Jump to content

What consequences can you give to a spouse who always drop the ball?


wtm78

Recommended Posts

Do you have any people you work with who always drop the ball? Even after you explained the details of the project and how he/she is supposed to be involve. Set a timeline. But they never come back to you, they never do the work and they just conveniently forgets about it.

 

Then imagine your spouse is like that. You tell him/her the same thing/task everyday. They don't do it. You split the work load and you did your part but he/she don't follow up, don't follow through on hers.

 

How can you set boundaries for a spouse like that. What consequences can you give?

Link to comment

You don't give consequences to a spouse -- they are for children. Look, you still don't like your wife, you still think she is lazy and careless and doesn't live her life exactly as you think she should. You still sound very inflexible and controlling. Nothing is changing. Did you ever see a therapist? How is about a divorce attorney? You are clearly not working as a couple, why stay?

Link to comment

Wow, you are not her boss or her father. What are you thinking? The consequences of You thinking and acting like this however could range from sleeping on the couch to divorce papers. Get a grip on your controlling micromanaging behavior. Most likely she specifically doesn't do it to show you how ridiculous your orders and demands are.

Then imagine your spouse is like that. You tell him/her the same thing/task everyday. They don't do it.

How can you set boundaries for a spouse like that. What consequences can you give?

Link to comment
Do you have any people you work with who always drop the ball? Even after you explained the details of the project and how he/she is supposed to be involve. Set a timeline. But they never come back to you, they never do the work and they just conveniently forgets about it.

 

Then imagine your spouse is like that. You tell him/her the same thing/task everyday. They don't do it. You split the work load and you did your part but he/she don't follow up, don't follow through on hers.

 

How can you set boundaries for a spouse like that. What consequences can you give?

 

This is very controlling behavior and NOT how you should treat your wife at all.

Link to comment

In a workplace that would be considered bullying. But the bullied person can report to HR.

 

In a marriage it is also considered bullying but the bullied person has no HR for defence.

 

Sounds to me like you have no idea of proper communication in either the workplace or your marriage.

 

There are people in the workplace who are bosses and there are people who are managers. In the same role.

 

You are incapable of managing your marriage because you are behaving like a boss.

Why are you treating your partner as if you are above in the hierarchy and in a position to place consequences?

 

Your partner should look for a new job that believes in equality (or partner)

You can bring it up with the divorce courts as unfair dismissal but I don’t fancy your chances.

Link to comment

What we do is talk about what needs to be done -or e-mail/text as appropriate. It's really frustrating if he doesn't follow through I agree. So for me the consequences have been - having to scramble for child care last minute (once), missing flights (if that counts -meaning I explained the time line/what we needed to get done in order to leave on time, what I would do to make that happen, what he needed to do on his end to make that happen), almost losing close to $100 because he didn't return an online item, etc etc.

 

For me the consequences are the natural ones -he sees that I am upset/frustrated, perhaps money/time is lost, perhaps our child is upset. I also just accept that if I want something done in my particular way -I do it myself. The end. If I'm ok with him doing it in his way (I am type A, married to type B) then I accept that I don't get to micromanage. It's a balance right? But you really have to accept that and my husband tells me sometimes "I would do ____ but I know you like it done in a particular way". Most of the time he is right. It does wonders for your marriage and trust and love to keep your mouth shut tight in situations like these. And also while staying silent and calm -be open to learning a different way to do things -even small things -and how different time lines can be stress reducing,etc.

Link to comment

Work and a marriage is comparing apples to oranges. If an employee doesn't fulfill their obligation to a project, they get fired. That's not bullying, they are paid to do their job...so if they don't, what are they getting paid for?

A marriage is about give and take. Now if they are not the type to manage their time, you are going to have to work around it, and give them other responsibilities they will handle. It's give and take, but it's also compromise with good communication.

Link to comment

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's some ESL probably going on here. I don't think the OP meant consequences in the correct context or meaning as his situation. It's a little leftfield for most and there are grammatical errors in the post and header.

 

I'd just encourage both of you to speak to each other, WTM. It sounds like you're not laughing enough in your relationship and there's not enough lightheartedness either and mutual appreciation. People tend to tune out when they're not appreciated.. express more love in the relationship and less emphasis on following orders. Those things should come naturally when you work together as a team.

Link to comment
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's some ESL probably going on here. I don't think the OP meant consequences in the correct context or meaning as his situation. It's a little leftfield for most and there are grammatical errors in the post and header.

 

I'd just encourage both of you to speak to each other, WTM. It sounds like you're not laughing enough in your relationship and there's not enough lightheartedness either and mutual appreciation. People tend to tune out when they're not appreciated.. express more love in the relationship and less emphasis on following orders. Those things should come naturally when you work together as a team.

 

Read his posting history. He is contemptuous of his wife and has been all along.

Link to comment

Thanks, Bolt... gives me some insight. I'm not sure about contemptuous as opposed to utterly depressed. WTM, you seem so down in all your threads. This one hit me especially: https://www.enotalone.com/forum/showthread.php?t=429348&p=5435244#post5435244 I'm not going to forum-diagnose you but I'd definitely suggest you see someone about how you feel and how to better regulate these feelings of isolation and sadness.

 

Since you are married now, I'd still emphasize mutual respect and learning to appreciate each other more. Have you tried speaking to a counsellor one on one to deal with your frustrations or how to manage these feelings?

Link to comment

Operate as though you are single, then you won't feel any 'need' to 'assign' anything to your spouse. Assigning is for parents, not spouses. If you want a clean home, then clean it and throw her stuff into a bin in her closet. If you want something done, then do it and enjoy the results. If you have a good relationship with your spouse, then keep it and keep your assignments to yourself. If you have a bad relationship with your spouse, either see if spouse will invest in marriage counseling with you, or find a good lawyer and walk away.

Link to comment
Operate as though you are single, then you won't feel any 'need' to 'assign' anything to your spouse. Assigning is for parents, not spouses. If you want a clean home, then clean it and throw her stuff into a bin in her closet. If you want something done, then do it and enjoy the results. If you have a good relationship with your spouse, then keep it and keep your assignments to yourself. If you have a bad relationship with your spouse, either see if spouse will invest in marriage counseling with you, or find a good lawyer and walk away.

 

I am not sure if it's semantics but I think it's important for spouses to discuss what needs to be done around the house regularly and divvy it up in a way that makes sense - for some that will be "equal" for others each spouse will choose the tasks she/he is best at/can tolerate the most, in others like my house when I was home full time I did 90% plus of the housework/cooking that I did although he is far more handy than I am. Now that I am working part time he does more and we have a routine. I don't think it needs to be extensively discussed but certainly I would think the spouses have to talk about what routines should be in place -or who they should hire - to keep the house from being chaos. For example I can't clean my husband's clutter because he wouldn't like that (i..e throw away important stuff) or move it, etc so yes I do ask him to clean up after himself. I'm not assigning. It's my living space too. The alternative -not to ask but rather to toss it in a closet and risk him being upset if he then can't find his stuff or it gets unorganized (yes clutter can have a pattern lol) doesn't seem right or fair to anyone.

Link to comment
I am not sure if it's semantics but I think it's important for spouses to discuss what needs to be done around the house regularly and divvy it up in a way that makes sense - for some that will be "equal" for others each spouse will choose the tasks she/he is best at/can tolerate the most, in others like my house when I was home full time I did 90% plus of the housework/cooking that I did although he is far more handy than I am. Now that I am working part time he does more and we have a routine. I don't think it needs to be extensively discussed but certainly I would think the spouses have to talk about what routines should be in place -or who they should hire - to keep the house from being chaos. For example I can't clean my husband's clutter because he wouldn't like that (i..e throw away important stuff) or move it, etc so yes I do ask him to clean up after himself. I'm not assigning. It's my living space too. The alternative -not to ask but rather to toss it in a closet and risk him being upset if he then can't find his stuff or it gets unorganized (yes clutter can have a pattern lol) doesn't seem right or fair to anyone.

 

Sure, I'm all for divy-ing when it works. When it doesn't, I'm just open to making it easier to stay with the partner or roommate by considering that if I lived alone, it would all be on me to clean it by myself, anyway--or to hire help. So I'd let the person know that while I don't expect them to care about a clean home to the degree that I might, I do intend to regularly clean every area in which I spend time. So they have the option to keep their belongings stored in places of their own choosing, OR, I will move any clutter out of the way to a box in their closet when I need to dust and run the vacuum unimpeded.

Link to comment
Sure, I'm all for divy-ing when it works. When it doesn't, I'm just open to making it easier to stay with the partner or roommate by considering that if I lived alone, it would all be on me to clean it by myself, anyway--or to hire help. So I'd let the person know that while I don't expect them to care about a clean home to the degree that I might, I do intend to regularly clean every area in which I spend time. So they have the option to keep their belongings stored in places of their own choosing, OR, I will move any clutter out of the way to a box in their closet when I need to dust and run the vacuum unimpeded.

 

To me there is no "if I lived alone" when two people commit to each other and/or take marriage vows. And moving clutter is not always an option -it is not for me because if I did and his paperwork stuck in there got lost/unorganized that would be bad (and we don't have the right kind of closet space because of his clutter). He does move it when the cleaners come so that works.

 

My point is that to me it's not much of a romantic relationship if the couple doesn't work out a way to try to make each other happy and compromise on what works as far as organization/level of cleanliness. It's not just roommates. To me if a roommate isn't living up to what expectations were addressed in advance (or something new crops up and a decision is reached) then they can move out. Certainly in a marriage it can't be done in an assigning/delegating way but if the person is in the role of "employee" because he or she won't compromise and doesn't care about the other person's needs there's a bigger problem. And it's the same problem if the "boss" is "my way or the highway".

Link to comment

My point is that to me it's not much of a romantic relationship if the couple doesn't work out a way to try to make each other happy and compromise on what works as far as organization/level of cleanliness. It's not just roommates. To me if a roommate isn't living up to what expectations were addressed in advance (or something new crops up and a decision is reached) then they can move out.

 

Yes, this is where context is everything. In an otherwise lousy relationship, it's beside the point. The relationship already sucks, so if one wants to use a lack of household cooperation as an excuse to get out of it, so be it. If a relationship is otherwise happy and thriving, we each get to decide whether poor household performance 'must' wreck that, or not. To some it represents love or respect or any other characteristics they want to project onto it, while to others, it's a non-issue.

 

There are no rules, judges or juries other than the ones we each elect to carry into the situation. One can choose misery because they can't get another to conform to their expectations of performance. For me, it would be irrelevant, simply because I would make it so--and presto! I get to put in the elbow grease or the hiring, AND I get to enjoy the relationship for all else that matters to me.

 

If duties are a dealbreaker for someone, then there they are. But this doesn't mean that no other choices are possible--it's their own bar.

Link to comment
Yes, this is where context is everything. In an otherwise lousy relationship, it's beside the point. The relationship already sucks, so if one wants to use a lack of household cooperation as an excuse to get out of it, so be it. If a relationship is otherwise happy and thriving, we each get to decide whether poor household performance 'must' wreck that, or not. To some it represents love or respect or any other characteristics they want to project onto it, while to others, it's a non-issue.

 

There are no rules, judges or juries other than the ones we each elect to carry into the situation. One can choose misery because they can't get another to conform to their expectations of performance. For me, it would be irrelevant, simply because I would make it so--and presto! I get to put in the elbow grease or the hiring, AND I get to enjoy the relationship for all else that matters to me.

 

If duties are a dealbreaker for someone, then there they are. But this doesn't mean that no other choices are possible--it's their own bar.

 

So it's not always "projecting" -for example, I feel for those wives whose husbands throw their laundry on the floor when baskets are readily available, or expect to be waited on hand and foot IF the wife communicates that this is not ok (for example I have no issue whether my husband puts his dirty laundry in the basket/machine or in our designated "dirty clothes" spot or even leaves something around once in awhile -I just go through the house retrieving whatever is up for laundry day). So if the wife tells the husband to just put it a few inches away in a basket or a few feet and he just couldn't give a crap, then it's not projecting -he IS acting in a disrespectful way to her barring another reasonable excuse (meaning he apologizes to her that he was forgetful, or that tossing it was easier because he had a backache that day, sorry). I wouldn't put it all on the spouse with "expectations" nor would I think that spouse is necessarily "projecting."

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...