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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

Work wife. Is this cheating?

228 replies

parker06 · 13/08/2023 21:03

My husband told me he had a work wife a few months back. All happy and open about it so I didn't mind at all. The other day he confessed that although nothing happened between them he told her that if we weren't married then he would be with her. Is this cheating? Not sure how I feel right now.

OP posts:
BingoBastards · 14/08/2023 06:52

@Baconking sorry missed that bit - too early in the morning, need a coffee!

No that's not OK at all

Soulstirring · 14/08/2023 06:57

@parker06 @MsDogLady has summed it up perfectly. Sadly. Especially in light of your latest update. Be brave and be strong and stand up for yourself 💐

WannaBeRecluse · 14/08/2023 06:57

They are crossing lines and walking a dangerous one. I wouldn't be happy with this at all, 'work wife' or not. I personally wouldn't be happy with 'work wife', I don't want to be compartmentalised by my husband, but that is minor compared to the line they have been walking and have now crossed by walking together holding hands. I think I'd be reacting a lot more assertively about it by now.

AuContraire · 14/08/2023 07:17

Who is more senior between him and her?

Buildingthefuture · 14/08/2023 07:18

Skipped home holding hands did they? 🤬🤬 I’m sorry op, what a pair of total dicks!!
i know you are sad and in shock but I think you need to find your anger here. He doesn’t get to vomit this shit sandwich into your lap then fuck off to work to discuss it all with her!! Do you know who she is or anything about her?? Personally, I’d be contacting her husband and telling him what’s been going on. Blow up their secret little fantasy and let them both face the consequences. But, I’m vindictive like that!!!

UndercoverCop · 14/08/2023 07:22

I have a work wife, I'm female and heterosexual so is she. It's just a joke because we're close friends and work well together, we're also each others support in a very stressful job.
What he has said is not that. He's definitely crossed a line

Aprilx · 14/08/2023 07:31

I was a work wife in my last job, it was a bit of an office joke and it was really because we sat beside each other and he made me lots of cups of tea, including bringing them to me when I was in meetings. But it was innocent on both sides, we didn’t go out together outside work, we didn’t even message each other outside work and we definitely didn’t say things like that to each other! Your husband is in an emotional affair.

Thingamebobwotsit · 14/08/2023 07:38

@parker06 haven't read all the replies bar yours, but even on your first post he had crossed a line.

Over the years I have been called the work wife of a number of very successful, high profile male colleagues. And it has literally been that - the metaphorical office equivalent of picking up their laundry, making sure they are prepped for meetings and so on. I have always known the actual wives well, and they have known me and my DH.

What you are going through is not OK. Both of them have massively over stepped a line. He needs to find another job elsewhere if he values his marriage.

Louise303 · 14/08/2023 07:39

Drunk or not he would be gone no coming back from that.

Frogmila · 14/08/2023 07:46

Holding hands after that? He's telling you all this and if you accept it it gives him permission to continue or go further. Definitely lay it all back out and ask what he expects you to do/ feel after being told all of this. If he wants to prioritise your marriage then this needs to end now. New job, no contact. He knows this is not ok.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 14/08/2023 07:55

I’m sorry OP, but I think he is needling you into leaving ( or throwing him out, a better option).

if he wanted to maintain his marriage , he would have STFU after he saw your first reaction to his little disclosure. Instead he has ramped it up, telling you that she has the same feelings about him, that they hold hands…..when he gets home he will be telling you that they had a little cuddle in the stationery cupboard.

I think your DH is a coward. He could have told you that he is in love with this woman, and she returns his feelings. Then you could have started to plan , together or separately, what you are both going to do in the future. That’s not what he has done. I think he wants you to leave him, so he can pose as the poor deserted bloke abandoned by his unreasonable wife for an over reaction to his ‘confession’ of ‘a minor indiscretion.’ It’s not good.

A male friend once told me that he had got ‘close’ to a female colleague ( not as close as hand holding, though, and certainly not the declaration of intent). He knew he was a dickhead, and he was worried. I told him to tell the colleague that he liked and esteemed her, but he may have been giving out the wrong signals, and that he was committed to his wife. He did. I gather it was an ‘awkward’ conversation and the atmosphere was ‘ a bit frosty’ . He’s still married, though, and as far as I know, happily married.

cheesecroissant · 14/08/2023 08:06

It doesn't matter how he met her. He's told another woman he wants to be with her but his wife is standing in the way. Buying her gifts, holding her hand, getting drunk with her. The relationship would be over for me.

cheesecroissant · 14/08/2023 08:06

And bullshit they didn't at least kiss.

rainbowstardrops · 14/08/2023 08:23

So he told her that if he wasn't married then he'd be with her and she said if he wasn't married, she'd be with him. That would be enough but to be buying her gifts and then holding hands walking home ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!
I wouldn't be able to trust him again and I'd hazard a guess that they at least kissed, quite possibly more.
Absolutely no way I could put up with that.

Malificent1 · 14/08/2023 08:31

They’re dancing around the start of an affair, and he’s seeking permission from you to continue.

If he wants to save his marriage then he needs to find a new job. Now. Today. Otherwise you will forever be in knots ever single time he goes to work as you’ll know they’re together.

I’m so sorry that he’s doing this to you. You deserve better.

SunRainStorm · 14/08/2023 08:33

An emotional affair is a best case scenario frankly.

Id be telling him to find a new job and end contact with her, or move out.

Notamum12345577 · 14/08/2023 08:38

parker06 · 14/08/2023 05:53

Thank you everyone. I spent all night awake worried and asking him questions. He's gone to work now and I'm even sadder than. He admitted that after they told each other this she walked home with him and they held hands. He said she was just getting him home as he was so drunk. He said no kissing or sleeping together

He has behaved very badly, but he must know it is wrong as he admitted it to you, before it goes any further. He needs to step away from her at work, he needs to do this to show you he is serious about being sorry. Maybe he should also look for another job.

fatherliamdeliverance · 14/08/2023 09:01

His behaviour is sounding prurient, stirring the pot because he finds it all exciting and forbidden. He needs to cop onto himself and let you know explicitly whether he wants to choose his marriage and make it work or fanny about with this woman. If he wants to be with someone else then he owes you that truth and he needs to take.ownership of that. It is cruel and pathetic to toss little bits of information your way expecting you to absorb it all. 'I was drunk' is not logical seeing as he isn't denying it now.

Bonelly · 14/08/2023 10:58

What an a hole. Go be with her then- except he doesn't want that. I'd be so hurt by that pathetic chat. I hate all that wifey chat and if you said it with none of the background stuff then ok but him saying it is so wanky.

Crikeyalmighty · 14/08/2023 11:00

He is seeing if you would put up with ham having a bit on the side and hedging his bets. Sorry I would be filing for divorce if he said that to me

Callyem · 14/08/2023 11:22

Its definitely an emotional affair and one drunk conversation away from a full blown affair. If you don't act on this in some manner, you'll be back here in a few months saying your DH has left you for his work wife.

What you do and how you tackle it is up to you, but yes I would consider this to be a betrayal.

Sherrycat · 14/08/2023 13:54

Ask him how he’d feel if the boot was on the other foot!
in my eyes, it is a form of cheating & I would bin him off.

How bloody disrespectful of him! Trust me when I say they will take this further.

I wouldn’t even bother asking him to move jobs, he could just as easily find another woman to flirt with elsewhere. He’s shown you his true character & moving jobs isn’t going to change that.

you could have a really frank chat with him & try & get him to see how wrong it is, but I think you will always be wondering what he might get up to in the future, even if you think he’s taken it on board.
sorry op you can’t trust him.

Hibiscrubbed · 14/08/2023 14:28

I suspect something has already happened.

5128gap · 14/08/2023 14:34

I'd tell him he needs to choose whether he prefers to have a work wife or an actual wife. Because there is no way I'd tolerate this in my relationship, and either his interactions with her remained on a professional level or I'd be engaging my exit plan.
However, in all truth I'd not be that confident it would actually stop, as people in these circumstances often just tend to take them under the radar and as you're not there you wouldn't be any the wiser.
Unfortunately all you can do is tell him how it is, then keep an eye on the situation for signs he's still continuing. Sad really because the trust goes once they start with this sort of thing and you see what they're capable of.

parker06 · 14/08/2023 17:50

Buildingthefuture · 14/08/2023 07:18

Skipped home holding hands did they? 🤬🤬 I’m sorry op, what a pair of total dicks!!
i know you are sad and in shock but I think you need to find your anger here. He doesn’t get to vomit this shit sandwich into your lap then fuck off to work to discuss it all with her!! Do you know who she is or anything about her?? Personally, I’d be contacting her husband and telling him what’s been going on. Blow up their secret little fantasy and let them both face the consequences. But, I’m vindictive like that!!!

He told me she's single so no one other than me to be hurt here I guess

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