangements will be?

OP posts:
fuzzywuzzy · 27/08/2006 23:35

no stitch they wont. They'll want to know your typing speed, references, your experience, and your qualifications.

JessaJam · 27/08/2006 23:36

It's none of the agencies business if you even have kids tbh....they don't care what your childcare arrangements will be as long as you can be reliable and turn up when they need you to...

stitch · 27/08/2006 23:41

credit card chopped and binned.

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stitch · 27/08/2006 23:43

typing speed, they will test wont they? thats no problem
references, will it be my old headteacher? she doenst evenwork at the school anymore. who could i put down?

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SherlockLGJ · 27/08/2006 23:43

Stitch

I have to go to bed.

Cat me if you need me, I will be brutally honest, but you will know where you stand.

VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/08/2006 23:44

Stitch, sometimes we've just got to do what we've got to do to move on/get on.

If it means you go back to teaching until you get back firmly on your own two feet, then so be it. You are big enough and strong enough to do that for yourself and your kids.

I agree with whoever said about building yourself a secret fortune. You need to start making provisions away from your husband. The small chunks of happiness arent worth the horridness and nastiness that fills the larger gaps inbetween.

YOU are in control of your life. You might not feel like it rigth now, but you are.....YOU need to make some difficult choices, but if you dont, then HE will make them for you. And we cant have that can we?

There are lots of folk here that can help you - take up their offers. You can break this vicious cycle. But you have to take the first step.

Tiggly · 27/08/2006 23:45

Great, at least now the balance will have to start to come down. If you have credit cards in his/joint names and you need the money, put it on those, and when he asks you why, then tell him! Why should you be saddled with the debt of the whole household and not him! Thats step one. Ring around the agencies, including the one from before as they should hopefully have you on record somewhere along with your good reputation and reliability! Go for it!

stitch · 27/08/2006 23:50

get self esteem back/get a job.
get money sorted.
not be a miserable wreck.

come back and get mumsnet friends to give me a kick up my backside if i fall by wayside.

OP posts:
makemineadouble · 27/08/2006 23:56

i dont think you should be bullied into work but once you get there the feeling of your own money is awsome !!!
plus all the new people youll meet
after a year youll leave him without a backwards glance :} be strong big hug 2ya

VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/08/2006 23:56

Good......i think a STITCH's personal progress thread should be started....so we can measure your progress....

makemineadouble · 27/08/2006 23:58

brill

Tiggly · 28/08/2006 00:13

With your first pay packet, open yourself up an account and slide away a certain amount of money just for you, why should he hold the purse strings and have all the fun with it!!

jasper · 28/08/2006 00:21

Stitch what a horrible situation to be in.
I hope and pray you can sort your way to a happier way for you and your kids.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 28/08/2006 08:21

Stitch,

Having read much of your relationship history with your husband I was unfortunately not at all surprised that he took the ring back. This issue and your being told to get a job are yet more ways of exerting power and control. He is a very angry man and you are in an abusive relationship. There seems to be no fight left in you because he's done a bang up job of knocking your self esteem to ribbons

"I would love too kick him out serenity, but he wont go.
Make him leave via legal means then. Show him you mean business.

"also, im an arse as well. every time he shows me the tiniest smidgeon of love, i remember how much i love him". First of all you are completely NOT an arse but your idea of love has been tainted by this man. What is there now to love about him exactly?.

He is damaging you emotionally - not just to say your children who are witness to all this going on around them. They could well act out the same patterns of behaviour as their Dad is doing as adults. After all we learn about relationships from our parents - what are the two of you teaching them?.

Perhaps you should read "Why does he do that?" by Lundy Bancroft.

A job is only a small part of the wider problems here. You are not in a marriage - you to him are his slave to be controlled. He has acted cruelly and part of the problem as well is that you have let him do so.

I hope one day you will find it within yourself to leave him far behind. He could end up killing you.

Janos · 28/08/2006 10:21

I know these aren't much practical use but
((((stitch))))

Men like your DH wear you down until you feel worthless. Abuse isn't just about hitting people.

catsmother · 28/08/2006 14:06

Attila's post makes a lot of sense.

Do you know, when I started to read this post, I expected to read that you (plural you - you & DH) were in debt, struggling to pay the bills or whatever, and that that was why you needed to go back to work.

Unless I've missed it, I haven't read anything like that and it comes across as bullying pure and simple. It's not the right attitude to take, but he comes across as being jealous of you being at home so he belittles you out of spite.

You have one pre-schooler FFS ! I have too .... and am incapable of earning, in a "normal" 9 to 5 job "enough" money to cover off childcare, travel and enough take home after that. So instead, I work very long hours - certainly equivalent to a full week's work, if not more, at home, for an insulting wage, in the evenings and weekend. Which makes me a pittance, but still more than take home from a 9-5 job.

Belive me, if I didn't have to do this, I wouldn't, because I have no "me" time and neither is there any "us" time. It's a nightmare.

BUT ...... DP did not force me into this. Nor has he gone on and on about me working 9-5. Truth is, if I did have the skills to work 9-5 and bring home "enough" then that is what I'd do, but unfortunately the high cost of childcare (even if using a Childminder - no offence intended to any CMs) means I am in a Catch 22 situation.

You sound as if you're in a similar position with a 3 year old who will need full time care and 2 others who'll need wrap-ropund school care, plus holiday care. What would you actually end up with once childcare had been paid for ? It very much sounds as if you'd end up with nothing and therefore, what would be the pointy of you working, and the kids having to be looked after by someone else ?

If so ..... why on earth is he pushing you on this ? ..... it'd be no good for you and no good for his children either if you are working for nothing.

Is there genuine financial need here ? ..... and please don't say there is because you have "your" credit cards to pay for. "The" credit cards (not "your") have been used for food FFS - and probably kids' clothes, am I wrong ? That is household and not your sole responsibility.

I know you may not want to go into details about his income but does he give you £200 per month because that's all that's left over after the mortgage etc., or is it because that's simply what he does ? £200 + Child benefit sounds a very tight amount for a household of five if you're expected to fund all food, toiletries, clothes, kids' incidentals from it.

You know I might be barking up the wrong tree but it sounds like petty spite and control going on here rather than genuine stress and worry about making ends meet. Even if you are all genuinely brassick, the fact remains that unless you are a reasonably high earner, ideally with low commuting costs, the childcare costs of 3 children would mean that most working women would just about break even. So I keep coming back to what I've been saying about the "point" of all this.

Have you actually presented him with the figures ? ....

.... he firstly, job or not, needs to be shown just how much Tescos costs each month + clothes + shoes + any activities + petrol, and that you running up credit card debts is a ridiculous state of affairs as the capital debt is never reducing and without any income, you can never be expected to pay it off.

Secondly, he needs to be shown the sort of take home pay you can get from jobs you can actually get less childcare and less commuting costs. If the end result is nothing, what is the point of you working at this moment in time ..... unless it gives him a "kick" you've done what you're told and he no longer feels "it's not fair" that you "apparently" don't work by being at home.

If your household does have genuine money problems, then you need to tackle these together by looking at all the money coming in, checking where you can ecconomise, looking (maybe) into evening work for you where childcare isn't required and so on. But the "domestic" bills are not your sole responsibility .... he may be bringing home the dosh but you are making an equal (probably more than equal dare I say, because you don't stop at weekends) contribution in other, non-paid ways.

I am furious for you because reading between the lines, I've not got any impression of money problems .... just of a spoilt, unreasonable bully who isn't even (assuming the need for more money was genuine) going about it in an adult fashion ...... belittling you and insulting you, cutting you out of family life.

To be brutally honest, if you did split from him, you probably would be better off financially as you'd then qualify (by the sounds of it) for full Working Tax Credits and that'd mean a very large part of your childcare would be taken care of. Even if you don't do anything now (I can't tell you to do that) there is no harm at all in you finding out how you'd stand on your own. Maybe start with the CAB, or speak to the benefits helpline. I know the IR have a tax credits calculator on their website which will also help you get things into perspective.

He sounds awful and I'm sorry you and your children are having to go through this.

makemineadouble · 28/08/2006 22:36

stitch thinking of you

colditz · 28/08/2006 22:43

stitch, please.

didn't you mention on a thread a few months ago that your 9 year old had started soiling himself at school? this is the sign of a disturbed child!

This just isn't right.

nearlythree · 28/08/2006 22:44

Awful, stitch, I've never chatted with you before but am horrified for you. If you get a job, he will just use it as another way to get at you.

You do not want your children growing up with this. Kids learn about relationships from watching their parents, and all too many go on to copy them.

You are strong, stronger than you know. Break free from him.

stitch · 29/08/2006 11:10

thank you all for your support.
yes, last year ds1 did soil himself a couple of times. not happened since, thank god. i think i am keeeping a lid on that by not letting him see me so upsett. i think irather selfishily used to use him for support, and he is far far to young to be able to pdeal with this.

the reason i dont want to goet a job is because i feel he will use it against me. but i think that the positives it will bring me will outweigh the negatives.
im thinking about tutoring gcse kids again. but a bit more seriously this time. the girl i tutored in the spring got an A in science and her mom rang me up to say thank you . she said it was all down tome. felt really good. if i advertise then perhaps i can get a few more kids. i do realise that this sort of work is seasonal though.
i dont think i will go the temping route though. that will coz major disruptions to the children, git will look down on temping and give me more aggro over it.

i know full well that the kids are learning a very bad example of adult behaviour, but even if i do leave this roof, i wont get rid of him, as he will if anything, spend even more time with them, and badmouth me more.he uses time with them as a weapon. which is really sad, coz when they were babies, he was always working such long hours the kids never saw him.also, they will spend time with the inlaws who will try to pison the m against me, so until i am in a position where they will do that minimally, i cant subject us to that.
an option, well the final option is to take the kids and move into my parents house abroad. get a job there, and get the kids ins chool there. but i need my parents to be more settle d there, as they have only just retired and moved there. and i need it to be such that he cant say i am kidnapping the kdis.

feeling much calmer and stronger now than sunday night.

OP posts:
stitch · 29/08/2006 11:18

cats mom, thank you for your detailed post.
there is NO financial need. if anything. my job will cost more than is being brought in. its all about control control and more control.
he bullie s me bcos of his own issues and hang ups.sometimes its just habit. he has gotten used to hating me. like ivy on a tree, it cant survive without the tree, he isnt used to survivig without hating me. he wont accept me as i am, always wanting me to be some ideal in his mind. even if i do what he wants, and try to be what he wants, it doesnt really matter as he is continually changing the goalposts.
my head hurts so much . i need to stop thinking about all this, and spend the day with my kids. right now they are downstairs vegetating in front of the tv.

OP posts:
lorina · 29/08/2006 11:40

Stitch if you want to do something other than teaching then temping really is a brilliant idea. You'll get sent of loads of different offices. If you dont like the job or the people you can walk out at lunchtime and never go back. But if you do like it then they will like you too! It will give you loads of confidence and its a great way to find a permanent post too.

The situation with your DH sounds really bleak but if you are working you will have money and respect and you will be able to deal with him.

You CAN do it !

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