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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

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:
unsync · 15/07/2022 02:14

Oh dear. He lies because he doesn't care about the impact it has on you.

Sadly you are probably the last thing on the list of things he thinks about, although in truth, you likely don't even make the list. He will only be thinking about himself.

You know what you must do.

OldFan · 15/07/2022 02:20

I can completely understand why you're infuriated @ireallyshouldntbesurprised Sad Angry

Terriblethirtytwos · 15/07/2022 02:31

@KettrickenSmiled You have totally misinterpreted my tone and my intention, and you’ve been pretty nasty about it as well. There are some really judgmental comments on this thread and mine wasn’t in that vein at all. Clearly this thread has hit a nerve for you, but I’m not sure you’re helping the OP. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.

Monty27 · 15/07/2022 03:19

JudgeJ · 14/07/2022 21:54

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.

It's a harmonious agreement between the OP and partner regardless of gender as with many other posters 🙄

Graphista · 15/07/2022 03:20

He lies constantly

He's a shit father and husband from sounds of things even aside from that

He has a history of drug use and financial dodginess you said? How long ago and what exactly happened there?

Cos to be quite honest from my perspective and experience you are dealing with a "dry drunk" effectively - someone who is no longer actively in the addiction but the addictive dysfunctional behaviours remain

Whatever the reason I have dealt with compulsive liars and they do not change EVER!

As per pps you either have to ignore/put up with it or you get yourself in a position to leave

Personally I vote the latter because this will destroy your soul and that of your dc - cos something I feel confident in predicting is that he will compulsively lie to them too!

And as a result constantly let them down - it's already happening

He's a piece of shit and that will not change stop flogging a dead horse

Sunbun19 · 15/07/2022 03:49

Ultimately op he lied to you because he wanted to stay out for drinks instead of coming home to help his sick wife look after their 3 small children

If that's the kind of guy you want to spend the rest of your life with then you're setting the bar way too low

Spaghetti0 · 15/07/2022 04:05

its annoying to read page after page of people banging on about how outraged they are by the use of tracking apps. Some couples like them, use them freely. We are such a couple. We see it as another great bit of tech that makes life more convenient. There is no point telling someone who is happy with it that it’s wrong.

anyway, OP.
so he doesn’t just lie mindlessly. It’s to cover his selfishness and lack of care/commitment. I mean, to go to the pub whilst your wife is ill caring for THREE young children is so selfish.

someone asked before but I’m not sure you answered. Any idea why they travelled for hq to east London? Could you see the name of the pub?

Aprilx · 15/07/2022 04:32

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 20:34

@MolliciousIntent I actually had a genuine reason to check what he was up to today. I woke up this morning throwing up combined with diarrhoea - didn't take the DC's to school today because I didn't want to chance needing the toilet en route. 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.

It was then that I saw he was no longer in the meeting and was instead having drinks rather than coming home to the woman who was vomiting while looking after our 3DC.

No that really isn’t a genuine reason for “checking what he is up to”. You don’t need to check where your husband is before phoning him.

I would find the lying over little things annoying, but I would find your tracking disturbing. Your marriage is over now it has come to that.

KalvinPhillipsBoots · 15/07/2022 04:37

So your stalking and spying on your husband, he went to a bar, so what? You clearly do not trust him so just divorce instead of you both living like this.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 15/07/2022 04:53

This doesn't make sense. You said you checked the app after 2pm and saw he was at a bar in Shoreditch. If you were trying to catch him on his lunchbreak, surely that's far too late? Why didn't you check at 1pm?

I wouldn't put up with lying. I also wouldn't put up with someone who chooses drinking over supporting me when I'm ill. On the other hand, ifi was your husband I wouldn't put up with being stalked.

Glitternails1 · 15/07/2022 05:07

@ireallyshouldntbesurprised Delete the tracking app. There is NEVER a good reason to use a phone tracker (unless you’re tracking a criminal etc). If you trust someone then you won’t need one. That goes for adults and children. Want to know where someone is? Just call or text them! Your dh lying isn’t good, but neither is tracking him. Creepy!

MiriMollyMartha · 15/07/2022 05:29

The bigger issue than his lie is having tracking apps on your phones 😳

pompomseverywhere · 15/07/2022 05:32

I wish people would move on from the tracking app.

Anyway OP, how are you going to move forward?

rwalker · 15/07/2022 05:33

I think I’d lie for a quiet life . To be tracked and questioned I couldn’t cope with that

MollyButton · 15/07/2022 05:35

"I honestly believe him and think he’s a foolish but good man who has made a minor mistake and is about to pay in a major way."

What the F has happened to Mumsnet?

This guy is an awful cheat of a type I've met too often in academia. (There used to be frequent stories about Professors adventures nearly getting "caught" with students.)

OP give yourself time and space, and ignore the apologists and women blankets here.
Nope she shouldn't have got involved with a married man but she didn't have a relationship with you or the power here.

Inthesameboatatmo · 15/07/2022 05:43

I'd be having it out with him then telling him to leave. Why put up with it? Genuine question . He could've been in the bar with work colleagues or with another woman . You will never know because he's a lying bastard .

Snowraingain · 15/07/2022 06:22

I'm not sure what's worse you tracking him or the fact that he feels he needs to lie to you.
If that was me - I don't track my husband - I'd message asking him how the pub meeting was going.
No idea what's going on in your marriage but if your going to be the good victim and he the naughty bad boy then your marriage is over.
Surely the aim of all meetings, especially those in nice places is to ditch work asap and get somewhere nicer!??! And when either of you manage to do that isn't that something you would be happy about.

girlmom21 · 15/07/2022 06:30

I feel like he lied in this situation because he knew he'd be in the dog house if he told the truth.

I've had meetings in pubs and bars before. It breaks up the day of the big corporate shit. You kept digging because you wanted to be angry at him because you felt like shit.

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 15/07/2022 06:35

He's got form for lying - about money/drugs/porn, all the 'usual' things according to you OP.
Except these are not 'usual' things to lie about.

You are so conditioned to his behaviour that you are completely minimising.

You say you vehemently hate lying, yet you've put up with it for 10 years or so and let's face it, you'll be putting up with it forever if you stay with him.

Your children will also realise once they are a bit older - what kind of example does this set them?

He doesn't care about you, he is completely self centred. Liars are.

You have a choice - put up with it or leave. There is no point getting him to change his behaviour because he won't.

This isn't normal behaviour yet you are normalising it by putting up with it.

I would recommend you get some counselling to work on your own self esteem although if you chucked him out you could save all the bother!

Vikinga · 15/07/2022 06:38

I know quite a few couples in great relationships who have tracking apps because it makes life easier. It isn't used to keep tabs on them but to see how far they are and therefore can start dinner or ask them to into the shops or something.

I have tracking apps on my kids and only use it to actively track when it is getting late and I want them to come home. But i do check if dor example I want to see how far from home they are, if they need a lift etc.

But anyway, I was in relationships with liars and it is awful. Lying erodes trust and respect and in your case op, what kind of vile person stays out drinking when their partner is vomiting and has diarrhoea and has to look after 3 young kids?

I was very ill with a stomach virus when my kids were little and my ex was away. My friend came and looked after my kids and made sure I had food and drink. Hope you feel better soon and I don't know if you can continue your relationship

SpookyButTrue · 15/07/2022 06:45

I think children that lie often grow out of it. If he is doing it as an adult, it's entrenched and he will never change. The fact that you have given him so many warning shots and he still lies, forget reform. No chance!

Leave him and divorce him via no fault. When the papers are filed and you are apart, tell him what your final straw moment was or.....don't. You are not the asshole whisperer! Let him continue this in his next relationship. One day the penny will drop as to why you were done after that London trip.

Newestname002 · 15/07/2022 07:02

Cantbeliveyoufakeit · 14/07/2022 23:42

Honestly OP I wouldn't bother confronting him, instead I'd use my anger to start manoeuvring myself into a position where I could leave him. Even if that needs considerable time, to retrain/get a job etc, everything I did from now on would be based around getting ready to leave. He doesn't think of the two of you as a team so it's time you operated under the same rules, think only of yourself and DC and your future away from his lies.

I agree with this. Use your time and your energies in planning, researching and getting yourself (discreetly) in a position to separate physically and legally as soon as you can clarify your financial position. Ensure you know exactly what his finances are (copy/photo his payslips, bank accounts, pension statements, etc), get an idea of the market value of your home and £equity on it, check what you might be entitled to in UC/benefits once you separate). 🌹

Summersolargirl · 15/07/2022 07:05

But you yourself were lying. You were lying that you didn’t know where he was. You did.

you were both lying, if you were not lying you’d have said hey I see you’re in a bar, you didn’t. You lied.

PerseverancePays · 15/07/2022 07:21

He’s lying to himself, and you, because he’s covering up what a shit person he is. He knew that a good person would take the opportunity of an early finish to go home and relieve a sick partner. But he didn’t, he sat about leisurely drinking.
He lied to convince himself, and you, He will carry on lying to himself , and you, because everyone wants to think of themselves as good people .
This is ingrained and unlikely to change. Up to you to decide how to go forward.
Protect yourself and the children.

suzyscat · 15/07/2022 07:32

Aside from the obvious issues in there relationship, I have to say I agree with what @girlmom21 said, plenty of meetings happen in bars. Or you're expected to go for a post meeting debrief over lunch or a drink. Or the expectation for you to join lunches/ after work drinks etc in your own time.

If your partner is in a new job, often working remotely then it is important to take opportunities to bond with the team.

That said, it's horrid he left you poorly and you clearly can't trust him. I'd probably worry less about this specific incident and more about how you're going to go on from here.