‘Get Out Now’: People Are Begging This Woman To Leave Her Abusive Husband After She Writes A Post Online About His Bizarre Behavior
People change. Usually, over time. But the antagonist of this story did a complete 180 in just a moment after the wedding bells rang for him and his wife.
A few weeks ago, Reddit user u/aitalightswater posted a story about her husband who, right after they got married, quit his job and took the family’s finances into his own hands.
Now, he even keeps the lights on and water running in the house all day, every day. Literally.
When u/aitalightswater tries to confront him, the man just repeats an analogy he came up with and lets her know he’s having none of her “nagging.”
Lost and confused, the woman asked other Redditors to hear her out and share their opinion on the situation. Here’s what she said.
Image credits: Imani (not the actual photo)
u/aitalightswater’s Reddit account has been suspended so I doubt we’ll hear from her again. And I’m not sure about her situation, but the American Psychological Association (APA) says that with practice, couples can learn to talk about finances in a healthier, more satisfying way.
Which is reassuring, given that the 2014 APA Stress in America survey found almost a third of adults with partners (31 percent) reported that money is a major source of conflict in their relationship.
“The old idea that opposites attract may have some basis in reality,” the APA wrote. “We are often drawn to a partner whose personality and style complements our own. But differing beliefs about money can be a recipe for conflict.”
“We develop beliefs about money long before we comingle our finances with a romantic partner. Research shows we inherit attitudes, values and beliefs about money from our parents and other family members. We may not even be fully conscious of our beliefs about spending and saving.”
Early on in a relationship, many people discuss their views on marriage, children and where they want to work and live. Unfortunately, they rarely sit down together for an honest talk about their attitudes on finance.
As the story was going viral, OP provided more information on the conflict
The good news is that there might be a solution to many of these problems.
“Couples often divide duties, and financial duties are no exception,” the APA said. “One partner might handle day-to-day household spending, while the other focuses on long-term savings and investing. But those roles are naturally at odds with one another. Such a division of labor is often a source of conflict.”
To avoid any imbalance, some couples trade the jobs back and forth: one month you might handle household spending and your partner might focus on savings and investment. The next month, you can swap.
“Another good option is to share roles equally. Set up a regular day and time each month to sit down, pay the bills, discuss your expenses and review your savings plans. Try to schedule something fun for after the meeting; if you know you’ll be going to the movies or on a bike ride afterwards, your money date will feel less like a chore.”
But if some issues appear too big and you find yourself arguing with your significant other about the same thing again and again, keep in mind that psychologists are experts in helping people change their behaviors and break out of unhealthy patterns. Many of them specialize in relationships and marital issues, and can actually help you and your partner learn healthy ways of communicating.
As for splitting bills, you can read a comprehensive piece I’ve written about it here.
And replied to a few commenters
269Kviews
Share on FacebookJust goes to show how bad gaslighting can get if you start to doubt yourself whether asking your husband to turn the f*****g taps and lights off when he's done with them is reasonable or not. I mean what the actual- In what universe is turning the tap NOT off normal? These are so many red flags I can't even count them. His behaviour is so outrageously weird that I'm seriously wondering about his mental health.
If he can turn them ON he can damn well turn them OFF
Load More Replies...To the OP: RUN. Just run. No stopping. I won't credit this to mental illness, b/c the face he's unemployed home all day? He's finding a way to do two things. 1. Have noise/perception of activity/busy-ness. 2. Show his negative emotions with what is passive-aggressive at best and active gaslighting at worst. I'd wonder about head injury/trauma/etc. but I've seen too many a-holes in my dad's family do stupid sh*t to their working wives, and this isn't even the stupidest. (One uncle amuse dhimself during an unemployment period by making more housework for her in ways I prefer to not describe, but we should've had him litter trained.)
Agree, but I don't think it's head injury as he behaved like an adult until he tricked her into marriage. Sounds like covert abuse or covert narcissism to me. Passive-aggression, gaslighting, financial abuse.
Load More Replies...This is so crazy, it feels like a made up story. Unfortunately people like that actually exist. Hope she has teh strength and presence of mind to dump his ass.
Someone on Tumblr pointed out that doing something so crazy that it sounds made up is part of the abuse - he’s counting on people not believing her.
Load More Replies...What f'n country is this happening in? It sounds like a Kafka short story that he abandoned as not being believable enough. If this guy is really like this, he's insane. Like, mentally ill. She needs to get out now.
Could be any country. As someone on Tumblr pointed out, the craziness of his method is likely to be intentional in the hopes that people won’t believe her.
Load More Replies...Reminds me a lot of one of my ex's who turned completely abusive when i had to give up a high paying job due to my disability getting worse. financial control and making me give her every penny of my pensions, making me clean up after her and her two kids and encouraging them to leave any mess for me to deal with, belittling me for being disabled etc etc. Never felt more free than the first night i managed to get out of there (she'd convinced me no one would rent me anywhere i could afford even though i'm actually far better off financially than with her). I went to bed on the floor here that night with a huge smile on my face knowing that i'd be able to afford a new bed the following month on my own. to the OP.. hope you get out/got out of it, I know how hard it can be when you reach your breaking point, but it's so worth it if you want to lilve rather than exist. I'm with a fantastic woman now who is totally the opposite and makes me so happy.
It was a bit of an eye-opener for me to find myself in the kind of relationship I'd only ever seen on tv or read about - in fact it was hugely embarrassing and makes me cringe to think about how i got led to believe that's basically what i deserved for not being able to work any more. My mililtary pensions aren't a lot, but I had a little pride in teh fact I know I earned them but she did her best to knock away at every little bit of pride or self confidence I had left.
Load More Replies...His "analogy" (which isn't) only makes sense if you focus on the word "choice". He's saying he could turn off the water, but he chooses not to. He's referring to it as an "analogy" to confuse her. Seems like he wants an unquestioning slave.
The mechanic part is truly bizarre. I wonder if he means she could be earning more if she worked in that field and somehow chooses not to? What a weird, toxic situation.
I think it’s purely and simply about using an absurd argument to justify an absurd behaviour to mess with her head and try to make it so that others won’t believe her.
Load More Replies...Just goes to show how bad gaslighting can get if you start to doubt yourself whether asking your husband to turn the f*****g taps and lights off when he's done with them is reasonable or not. I mean what the actual- In what universe is turning the tap NOT off normal? These are so many red flags I can't even count them. His behaviour is so outrageously weird that I'm seriously wondering about his mental health.
If he can turn them ON he can damn well turn them OFF
Load More Replies...To the OP: RUN. Just run. No stopping. I won't credit this to mental illness, b/c the face he's unemployed home all day? He's finding a way to do two things. 1. Have noise/perception of activity/busy-ness. 2. Show his negative emotions with what is passive-aggressive at best and active gaslighting at worst. I'd wonder about head injury/trauma/etc. but I've seen too many a-holes in my dad's family do stupid sh*t to their working wives, and this isn't even the stupidest. (One uncle amuse dhimself during an unemployment period by making more housework for her in ways I prefer to not describe, but we should've had him litter trained.)
Agree, but I don't think it's head injury as he behaved like an adult until he tricked her into marriage. Sounds like covert abuse or covert narcissism to me. Passive-aggression, gaslighting, financial abuse.
Load More Replies...This is so crazy, it feels like a made up story. Unfortunately people like that actually exist. Hope she has teh strength and presence of mind to dump his ass.
Someone on Tumblr pointed out that doing something so crazy that it sounds made up is part of the abuse - he’s counting on people not believing her.
Load More Replies...What f'n country is this happening in? It sounds like a Kafka short story that he abandoned as not being believable enough. If this guy is really like this, he's insane. Like, mentally ill. She needs to get out now.
Could be any country. As someone on Tumblr pointed out, the craziness of his method is likely to be intentional in the hopes that people won’t believe her.
Load More Replies...Reminds me a lot of one of my ex's who turned completely abusive when i had to give up a high paying job due to my disability getting worse. financial control and making me give her every penny of my pensions, making me clean up after her and her two kids and encouraging them to leave any mess for me to deal with, belittling me for being disabled etc etc. Never felt more free than the first night i managed to get out of there (she'd convinced me no one would rent me anywhere i could afford even though i'm actually far better off financially than with her). I went to bed on the floor here that night with a huge smile on my face knowing that i'd be able to afford a new bed the following month on my own. to the OP.. hope you get out/got out of it, I know how hard it can be when you reach your breaking point, but it's so worth it if you want to lilve rather than exist. I'm with a fantastic woman now who is totally the opposite and makes me so happy.
It was a bit of an eye-opener for me to find myself in the kind of relationship I'd only ever seen on tv or read about - in fact it was hugely embarrassing and makes me cringe to think about how i got led to believe that's basically what i deserved for not being able to work any more. My mililtary pensions aren't a lot, but I had a little pride in teh fact I know I earned them but she did her best to knock away at every little bit of pride or self confidence I had left.
Load More Replies...His "analogy" (which isn't) only makes sense if you focus on the word "choice". He's saying he could turn off the water, but he chooses not to. He's referring to it as an "analogy" to confuse her. Seems like he wants an unquestioning slave.
The mechanic part is truly bizarre. I wonder if he means she could be earning more if she worked in that field and somehow chooses not to? What a weird, toxic situation.
I think it’s purely and simply about using an absurd argument to justify an absurd behaviour to mess with her head and try to make it so that others won’t believe her.
Load More Replies...























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