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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

Stuck on holiday with a sulking man

135 replies

June2025 · 13/06/2025 05:57

I am currently stuck on holiday with my parter and I am dreading him waking up and sulking
he has lost his mobile phone and doesn’t remember any passwords so I understand it’s stressful but I am just dreading the day
I want to head back to the U.K. early so he can sort it because he will be quiet all day unless someone else speaks to him in which case he will be pleasant, but he will be snappy and cold with me
he is also cross because I didn’t want to have sex last night as he was being so horrible
as an aside he also said that as we were passing somewhere it was my special place as it was the land of the slags and then said it didn’t count as he was joking
it’s going to be a long day as we are camping and he will make it clear he is very very cross with me

OP posts:
Greenfitflop · 14/06/2025 12:17

www.freedomprogramme.co.uk do this.

Your self esteem must be non existent to accept this.

DuesToTheDirt · 14/06/2025 12:22

"he also said that as we were passing somewhere it was my special place as it was the land of the slags"

Deal-breaker. Anyone who said that to me would be toast.

Sodthesystem · 14/06/2025 12:31

DuesToTheDirt · 14/06/2025 12:22

"he also said that as we were passing somewhere it was my special place as it was the land of the slags"

Deal-breaker. Anyone who said that to me would be toast.

Exactly. The way my mouth fell open when I read that.

If I'd overheard a man say that to his partner I'd be looking for an opportunity to take her asside and see that she was safe and if she needed help to leave the psycho.

Bloody terrifying that anyone could be so downtrodden that they think this is remotely forgiveable. Like, what else has this monster put you through?

Get away from him.

Goody2ShoesAndTheFilthyBeast · 14/06/2025 12:34

Are you planning to stay with him or end the relationship?

I want to say life is too fucking short to settle for being treated like shit but I know it's an easy thing to type and not that easy to do.

pinkyredrose · 14/06/2025 18:32

Life's too short to spend it with a miserable bastard.

Kweeni · 24/06/2025 23:41

June2025 · 14/06/2025 09:11

Thankfully not, he actually has a reasonable job with significant responsibilities

How are things for you this week @June2025 ?

I doubt he treats his colleagues in his 'reasonable job with significant responsibilities' to the emotionally abusive silent / sulking / tantrum treatment.

He's choosing to do this to you - in order to have you adapting to his suggested volatility by meeting his sill demands - but as you have worked out - you will never be able to soothe him enough and your soul become drained as you tap-dance to his moods.

Hope you can see this and see that you have agency and accountability to how your own life pans out.

June2025 · 25/06/2025 21:56

@Kweenithank you for the check in, I did come back from my holiday and I am sorry to say I didn’t end it then but he came over and was incredibly and didn’t speak to me for a day because I had been out and had some drinks, and fallen asleep on the sofa and then he didn’t speak to me for a day
so when he eventually surfaced I told him I needed space and here we are
I actually feel quite free

OP posts:
June2025 · 25/06/2025 21:57

JFDIYOLO · 13/06/2025 10:47

Look at your own words.

Stuck on holiday with my partner and I am dreading him waking up and sulking ... I am just dreading the day

This is just not how relationships are supposed to be. And you're on holiday, too.

he will be quiet all day unless someone else speaks to him in which case he will be pleasant, but he will be snappy and cold with me

Putting on a fake front so everyone believes he's one thing - but you know he's something else. And of course nobody will believe you.

We are camping and he will make it clear he is very very cross with me ... he will ruin the day with sulking I know what he is like and then deny it ... I think he wants me to know he is terribly cross indeed and try and fix it for him

Ruining nice occasions is absolutely how they operate. You're walking on eggshells, aren't you? Everything you say or do is wrong?

he is also cross because I didn’t want to have sex last night as he was being so horrible

Too many men think women and girls are things. Not quite human. There to service them - and when the service isn't forthcoming, the domestic appliance has failed.

he also said that as we were passing somewhere it was my special place as it was the land of the slags and then said it didn’t count as he was joking

Insults, the vilest misogynistic tropes - and then the gaslighting. But it's only banter. Can't you take a joke? You know what you're like.

he always puts me down about being scatty but I counter act this by having a back up phone and options to get into my email account if I got locked out

Belittling, insults about your intelligence and capability in the face of all the evidence YOU are the organised one. More gaslighting.

everything is down to me anyway I have booked and planned everything he won’t even use his card out here so he has to transfer me some money when he gets back

Again, the 'women are domestic appliances' thing in action. The cash machine, the organisation chart, the project manager.

How would you feel if it were your mum, sister, daughter, friend saying this to you?

Read this, then write down everything he's done since you've been together.

https://www.womens-aid.org.uk/types-of-domestic-abuse

Some quotes:

'Emotional blackmail can be used to try and make the woman feel guilty by using emotional outbursts, sulking

Verbal abuse can involve ... name calling or the use of derogatory language

Psychological abuse can include humiliation, diminishing or embarrassing the woman and isolating her from her friends and family.'

Are you seeing it yet, OP?

Edited

This was a very kind and detailed response, thank you

OP posts:
JFDIYOLO · 25/06/2025 23:54

🤗

OneFineDay13 · 26/06/2025 00:09

He sounds absolutely vile. Leave go home and never see him again !

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