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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:
ELM8 · 15/07/2022 10:06

We use those apps, it's not a big deal if you're both happy with it. I've got my whole family on there!

OP it sounds like you don't think he was at a work thing at all....?

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 15/07/2022 10:07

@Catlover1970 Yeah, I'm not sure that you're allowed to 'go about your business' and straight up lie to your spouses face, when she's been at home all day throwing up bile, having diarrhoea every hour all whilst looking after 3 small DC's in the middle of 28 degree heat.

If you're ok with your DH staying out to get pissed while you're struggling at home then having him lie to you about it all and not pause for a second to think about coming home to help you out, then you're a lot more chilled than I am.

I've already said countless times that he's absolutely shit at replying to texts. If I'd text him and asked him to come home, he either would've ignored it (that's normally what happens), or replied several hours later saying 'sorry, been busy, I'll leave once the meeting is over' - yeah, busy getting pissed 🙄

OP posts:
Catlover1970 · 15/07/2022 10:10

I’m saying this for another slant. Do you feel Bitter that he has the freedom to go in bars and have a more relaxed life whilst you are stuck at home with 3 kids? Is there a hint of jealousy that he gets to drink in bars and stay in hotels? Are you angry that he is having fun and you’re not? If that’s the case maybe you need to redress the balance so that you get the opportunity to go out with your friends etc? Think there are issues that run deeper than daft lies here

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 15/07/2022 10:10

@ELM8 I do believe he was at the meeting for a short time, I'm just struggling to understand how a big, important corporate event which was a prelude to next weeks regional meeting, somehow finished three hours early? I've heard of meetings finishing an hour early, but three?

DH told me that 'the meeting was rushed through and that's why he was able to leave HQ half an hour early for one quick pint'Hmm not exactly the same as sitting in a pub for three hours drinking god knows how many pints!

OP posts:
ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 15/07/2022 10:14

@Catlover1970 Not at all. I get the opportunity to go out, it's not like I'm cooped up inside or chained to the hoover. I have a 'big' night out maybe once every 4 months, so I'm not jealous of the fact he gets to go out. What's irritating me is that he lied about what he was doing when there was absolutely no need to, and in that moment, he chose a bunch of random work colleagues over his sick wife and small children.

OP posts:
ELM8 · 15/07/2022 10:15

No I get that, it sounds pretty dodgy to be honest. Those things usually always run over in my industry anyway... how big was it? If it's a big one sometimes people live tweet through it so if you're suspicious you could have a look on twitter or LinkedIn..

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 15/07/2022 10:30

@ELM8 I would've expected it to have run over too, I've never heard of an important meeting being cut so short. Yesterday was supposed to be about covering everything that will be spoken about/gone through next week - yesterday was a big meeting, but next weeks one is incredibly important (regional level, lots of 'important' managers/heads there), so I would've thought they had a lot to get through.

I've no idea what I'd be looking for on LinkedIn!

OP posts:
MrMrsJones · 15/07/2022 10:36

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?

Based on the information above and his consistent lies. I would divorce him, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him.

There is no need to lie, so why does he?

ELM8 · 15/07/2022 10:43

How big was the one yesterday? Most companies have a LinkedIn page and they sometimes post updates from events like that.. if they did and it went on longer than he said (ie the time of the updates) then you know it didn't finish early.

Also worth searching on twitter as again some people tweet through those types of things "really enjoying collaborating with colleagues at #XYZevent #companyname #lookhowprofessionaliam"

Namechangehereandnow · 15/07/2022 10:48

OP - you keep going over old ground! We keep hearing ‘but he always lies, what should I do, why does he lie, I’m ill with small children to look after while he drinks’ …. However many times you repeatedly say these things, does not change how you feel or how we respond!

Bluntly, in a nutshell, Can you live with his constant silly lies? If yes, shut up and put up - If no, start the leaving process!

MrMrsJones · 15/07/2022 10:56

Also he is shit at replying to you, that's because your the little woman at home, looking after the kids and keeping house. He is the big powerful man going out to work and telling lies to his wife.

It would be over for me.

I might also follow him to the b&b because I wouldn't trust him about that either

BrioLover · 15/07/2022 11:00

I couldn't live like this OP.

The lies are one thing (and the weird different clothes and likely bollocks about different hotels etc. at the next work do), but leaving you to look after 3 small children with D&V is awful. It shows a complete lack of care for you that would erode all feeling and respect I had for my DH if it happened to me.

Sadly I do agree with some of the posters who have said you are going over the same ground repeatedly - really your options are to stay with a man who lies and isn't there for you when you need him, or to leave.

And by leaving I don't mean leave tomorrow but to start planning for an exit. I expect your life will be far smoother, calmer and more pleasant without all the second guessing.

BrioLover · 15/07/2022 11:01

MrMrsJones · 15/07/2022 10:56

Also he is shit at replying to you, that's because your the little woman at home, looking after the kids and keeping house. He is the big powerful man going out to work and telling lies to his wife.

It would be over for me.

I might also follow him to the b&b because I wouldn't trust him about that either

Yes to this! He can't be bothered to reply to you because he is more important and you are 'just' at home doing fuck all.

ELM8 · 15/07/2022 11:04

Yeah I agree with @MrMrsJones, and you OP that the B&B is dodgy as hell. Best case scenario he's a selfish arse.

TootsAtOwls · 15/07/2022 11:07

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 14/07/2022 20:36

We both have the app. We got them because I like him to know where I am if I go out on nights out alone in case anything should happen to me, and he rides a motorbike and has frequently got lost late at night down country lanes and has even broken down in the middle of nowhere with low phone battery.

He "frequently" gets lost?
Phone conveniently low on battery?
Yeah, I wouldn't trust him either.

billy1966 · 15/07/2022 11:32

OP,

You have chosen to have 3 children with a liar.

You know he is a liar.
He will always be a liar.
That is who he is.
A liar.

Far better for you to stop having children with a liar.
Start organising yourself to return to work as soon as you can.
Organise yourself to be more independent of this liar.

It is only time before your marriage falls apart.

Any man who would go drinking whilst his wife is sick as a pig at home with 3 young children is a selfish waster.

In your case a lying, selfish, waster.

Save your energy for what you can change and not for what you will never change.

Protect yourself.

Miajk · 15/07/2022 11:42

You come across as very controlling and I'm not surprised he lies. I wouldn't appreciate the lies but I also wouldn't appreciate having a partner who I need to lie to.

Vikinga · 15/07/2022 12:05

Not having a hotel room sounds dodgy. Have you tried phoning the hotel to find out if there are free rooms?

Your updates make it sound like he may be up to more than squeezing cheeky pints in.

ireallyshouldntbesurprised · 15/07/2022 12:21

@Vikinga I don't even know whereabouts in Birmingham he's going, let alone which hotel the rest of the colleagues are staying in, or which hotel/b&b he'll be in. All I've been told is that there are regional meetings happening in Birmingham, work wasn't able to get him a room in the hotel everyone else will be in, so he's having to stay elsewhere.

That's the extent of my knowledge around what's happening next week 🤷🏻‍♂️

OP posts:
Glitternails1 · 15/07/2022 12:27

wellhelloitsme · 15/07/2022 09:05

Never a good reason... apart from all the ones people in healthy, happy relationships have shared on this thread? Ok then.

Why do people feel the need to spy on others? You can’t be in a healthy relationship if you would rather stalk someone than simply call or text them. Don’t you trust them? If you want to know when someone is leaving work so you can start preparing dinner then just ask them to text you as they’re leaving.

feistyoneyouare · 15/07/2022 13:40

So, in a nutshell, according to some posters, the OP is the one BU because she's 'stalking' her husband. 🙄What with this and how other threads have played out this week, it seems to be Mumsnet 'blame the woman' week. Either that, or the heat is making people more than usually mean-spirited.

FWIW I agree with those saying that the trust is gone from the marriage and it doesn't bode well. I don't know if I could stay if my DH did this. But the OP's DH is a habitual liar and personally I think it's wholly understandable that she's felt driven to keep tabs on his movements. I'd do the same in her shoes.

Mumtumtastic · 15/07/2022 14:54

So sorry OP, this is a really horrible situation to deal with, you have 3 small children and your hands completely full as a SAHM. The bottom line is you need a supportive, loving, trustworthy partner who will stand by you and can be relied upon, who cares about you and your children.

You know your DH best and only you can gauge if he has the potential to change and be the person (husband and father) you need him to be. But the question is does he want to change? Perhaps if he understood that you will not be staying with him if things carry on this way, and that he will be losing his family if he carries on his destructive lying behaviour, that might give him a wake up call. But even so, he may not be capable of changing even if he wanted to if the behaviour is entrenched in his personality.

This is not an easy choice, leaving with 3 small DC is not an easy thing to. I would have a serious conversation tonight and lay it all out, everything that has hurt you and eroded your trust, let him know that it is not acceptable - evaluate what remains of your marriage (like panning for gold) and see if there are any gems of love left. Trust can be rebuilt if there is still love and he can/ wants to address the lying. But if the love has gone and there is no trust, perhaps a move to a trial or permanent separation.

ThisWormHasTurned · 15/07/2022 14:55

OP I think you’ve had a hard time on this. So many people laying into you because you’re trying to catch your H out - but it’s his lies that have caused the mistrust in the first place! My dear old Mum used to say I don’t profess to know much about relationships, but I’ll tell you this: without trust, there is no relationship.

I can see from your posts you think you know what to do…I found myself not trusting my H. I gradually realised I was being controlled..I had some individual counselling which helped me make my mind up. I found enough
courage to end things. It’s not been easy, at times I’ve felt overwhelmed but that doesn’t last. Mostly I feel relief. Take your time, figure out what you really want but I would seriously consider your options.

spotcheck · 15/07/2022 18:52

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.

In a pub miles away?

Riiiiiiiiight

Spohn · 15/07/2022 18:52

I don’t understand why you’d think he’d change? He he arranged therapy for himself? Parent all those kids equally? Is he typing out huge paragraphs getting advice from his peers online to stop being a piece of shit? No?

Sounds like he’s not too keen on parenting the kids he made, and doesn’t give much of a shit about you. If someone had vowed to cherish and honour me, I’d expect them to do a stratospheric amount better than this sad sack.