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Relationships

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

What do you think about my husband's behaviour? I need outside perspectives

162 replies

MaxwellAndPeterson · 10/04/2017 10:04

For balance, he's great 70% of the time: texts me every day to say I love you, buys flowers and thoughtful gifts, is supportive, is brilliant in a crisis, we laugh a lot, like the same things, enjoy going away together, days out, etc.

No children by mutual choice and we've been together 20 years.

I'll try to be as brief as I can without drip feeding!

He's fussy and obsessive. He places huge importance on 'things' - furniture, decor, clothes, etc. If something gets knocked, he inspects it, often with a torch if he can't see any damage with his naked eye. Then he'll quiz me: do I think it's damaged? Do I think it's stained? Do I think it's ok? That's if he has had the accident. If it's me who has done something, he goes on and on and on at me or he'll lecture me about it about the correct way to do the task to ensure no accident.

He can't stand losing things and will spend hours and hours systematically taking the house apart looking for something he has lost. He once emptied all the outside bins and checked every single piece of rubbish, including rotting food, looking for a hair comb that had cost £4.

He always blames me for anything that gets misplaced. Likewise, he always blames me if anything is damaged, even natural wear and tear.

He is very untidy and I am fairly tidy. He has clothes and shoes on all three bedroom floors. Despite this, I have found several items of mine seemingly thrown or kicked around. E.g. a pair of my shoes that I had left stood upright by the bed were both on their sides and in the middle of the floor, as if they had been kicked. He denied he had kicked them and when I pressed him, he said he had merely picked them up and moved them because they were in the way.

We share a car. If I've last driven it, he always sighs loudly when he gets in and needs to adjust the seat. Likewise, he sighs loudly when the car stereo comes on and it's on one of my music albums.

If we fall out, he refuses to discuss it. He acts huffy, gives me the silent treatment for a few hours, or pretends nothing has happened. If I try to discuss anything, he always denies he was in any way in the wrong, or he minimises what happened, or he shuts me down as fast as possible.

He is generally bad mannered and acts irritable with me. He can't stand saying please or thank you to me. If I say something and he hasn't heard me, he will sigh and say 'What' in this bored tone. He demands information from me, rather than asking nicely. E.g. 'where is the car key?' in an impatient snappy voice.

He leaves dirty pots out on the counter where I prep food, so they're in my way and I have to move them in order to make a meal - when when I've emptied the dishwasher so he could put them directly in there instead. He denies doing this specifically to annoy me, but he continues to do it, even though I've asked him not to many times over many years.

He can't stand me asking things of him. For example, if he's gardening and I ask him to cut back a branch while he's got the tools on the go, he'll tut, sigh and get irritable and say he hasn't got time.

I once asked what time he would be ready when we were going out somewhere, and he snapped 'Why?' And 'you're pressuring me'.

If he's taking the dog for a walk on his own and I'm staying in the house, maybe because I'm feeling rough or am staying in to cook dinner, he refuses to say 'bye' to me - he just walks out of the house. But he always says goodbye if he's going to work or out with friends, etc. Likewise, if it's his turn to take the dog in the garden for a wee, he leaves the door wide open next to where I'm sitting so I get cold while he's outside, rather than pushing the door to.

There are millions more examples, but I'm trying to keep this from getting too long! Generally, I get this underlying sense of power games and control from him, but because his MO is to deny, deny, deny, or to minimise anything I bring up, or to refuse to discuss anything with me, I have no idea.

OP posts:
peaceout · 10/04/2017 11:02

he'll just deny and dismiss everything anyway
Ah that old trick
Massive headfuck😠

FinallyHere · 10/04/2017 11:02

There is now way of knowing how similar out experiences are, but some of this, the rules that you have to follow while he just ignores or dismisses your very reasonable request to have your things left alone, sounds very familiar to me. It took me ages to wake up to the essential unfairness, that i was somehow a second class citizen. In my case, it was not an enterprise of equals.

Once i spotted that, i 'got my shit together', we sold the house and went our separate ways. I was materially much worse off for a while, but oh the bliss. I recommend you consider what life would be like without this weight on your shoulders.

MaxwellAndPeterson · 10/04/2017 11:03

I have grown to hate sighers as well, Breakfast! I'd rather he just came out with it and tell me why I've bugged him than the constant sighing.

OP posts:
GoodDayToYou · 10/04/2017 11:03

Since this is only about 30% of the time, I'm sure there are loads of things you can do to improve things.

As I was reading, I was imagining how I might deal with it and I know I would use humour for some of it. For example, you could have an 'Is it damaged, is it stained, is it OK?' song and dance. Grin

You could also buy him a special magnifying glass, with a built-in torch for his investigations. (In my experience, men love investigating things with torches.)

When he loses things or is 'on one' like that, just leave him to it. I don't always listen to everything my dp says tbh - this works for me!

Re shoes etc - my dp used to mess my shoes up too. He now has his own storage box to chuck his shoes in (and I have a lovely cupboard which he's not allowed to use). Again, it works for us.

Saucepans - my dp is unable to put these or towels away without causing cupboard mayhem - he now knows that's not his job anymore and that I will do it. (He does other things.)

Maybe just try a few things to start with (don't want to spook him!) Smile

Guiltypleasures001 · 10/04/2017 11:04

Sounds tortuous, drip drip drip how on earth you've lasted this long I know, your his peddle bin for all his perceived life slights and ills.

You deserve better

peaceout · 10/04/2017 11:04

Imagine what would happen if you two lived separately
Who would thrive and who would struggle?

Birdandsparrow · 10/04/2017 11:05

He sounds like a miserable grumpy bastard. And it sounds from what you have written like he really doesn't like you. Life's too short for that shit, really. It sounds like a horrible way to live.

CrumpettyTree · 10/04/2017 11:06

I think he sounds awful and you should split up sorry.

CardinalCat · 10/04/2017 11:09

So much of his behaviour sounds like it might be OCD or some other disorder, and some of it just sounds annoying/ pernickety, but from the way you describe some of his behaviour there's a real air of passive aggression around it.

I couldn't live like this personally and with no kids to tie me down I'd be off.

I would recommend you get some therapy. A good counsellor will enable you to see the real issues here (because you seem bogged down in quite of lot of detail and minutiae- I suspect because you have gone past that tipping point where now you find ALL of his behaviour intolerable.)
It just doesn't sound like much fun. Do you ever have fun? has he always been like this? Would he accept help/ go to therapy?

DragonFire99 · 10/04/2017 11:12

He sounds awful - completely disrespectful and controlling. Rules for putting things away? Untidy himself, yet obsessive over damage to things? Always blaming you for everything? You can never discuss things with him? Lack of manners, walking away when speaking to him, sighing, huffing, silent treatment - fuck, no. No way.

Love51 · 10/04/2017 11:14

It sounds like he is contemptuous of you. So, what do you want to do about it. Everybody has flaws, but it's how you deal with them that counts. Also, how much they bug you, and if they can be rectified.

user1471558436 · 10/04/2017 11:15

I think you need to challenge the way he talks to you and his behaviour. But do it neutrally and calmly. Make observations

'You've walked away while talking. I'll continue when you're back'

'You're talking to me in a rude way. It would be kinder to say xxx'

SquinkiesRule · 10/04/2017 11:16

I think he sounds like dick, and he does all this mind game shit to make sure you know who's in charge and who is more important.
In case you're wondering, it's him and his stuff that are important and you are just a peon who counts for nothing in his mind.

Nancy91 · 10/04/2017 11:19

Everyone has faults! His good traits seem to outweigh them.

TheFirstMrsDV · 10/04/2017 11:20

He does sound as if he has some sort of anxiety thing going on.
But that doesn't mean he isn't making choices about how he behaves.

He has got into behavioural habits and can't be arsed to change them because they work for him.
The ranting at you and rudeness gives him a kick.
Him launching your 'badly' placed shoes is a distraction from his untidiness I bet if you asked him to be tidy he would say something like 'there is no point because YOU are so untidy'

Basically he sounds like a bore. If he won't stop being so ignorant he is only going to get worse as he gets older.

AnnieAnoniMouse · 10/04/2017 11:21

💐. Honestly, it sounds really awful. I'm glad you are thinking about leaving.

His 'I love you' texts & flowers etc are all just part of 'the game' push you, pull you.

Some of it does sound quite 'OCD' but even if he does have that (or similar) it doesn't excuse the way he treats you or talks to you. It's horrible.

I think the weight you'd feel off your shoulders if you left him would surprise you.

memyselfandaye · 10/04/2017 11:23

You said he has rules that you must follow. Just think about that one statement.

Why? Just why do you put up with that? I would'nt, not in a million years.

AnnieAnoniMouse · 10/04/2017 11:24

The good thing is that you realise it's unacceptable, what worries me more are the posters that think it's 'ok'.

TheTabardOfDoom · 10/04/2017 11:25

I would walk away from this crock of shit in the blink of an eye. Enough is enough. Leave. Be happy.

MaxwellAndPeterson · 10/04/2017 11:25

GoodDayToYou I've tried humour, I've tried jollying him along, I've tried gently reminding him that these are just 'things', and I've tried ignoring it. It's exhausting.

I really don't think enabling his obsessiveness by buying him a magnifying glass so he can find further evidence he can use against me is the best plan. Just to put this in perspective, there was once something sticky on the front of the kitchen drawer. I didn't recall spilling anything and neither did he. Regardless, he blamed me and decided I had spilt whatever it was. He shouted at me that he didn't want to "work all day then come home and deal with this shit" and then he spent an hour and a half completely dismantling the drawer into pieces so he could clean inside all the joins, even though there was no sticky stuff near the joins. He spent that 1.5 hours of cleaning one drawer loudly sighing, intermittently tutting, and saying "for fucks sake".

I imagine that all the sighing, tutting, muttered swearing and lengthy cleaning session was for my benefit so I could see just how much I had inconvenienced him.

OP posts:
Cricrichan · 10/04/2017 11:25

It's not a man thing it's an idiot thing. The worse thing is not his OCDness etc but that you have to bend to his will and he doesn't do anything that you ask him to do or not to do.

Do not follow him if he walks away. Ignore what he says and play him at his own game. I don't know why you stay with him though.

Cricrichan · 10/04/2017 11:27

Good grief. What is wrong with him? In the situation with the sticky drawer, I'd just leave him to it and go out and see a friend. Don't give him an audience.

augustusglupe · 10/04/2017 11:28

I think he is severely OCD and is probably very depressed about it all, but that in itself is coming across as abusive. It all sounds very draining OP.
My DH has a few things you mention and if it's any help atall, over the years ( we've been married 30 ) I've just learnt to detach from it all.
In psychology I think the term 'grey rock' or something like that sums it up.
The next time he's in a state, help, but then don't become embroiled in the cycle of blame and just say the minimum. It's like your feeding him and just don't, just help but then back off. I bet in time his extreme reaction to things lessen.
If he huffs and puffs, just let him, pay it no attention and go about your day.
It's worked for me, it's not perfect, but my DH doesn't make half the drama out of things that he used to. And I feel more relaxed.

peaceout · 10/04/2017 11:31

He shouted at me that he didn't want to "work all day then come home and deal with this shit" and then he spent an hour and a half completely dismantling the drawer into pieces so he could clean inside all the joins, even though there was no sticky stuff near the joins. He spent that 1.5 hours of cleaning one drawer loudly sighing, intermittently tutting, and saying "for fucks sake"

You don't need to put up with that shit OP, what is keeping you there?

Ellapaella · 10/04/2017 11:31

Putting the cutlery in the drawer in a certain way sounds like much more than 'normal man stuff'. I wouldn't be able to live with someone like that, like you say OP he has set up so many 'rules' for you to break. Who does he think he is? I would point out that it's your house too and you are entitled to live in your house exactly as you please. I think he sounds controlling - and I think it sounds as though you are walking on egg shells to try and avoid upsetting him. Doesn't sound good to me.

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