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Is this inappropriate?

This woman who worked with my DH for a few years started texting him recently. She is texting him every single day, multiple times. She is also married. I told him she is interested in him and he didn't believe me.

He went and got coffee with her about a week ago while I was at work (I work late into the evening a few days a week). When he came back he said, "you were right." He told her that I thought she liked him and she admitted it. But that since they were both married she wasn't expecting anything to happen.

She is still texting him every day, and he texts her back, sometimes while he is with me. The content of the texts is not anything I am concerned about, and I don't believe he'd ever cheat on me with anyone, let alone her, but I just don't think it's appropriate form her to be texting my husband all the time, or for him to be engaging in it.

I told him that I am not going to tell him who he can and can't be friends with but that I am extremely uncomfortable with this. Am I out of line?
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Re: Is this inappropriate?

  • No, you are not out of line.

    She has made it clear that she has romantic feelings for your husband.  And she is not backing off despite the fact that he has made it clear that he is not interested.  You have the right to say that you want him to have no other contact with her except at work for work related things.

    But you also need to serve up some wet noodle lashes for your husband.  Even though he now CLEARLY knows that her interest in him is not platonic, he is still responding to her texts.  He needs to tell her clearly that he does not want to get any more texts from her unless the texts are purely about work.  I am sure that he finds the attention from someone new flattering, but this continued engagement of a woman who is unambiguously romantically interested in him is outside the acceptable bounds.

    And I am a woman with several close male friends (some married, some not) but we don't text constantly, don't have frequent in person contact and everything we do is above board and out in the open -- so I am not opposed to male-female relationships.
  • You are not out of line at all.

    My H and I always say the 'vice versa' deal.  Ask your husband if he'd be ok with you doing the same thing if the situation was reversed.  I'm going to bet he wouldn't.  

    He knows how she feels and how YOU feel (which is the important one)...he needs to stop.
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  • Just to clarify, they no longer work together. She quit a few months ago.

    He says he wouldn't care because he trusts me, but I guess we'll never know since I would not feel right about it at all and wouldn't ever do that. Both of us have other friends of the opposite sex, including exes, and I do not have an issue with that. But neither of us are texting/talking to them daily.

    He said he would stop texting her back when he is with me because he understands why that bothers me.
  • But he's still going to text her when you're not there?? As far as I'm concerned, if there's even a hint of interest, it's inappropriate to be friends or communicate. She's blatantly told him she's interested. He shouldn't be going for coffee, talking or texting her, in my opinion. He's having fun getting his ego stroked by having her interested, and hurting your relationship in the process. Not okay. You are his wife, and his priority!
  • Not okay. He likes his ego being stroked, I get that. However, he's playing with fire and it is not appropriate or okay. 

    But that since they were both married she wasn't expecting anything to happen. 

    He is playing with her emotions and leading her to believe something could happen if and when she choose. Why else would a married man continue to communicate with a woman other then his wife knowing emotions and desire where involved? She does in fact hope something will happen she just doesn't want to be the person to actually say it. 
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  • Believe me, I completely agree.
  • I'm just so tired of being the bad guy. He is so effing stubborn and doesn't respond well to ultimatums. I am already feeling very insecure about our relationship lately because he has been sick for several years and we just found out he's terminal. This has put a huge stress on our marriage because there are things he can do to prolong what is left of his life and he is unwilling to do them. His sex drive has been dwindling due to his medications and the illness itself, and our sex life is currently non existent, and likely to stay that way. So yeah, it's very hard for me to see him paying so much attention to someone else, even though I know he isn't interested in her (or anyone) sexually.

    He says he is just tired of hanging around the apartment alone when I am at work in the evenings. I said, "Fine, go do stuff with literally any of your other friends."

    We are in counseling every week and I feel like it's just not enough time to deal with all of the crap we are currently going through. I guess I just have to pick my battles here.
  • You're not the bad guy, he is!  I'm sorry he's sick and there's this dark cloud looming over the future.  Yes, that sucks big time.  BUT, that doesn't excuse his behavior.  He doesn't get a free pass to ignore your feelings and have a little fun just because he's terminally ill.  If he's bored at home then yes he should hang out with his MALE friends.  I think this is a battle worth fighting for because if the worse happens you're going to be left alone with that bitter taste in your mouth.  If he doesn't get the fact that it's truly hurting you and it's damaging the marriage then I really don't know what else you can do.
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  • Leftie22 said:
    But he's still going to text her when you're not there?? As far as I'm concerned, if there's even a hint of interest, it's inappropriate to be friends or communicate. She's blatantly told him she's interested. He shouldn't be going for coffee, talking or texting her, in my opinion. He's having fun getting his ego stroked by having her interested, and hurting your relationship in the process. Not okay. You are his wife, and his priority!
    Exactly this.  Well said, Leftie.
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  • I don't even know anymore. Sometimes I feel like we're just hanging on by a thread. All I can do is keep telling him how this makes me feel and hope he has enough respect for me to do the right thing. Things are far too volatile right now for me to feel comfortable making any long term decisions. All of this just blows.
  • Well, I have been home from work for almost an hour now and guess who he is with? We need to have a "come to Jesus" when he gets home, but if I come at him in anger or with ultimatums he is just going to be defensive about it. This is not cool. I am very very hurt.
  • Well, I have been home from work for almost an hour now and guess who he is with? We need to have a "come to Jesus" when he gets home, but if I come at him in anger or with ultimatums he is just going to be defensive about it. This is not cool. I am very very hurt.

    I'm sorry, that's really crappy behavior on his part. I hope this doesn't sound mean, but do you think that because he's terminally ill he thinks you'll just have to put up with all of his behavior and not complain? To me, it sounds like he might be counting on your sympathy for his illness and really milking it for all it's worth. Your situation is tough, but I think you should treat it the way you would if you thought he'd be around for years and years. You still have the right to be treated properly and you have the right to leave. I know it can't be easy though. I feel for you.
  • I don't know. His terminal status is very new for both of us, and he has changed a lot since he found out. It's like he's going through a mid life crisis or something. I have hopes that it is some kind of phase he will get past, hopefully soon. One thing is for sure. I am too emotionally vulnerable to deal with any more of this crap right now. If that means I have to be the bad guy then I guess I have to be the bad guy.
  • So, that went pretty well I guess. I stayed calm and basically just told him that I didn't think I could handle him hanging out with her, especially with everything else that is going on with us, and that it wasn't that I don't trust him it is that I have been feeling neglected and it was very hard on me and hurtful for me to see him paying so much attention to someone who has admitted she has feelings for him. He said, "If that's how you feel, then I won't talk to her anymore."

    He is concerned about how to break the news to her without making me sound like a crazy possessive bitch. He doesn't want me coming across that way because he doesn't think I am one. There is a lot of stuff going on in the background that she doesn't know about and doesn't need to know about. I offered to send her a threatening message over Facebook, which he declined. (That was a joke, BTW)

    I told him I do not expect him to never see or talk to her again because he often hangs out with his coworkers and some former coworkers in groups and she is often there. And that would just be crazy. But I told him his level of involvement with her needed to be scaled way way back. No more daily texting and no more hanging out with just her.

    He said he felt that by being totally open and honest with me about the friendship with me that that would be enough for me to feel OK with it, but since it's not he is willing to let it go. He was worried I was going to start finding reasons to not like other friends of his as well, and I told him that I had no intention of doing that and have never had reservations about anyone else he is friends with.

    All in all I think the conversation went really well and he handled himself with respect and maturity.
  • It depends on how you feel about it. If you don't think it is OK for him to respond to her you need to share your feelings. IMO, it is best to stray away from any temptation. If you two had a fight and he texted her about it, would that be OK? I'm thinking not.
  • You're caring for a terminally ill husband, and this is how he treats you?  Oh hell no.  I am glad he has stopped being an ass about it.
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  • He texted me tonight while I was at work and told me that she is out of the picture. The whole conversation felt a little guilt-trippy to me, but he swears it wasn't intended that way. He still things I am overreacting though. I told him that it has nothing to do with me not trusting him. It's because I think she is being totally inappropriate by telling him she is interested and texting him all the time, and she needs to back the hell off.

    But anyway, it's over and done with and now we can focus our energy on all the other massive problems we have.
  • I know you have much bigger problems to focus on, but I just wanted to warn you to mentally prepare yourself for the possibility that they start up again under the radar.
    The fact that it looks like he 'broke up' with a girl instead of fading out a meaningless acquaintance and he passive aggressively guilt-tripped you are big red waving flags.
    It's almost a template for resurfacing covert contact.
    Their is nothing you can do about his choices, just prepare yourself, be aware so you won't feel blindsided.
  • He sent me the following text this morning from work:

    "This is the last thing I'm going to say about the whole XXXX thing, because I'm sick of talking about it, and none of the talking is productive. You want to know what I said to her? I told her the truth. I made every attempt to try to put your position in a good light, but I also made it clear that didn't agree with your stance because nothing had happened between us. She didn't take it well, because she didn't understand why you would have an issue when she hadn't really done anything. I tend to agree with that, but ultimately I did this not because I agree with you but because I value our relationship. I will not put myself in this situation again."

    Honestly right now I just feel like I've been slapped in the face. He never used to be like this. I don't know how much more of this I can take.
  • So, we've been talking more and he thinks I should go back on meds for mental health. He brought it up a couple of months ago and I have done nothing, so TBH he is completely right. I wouldn't put up with that shit from him, and there is no reason for him to put up with it from me. Especially if he feels that it's having a detrimental effect on our relationship. I am going in to see my psych very shortly. He has an opening this morning.
  • It looks like he is gas-lighting you in a heavy handed way. Another big red flag. 
    He liked the attention from her, wants to interact with her and is willing to try to discredit you in order to make himself look good and feel better about his actions.
    Look at NOT JUST FRIENDS by Shirley Glass to help you out.

    You are probably going to go 'round and 'round about this with him.  I wouldn't try to argue the point.  Be confident in yourself and your boundaries.  Calmly call him out when he is trying to manipulate you or dig at your sore spots.

    Just go on focusing on the more important matters at hand while realizing that this 'situation' probably will turn up later in the form of a burner phone, Skyping, etc.  Prepare yourself for what you are prepared to do.
  • The mental health issue does add more information to the equation, but your issues do not make his actions innocent.
  • He sent me the following text this morning from work: "This is the last thing I'm going to say about the whole XXXX thing, because I'm sick of talking about it, and none of the talking is productive. You want to know what I said to her? I told her the truth. I made every attempt to try to put your position in a good light, but I also made it clear that didn't agree with your stance because nothing had happened between us. She didn't take it well, because she didn't understand why you would have an issue when she hadn't really done anything. I tend to agree with that, but ultimately I did this not because I agree with you but because I value our relationship. I will not put myself in this situation again." Honestly right now I just feel like I've been slapped in the face. He never used to be like this. I don't know how much more of this I can take.

    So instead of manning up and supporting his wife, he chose to throw you under the bus and blame everything on you? And how exactly does he think that's going to work, other than to reassure the other woman that he still wants to talk, and now making you out to be a crazy b wife?! That's totally unfair, immature and still leaves the door wide open between them. And the whole "it's not inappropriate because nothing happened" argument is such BS. They don't have to have sex for it to be inappropriate. Her expressing interest was inappropriate. Him continuing to see her knowing that is inappropriate. Him telling her that they can't talk because of you is inappropriate. I don't know your mental health status, but I think your DH is messing with your brain in order to do whatever he wants. He has to make you look crazy in order for him to look innocent. Please don't fall for it! You know what he's doing is wrong, even if he'll never admit it. You need to act in your own best interest. Wishing you the best.
  • P.s. I've been in a similar situation with someone who acted shady and then blamed me for being "too needy, too anxious, not trusting him" etc etc. finally, I had to accept that he would never admit he was being a creep, and I would have to be the "bad guy". It was hard to end it with a bunch of insults and blame heaped on me, but I knew in my heart that HE was the bad guy, even if he would never believe it or admit it. You might have to do the same, and just work on your own view of yourself and what you KNOW is true. And it might mean accepting that he'll blame you, but not letting it stop you from doing what's best for you. I really feel for you, it's not easy.
  • Just to be clear, me going back on meds does not mean that he still gets to talk to her. There are a lot of other things that were said that led to that.

    He basically said that he admits held partly at fault for the difficulties in our relationship, but he wishes that I would acknowledge my part in this as well. And he is not wrong about that. He said he will do whatever he can to work on his shit but I need help that he is not able to provide. I have to be willing to work on my own shit as well.

    We talked about it when he came home from work some more. I feel like he at least somewhat understands where I am coming from now. I am not saying it's all going to be just fine because we still have lots of things to deal with and work through. But I don't have any reason to think I can't trust him here.
  • Forgot to add that he is also on antidepressants and regularly sees a therapist in addition to the counseling we do together.
  • Wait a fucking minute.  He's having a close relationship with a woman who admits she's attracted to him but thinks nothing will happen because he's married.  You ask him to stop talking to this person who does not respect your marriage.  He convinces you that YOU'RE crazy and you need medication? 

    I'm sorry but I think the fact that he's sick and has no sex life makes this whole thing with the other woman worse, not better.  He's having an affair.  He's just not having a physical one because he's not physically able to.  I'm sorry he's so sick but that is NOT an excuse to shit on your marriage.
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  • Jesus. He did not convince me I'm crazy. I have been treated for mental illness since I was 19 years old and it was a problem long before that. I have a bad habit of discontinuing the use of my medication because I hate taking it, but honestly nothing else works. He told me several months ago during couples counseling counseling that he felt I was not doing well without it and it was straining our relationship. I told him I would look into doing some kind of treatment at that time and then never did it. Because I found out a very short time later that he was terminal and I really just kind of forgot. He was not in contact with this woman at all at this time.

    The friendship with her is still done, and he has a better understanding of my position now. Why did he bring up the medication? Because I told him that I was tired of feeling hurt by him. He said that while he agreed that he had made mistakes that I have had my own part in our marriage troubles recently, and he needed me to get help with my own issues as well.

    I agree that having no sex life right now made this worse for me. His antidepressants, plus all of his other medical issues have reduced his sex drive to zero. Even if he wanted to, he is physically unable to get any kind of erection or have an orgasm.

    He is not having an affair, emotional or otherwise. I know what they were texting about. He never lied to me about anything or hid anything from me. I have no reason to believe he would start. At any rate she is royally pissed off about the whole thing, and doesn't want to be friends with him anymore either.
  • Oh HELL no.  Hell no.  He can take care of his own dying ass.

    Really, what is in this for you?  No sex, this bullshit, and you're also now his caretaker for both mental illness and end of life care? 
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  • OP, I think you are missing the point people are trying to make here entirely.

    This is a typical redirecting blame when the person gets caught acting inappropriately tactic. Your H doesn't want to accept responsibility for his very VERY inappropriate actions and therefore is turning it around on you like you are the problem here. You are not the problem - he is.

    You hear that?

    YOU. ARE. NOT. THE. PROBLEM.

    Okay, so maybe you've struggled with mental illness and need medication for that BUT that does not excuse your H's very inappropriate and assholish behavior and also, I think it's really fucked up that he is turning this around on you now in a lame attempt to absolve him of any wrong doing. Do not let him do this.

    Sorry, but your H sounds like a real jerkoff.

     

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