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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

DH lied.

335 replies

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 20:24

DH has form for lying, he’s lied about tiny, insignificant things over the years, but he’s also lied about some big, shitty things too.

Each time he’s caught in a lie, I remind him of just how much I detest being lied to, he apologises and we attempt to move on - but it of course nibbles away at my trust each and every time.

Today, DH had meetings in London. I was told last night the meetings were a ‘big corporate spiel lasting from 9am to 5pm’. Anyway, I checked our tracking app that we have on our phones shortly after lunchtime, to see that DH wasn’t where I thought he would be (the HQ office), but was instead, in some random bar in a different area of London.

I messaged DH an hour or so later, asking him how he was getting on etc. He told me it was fine but a bit boring. I then asked him if his meeting was being held in the usual place and he stopped replying.

He got in this evening and I asked him what time the meeting ended up finishing, and if it’d been held at the HQ, to which I was told ‘yep, normal place, we finished up around half 4, was supposed to be 5 but they rushed through a couple bits so we could duck out a tiny bit early’.

Now, I can see from our app that he left the building where the meetings are held shortly after 2pm and was in a bar from then, until he left to get the train at around 5:30pm. When I asked him if he’d stayed and had any drinks, he told me that ‘once the meeting was finished, they left the HQ and he had one quick pint before getting the train’. I also asked him if the blokes from work were staying ‘out out’ for drinks after the meeting, and he told me they were apparently heading to a certain bar in Shoreditch. Well, I checked the app, and lo and behold, that bar that his colleagues were supposedly heading to ‘after’ DH had left, was in the fact, the bar DH had been sitting in for three hours.

For what it’s worth, the apps we use are never wrong. They might show you’re stood a few metres from where you actually are, but it would never show you as being MILES away from where you are, if you see what I mean. I can also tell when DH is lying by the level of (false) details he gives in answers.

I haven’t yet told DH that I know he’s bare face lied to me, but I am seething. He knows my stance on lying. He knows that above all else in life, I’m always, always going to be more mad about a lie than something he may or may not have done. It’s the lying. I can’t stand it. I don’t care that the meeting finished early. I don’t care that he sunk a couple pints in the midday sun. What I do care about is the fact he seemingly thinks so little of me, that lying about stupid shit is like a second nature to him.

Would you confront your DH if you knew he’d so breezily lied to you?

OP posts:
ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 21:45

@perimenofertility I think because, in some respects, it was almost easier to face him lying to me, than for me to point out that I knew where he was, only to likely be told that he 'can't leave' (he would've been able to, obviously, but that's the bullshit I'd have been told) and come back and help out because he 'needs to stay and have drinks and make work friends'.

And you know what, on a regular day I'd have understood that. But when it's hot, I'm vomiting and shitting while dealing with a 5 year old, 4 year old and 2 year old, I just couldn't deal with him making up an excuse to stay out, rather than come home and pitch in.

I know I went about it in the wrong way by messaging him when I realised where he was, but even though he's lied so many times, there was still a tiny part of me that thought he might tell the truth.

OP posts:
FluffingMarvellous · 14/07/2022 21:47

@ireallyshouldntbesurprised My DH is v similar. And no, I don't believe they can ever change.

The standout thing for me in your thread is that your DH surely knew he could/ would be caught, because he knew you have the tracker. At v least he knew there was a chance. That means either the lying gives him a bit of a buzz / adrenaline rush, or, he literally doesn't give two hoots if you catch him because he knows you always let him off the hook.

Again, I totally get this. My DH knows I check his phone. He doesn't change his passwords etc, thereby allowing me. He knows i do it because I don't trust him - due to a long history of lying. And yet, time after time I catch ridiculous little lies that he knows full well I could catch him for.

Which comes back to posters stating, is it that THEY won't change, or WE won't change. Both are one and the same.

BornIn78 · 14/07/2022 21:50

But to do it with small things? Why? How does it benefit them

Well he got to spend the afternoon drinking beer in the sun instead of being at home with a sick wife, having to care for his 3 kids.

And he knows that even if you find out he’s lying, at most he’ll get a bit of earache, maybe get given the cold shoulder for what? An hour or two?

And then life carries on as normal. He can go and do the same damn thing tomorrow and he knows you’ll just accept it.

So I’d say his lying benefits him quite nicely, wouldn’t you?

Burnamer · 14/07/2022 21:51

You say you’re vehement against lying but you accept it. You have shown your DH that it’s a behaviour which you will continue to tolerate because you do.

What do you think is going to change?

maryanne22 · 14/07/2022 21:53

Why aren't u talking to him now about it instead of being on here

JudgeJ · 14/07/2022 21:54

Guiltypleasures001 · 14/07/2022 20:28

Ide sue for divorce

If I were the husband I would want to divorce her for stalking! Inevitably, if a man were to stalk his wife like this there would be the MN uproar.

SpeckledlyHen · 14/07/2022 22:05

MolliciousIntent · 14/07/2022 20:30

When you get to the point where you're stalking your husband using GPS, your marriage is over.

This. Absolutely bizarre

Maytodecember · 14/07/2022 22:07

As the lies (today anyway) are rather inconsequential I wonder if it’s a power thing? “ I can tell you all this bullshit and you believe it” Is it because he somehow feels inadequate or is it a Mitty thing? I went out with a guy years ago who seemed incapable of telling the truth, in a very Mitty way —- he’d been in the Paras and was a motorbike outrider and a deep sea diver all at the same time.
I think if you can find out the reason for his lying you’ll then be in a better position to decide if you want to stay married.

Jewel7 · 14/07/2022 22:08

The reason you have the app is understandable . But you checked up on him. Why did you not just say where he was on the app and take the conversation from there? Therefore there is honesty issues on both sides it seems. I guess you need to get to the bottom of why he didn’t say I was in the bar for hours. Maybe he just fancied a day off. Maybe it’s more. Maybe he has pushed you to check up on him due to previous lies. But there are definitely issues here that you both need to work through.

Hbh17 · 14/07/2022 22:09

Checking up on a spouse on a tracking app is horrible. My partner cycles & rides motorbikes but I would never dream of trying to find out where he is. If something happened to him, I'd find out soon enough. There may be bigger issues here than alleged lying.

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 22:09

@BornIn78 Hmmm, but whether he'd lied or told the truth, I can almost guarantee he still would've stayed in London drinking while I was swamped at home. The only difference telling the truth would've made, is that I would've been a bit huffy over him choosing pints with blokes he's known for a handful of weeks over helping me out VS how pissed off I am now that he's lied. Telling the truth is always the easiest way to get out of things with me. I'd rather be slightly irked by the truth, than furious at a lie.

Yes, I know, his life 'doesn't change much' even when he does lie - but does he not care that it erodes my trust? Is not easier to be honest, deal with a momentary fall out that will swiftly pass, rather than lying, getting yourself in to shit and massively angering your partner?

OP posts:
RedLobsterRum · 14/07/2022 22:09

MolliciousIntent · 14/07/2022 20:30

When you get to the point where you're stalking your husband using GPS, your marriage is over.

This. The lying is wrong, but you clearly don't trust him, so is there any point in being with him?

AlexandriasWindmill · 14/07/2022 22:10

It seems you were more focused on catching him in a lie than actually getting him to come home to help with the DCs. Everything about your relationship is dysfunctional - he lies; you track him so you can question him and catch him out in lies then stew about it; that's without even starting on you either being too ill for him to go to work but he went anyway or you were well enough to look after the DCs but still wanted to bring him home.

This is your relationship. If you don't want it to be like this, end it or go to counselling.

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 22:14

@AlexandriasWindmill No, I genuinely did want him to come home, but once I saw that he was choosing way to stay out drinking instead of thinking 'hang on a minute, my mrs told me a few hours ago she was vomiting bile, can't keep water down and has got the kids home, maybe I should leave', I then admittedly became focused on drawing the truth out of him. Yes, the way I went about it was wrong, but no matter how I tackled it, I'd have either been lied to or given bullshit excuses.

He frequently goes to work when I'm ill. If I'm ill, I just have to put up with it, no matter how I'm feeling. It's the joys of being a SAHM.

OP posts:
Rosessmelllike · 14/07/2022 22:15

Having a tracking app and USING it and then contacting him to see if his story matches.... The marriage is over on both your ends!

Rainyday4321 · 14/07/2022 22:15

Sorry to be harsh, but he is not going to change.

So either you accept you have a lying husband, or if lying really bothers you, you don’t accept it, and you do something about it. You don’t discuss it again- you’ve done that many times to no avail.

At some level it’s fairly simple.

and for what it’s worth- I couldn’t live like that. It’s crazy making.

It’s also a terrible example for your kids- because at some level his values are ‘ do what you can get away with’. Not ‘be a grown up and own your choices’.

Namechangehereandnow · 14/07/2022 22:16

Why are you trying to catch him out if you’re not going to do anything about it?
You're guilty of very similar - instead of telling him upfront that you know he’s lying, you’re hiding the truth just to catch him out.
You’re torturing yourself … why..🤷‍♀️
Why ask posters what they would do, why people lie, what is normal etc - only you can decide what is right for you 🤷‍♀️

YourWinter · 14/07/2022 22:20

The details of where he was, what your apps suggested, how long he spent anywhere, aren’t relevant. Liars NEVER stop lying, they just stop caring whether you know. And that’s not someone to need to be around any more.

Stop grilling him, stop stalking him, get your ducks in a row and get out of the relationship.

SaltFlakes · 14/07/2022 22:21

What would have happened if your husband would have straight out told you that he'd been at a bar for a few hours, how would you have reacted? Is he lying because he just don't care about the truth and is a deceptive person, or is to protect himself from your reaction to the truth?

The answer to the second question is what matters.

Sunnydayz · 14/07/2022 22:22

I’ve been there with an ex. Tracking a partner is toxic. He didn’t know I was doing it. I did it because I knew he was lying to me about where he was, and what he was doing. I would confront him and he would lie very convincingly (I think it was a form of gaslighting) but I didn’t back down because I knew he was lying. After weeks, months, I told him what I’d been doing and he blamed me for the fights and said he wouldn’t lie if he knew I had been tracking him… (obviously!?)
Anyway it made me feel sick and anxious catching him in his lies. I was depressed and unhappy. Got a therapist. Luckily we didn’t have shared property or children, I eventually left him. Best thing I’ve doneS Now with a new man in a home that belongs to me and expecting first child. Wouldn’t dream of tracking new man. It’s bad for your mental health. Gotta have trust and I think for you two it’s long gone. He won’t change.

Hurstlandshome · 14/07/2022 22:24

Why stay in a marriage like this?

Couldn't bear to be with a liar. Imagine questioning everything. Not only is it tedious, I could never respect a liar and he can't respect you or he wouldn't do it.

Do people fear being single that much?

MontanaMountains · 14/07/2022 22:26

So when you saw on the app that he was in a bar shortly after lunchtime, why didn't you call him then? You said yourself...
"So, I checked the app around lunchtime to see if he was out grabbing food, so that I could phone him and let him know I was still feeling really ill and ask him not to stay out having drinks once the meeting had finished at 5." So you see he's in a bar at lunchtime, probably grabbing food, but you don't call him?

KettrickenSmiled · 14/07/2022 22:28

I think I’d need to know why you were checking where he was, and why you think he might have lied?

Your pompous attempt to strike a judicious tone is marred by your inability to comprehend OP's first sentence @Terriblethirtytwos

CBAMumma · 14/07/2022 22:28

IME people lie like this when they know they are going to be told off / moaned at etc.
One thing you could do is try to change your response to him. Eg just say. ‘Look I know you’re lying and you know you’re lying about this afternoon, I don’t blame you for wanting to go out with your friends, but on this one occasion I really needed the help.’ And just leave it at that.
Perhaps the lie itself isn’t the issue, but more the reason he feel he needs to lie. It sounds like he likes to step away from his family commitments/responsibilities sometimes, and knows he’ll get it in the neck, but equally it’s all falling on you.
Lots of posters are going on about the tracking app, lots of families use these, but I think it’s good he had it on (you can turn location services off), if he was really trying to deceive you and cover his arse he’d have turned it off.

LiesDoNotBecomeUs · 14/07/2022 22:31

Two things

He lies - clearly he likes to take the easy way of doing what he wants and avoiding confrontation . He isn't going to stop because you prefer him to... because he prefers to lie and he doesn't really care much about what you prefer.

He doesn't care enough about you to hurry home and take care of you and the DC when you are ill. I'm a stranger - and I'd not want you left alone like that.

Both pretty bad really.

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