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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

Crazy online dating experience. Long. Please help.

172 replies

Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 14:35

I came across the most mental person on online dating and it’s almost broken me.

Flash back to March and I match with a man on Tinder. His conversation doesn’t grab me as he seems to be only interested in talking about himself and I’m talking with a few people so don’t reply very often. He’s very persistent. Double messaging and when I eventually lie and tell him I don’t go on there very often he asks for my number. I will forever regret this but I gave it to him thinking that I’d faze him out.

To my surprise after a few weeks of not really replying to him I decided to give him a chance and we really clicked. Still turns everything around to talk about himself but I can handle it somewhat.

Then I discover he’s manipulative. Words things to make you think he’s not actually single/interested in dating other people and when I asked about it told me I was crazy and of course that’s not what he meant. This was a running theme. When I mentioned I had been asked on a date by someone else he went mad. Telling me I’d probably like them more than him and how could he know I wouldn’t sleep with them..

He was in constant contact.. when we weren’t arguing. We’d go through periods of blocking each other but a few weeks later he’d be back. Either really cold or very sorry. I was Ill for a few days so starting going to bed at nine and I got told ‘that I always go quiet at that time’ the insinuation being that I was sleeping with other people. This insinuation happened a lot and I’d have to reassure him. If I ever said that wasn’t normal it would suddenly turn into ‘I was joking.. you’ve taken it the wrong way’. That’s not true.. he very much wasn’t joking.

I started becoming a nervous wreck every time the phone beeped. I never knew what was coming next. Some of the lengths he went to to make me jealous were insane. Telling me his housemate wanted him to be her surrogate.. all sorts.

Anyway, flash forward to the other night and we were arguing and he said something particularly nasty and I snapped. I just snapped. I wanted him to block me and never come back. So I told him I was in bed with my ex. I’m not proud of this but he’s made me feel like I’m losing my mind. It was awful. He asked me to go to him right now. It was two in the morning and he lives an hour away. Telling me he’d never do anything like that to me and he was very very very hurt. That I’d destroyed him. That he needed to go out for a walk for headspace and he wanted to throw himself in front of a train. That he could not cope with the thought of my ex being there with me.

The next day we talked somewhat and he’d try to be normal but would then make nasty comments and when asked to stop would say things like ‘I’m not taking jabs at you, maybe that’s the guilt talking, the guilt that you fucked your ex’.

Then he told me that he was in contact with his ex and maybe wanted to get back with her. Then the next morning told me that wasn’t happening. Then he blocked me. I’m scared he’s going to come back... how likely is it!? Can somebody talk to me. I never even met this man! It’s all become so normal that I think I’m not recognising how batshit it is.

OP posts:
Lsquiggles · 29/09/2020 16:09

Why are you sad you can't speak to him again? He's making you unhappy and he sounds mentally ill, you may actually be doing him a kindness (not that he deserves one) by not allowing this behaviour to continue and enabling him

Lsquiggles · 29/09/2020 16:13

Do you have many friends or family you can speak to? You sound like you may be lonely as you shouldn't be flattered by such negative attention

Bluntness100 · 29/09/2020 16:14

Why are you sad. What’s causing you to have no control over your own actions and need him to block you ans not contact you as you can’t not contact him?

I think you need to look at your own behaviour, this is just a random Stranger you’ve never even met. It’s honestly very disturbing and not right.

Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 16:17

I’ve spoken to people about it. I’ve shown people some of the messages and it’s been universal agreement that he’s being manipulative.
I just liked him. We had a lot in common and when we talked normally, when he wasn’t trying to make me second guess myself, I enjoyed his company.

OP posts:
Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 16:18

I think I’ve just struggled with the lockdown. It’s been quite isolating and I think it got to me.

OP posts:
melissalou · 29/09/2020 16:18

Oh FFS you must like the drama involved in all of this because I'm pretty sure most folk would have walked at the start of all this batshit unhinged behaviour.

You lost me when I got to the part where you said you argue & keep blocking & unblocking each other.

He sounds batshit. And you sound batshit.

And you probably aren't good for each other.

All this drama lama stuff & you haven't even met.

Crazy Blush

MzHz · 29/09/2020 16:18

@acatcalledjohn

On one of the occasions when he came back asked me to get his name tattooed and told me he’d cut himself to prove how much he cared.

This didn't instantly ring air raid sirens alarm bells?

Yeah, I’m sure even I heard something from here! Grin
Bluntness100 · 29/09/2020 16:18

What do you mean you liked him and enjoyed his company? You’ve never met him op?

Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 16:20

I liked talking to him. Some of the time.

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 29/09/2020 16:22

Do you face time each other?

FuckKnowsMate · 29/09/2020 16:22

Good grief OP you really need to get a grip here and I’m sorry if that sounds harsh. Just block him and move him, there is absolutely no need to engage with him. If he finds a way to get in touch then block him on that as well. I’m sorry but it’s really not hard. You sound really invested to say you’ve never even met and he’s been weird af for the majority of the time.

MzHz · 29/09/2020 16:22

Future faking

It’s where someone pretends to be like you, so you let your guard down

So now you know he’s fucking bonkers, you know you have to get him out of your head and phone. So block him on everything whenever and wherever you can and don’t ever reply to anything he sends again.

It literally is the only way you deal with this.

You have been silly, this guy is seriously warped and would be dangerous to meet

You do need to understand why you put up with this for so long, as this means you’re hugely vulnerable to manipulative and dangerous men. We can help you if you need it, just keep talking and we’ll set you right :)

AntiHop · 29/09/2020 16:23

@Flowerpot345

Sorry I think you sound both as bad as each other. Stop carrying on the drama and let go.
Exactly. Woman up and ignore him. He's crazy and you're enabling him.
Bluntness100 · 29/09/2020 16:23

Future faking or cat fishing,,,

Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 16:27

No we didn’t face time. Sent each other pictures throughout the day though. I know he’s who he says he is because there are pictures of him on google in a work capacity and I had him on Facebook for a while.

MzHz thank you! I think this is what worries me the most. The fact that I let him get under my skin and ignored every alarm bell in my head. There’s been a lot of them Blush and I don’t trust myself. If he got in contact again I don’t trust that I wouldn’t reply.

OP posts:
Aerial2020 · 29/09/2020 16:29

You are continuing the drama
Block him. Of course you can. How can he find a way through?

I think you need to look at why you are still continuing this.

newnameforthis123 · 29/09/2020 16:29

You need to have some counselling before you start dating.

Seriously, you've ignored every red flag and every friend who told you he was manipulating you. It's important you work out why and put in place some steps and boundaries to stop that happening again.

At the moment he's been such nutter that you'll be easy prey for another nutter who is marginally less manipulative and weird will seem appealing to you in comparison.

This really isn't normal to be so open to someone who is clearly bad news - you need to look into that more with a decent counsellor.

ShesMadeATwatOfMePam · 29/09/2020 16:33

You seriously need to stop contacting him and find some boundaries next time you start talking to someone online. You should have shut this bullshit down right at the start.

ColleagueFromMars · 29/09/2020 16:34

Because.. I do care about him too and I like the part that’s not manipulative but it got to the point where most of it was manipulative

No part of conversation with him comes without manipulation and some seriously scary shit. Do you unstated me? He is a package deal of just enough niceness to keep you hooked and plenty of crazy and it will only get worse and keep escalating.

As a very basic minimum you need to never send him a message on any platform ever again. Normally I'd say just have a copy and paste grey rock "don't contact me again" but I don't trust you to do that and not be drawn into conversation again. So d
Don't. Ever. Message. Him. Again. EVER. Please?

Secondly, you need to get yourself some counselling for this, because the fact that you danced this damaging dance with him for so long is a HUGE red flag for your safety. I don't think you understand yet how bad it all was, so I beg you to do the work to educate yourself about narcissists, manipulation, do the freedom program and get some counselling from somebody who knows about domestic violence. PLEASE. Because if you don't, you are at very high risk of becoming a domestic violence or homicide victim. I'm not exaggerating.

eatsleepread · 29/09/2020 16:34

This is absolutely bonkers. Why on earth are you BOTH still playing this game? And why are you still in touch with him? Have you always been attracted to problematic men?

Bluntness100 · 29/09/2020 16:35

Sent each other pictures throughout the day though. I know he’s who he says he is because there are pictures of him on google in a work capacity and I had him on Facebook for a while

Eh what now. You know that doesn’t mean that’s the person you’re speaking to. That’s just the person he claims to be

Why have you not video called each other. Have you had a telephone conversation? Or are you talking messages only?

Zaphodsotherhead · 29/09/2020 16:35

@Passmethechocolatecake

I feel mortified but also sad. Sad that I got sucked into this, sad that he’s gone and sad that I know I can never speak to him again.
That's because high drama is addictive. As is the 'on/off don't know where you stand' stuff. You constantly want things to be okay, so you try and try to make it right and the more bizarre it gets, the more you have to try to get it back on an even keel. And the higher the drama the more of a payoff you get when it becomes even vaguely normal.

Honestly. You just have to break it like any other habit. No contact - even if he contacts you, you just stay quiet and don't feed the crazy.

eatsleepread · 29/09/2020 16:36

I've just read that you've never even met?! That makes it more crazy.
You do know that you don't actually have to put up with this?

Windmillwhirl · 29/09/2020 16:37

You can't have it both ways. There is something wrong with him. If you are going to engage with him then continue to expect all the drama and bullshit that entails

Passmethechocolatecake · 29/09/2020 16:40

Yes we talked on the phone, he sent me voice messages to. Also sent me his rota from work some weeks which had his name on and that matched his Facebook/the pictures online. He sent videos. He sent me selfies regularly showing the masks he bought. I really don’t think he was somebody else.

OP posts: