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Is my boyfriend rude or am I just really dumb/annoying?

Been together a few years now, and this has only really manifested itself since we began living together in 2013. (When we first got together he used to remark on how he found me smart, hardworking etc.)

I hold a degree from a high-ranking university, speak another language very well and am in the teaching industry, so I had thought that I was of at least reasonable intelligence, but it's since i've been with him that I have never felt so dumb.

He will tell me every day at least once that I am. I suppose I am quite clumsy sometimes, in the way of spilling things,and a little 'slow' in the way of having a bit of a bad memory, not quite getting jokes at first, not quite understanding stuff, etc. He will say stuff like, you're so dumb it's unreal/I've never met someone as stupid as you/You're 24 years old and you don't know how to do that/You're like a 6 year-old/You cannot do anything, it's crazy. Stuff like that.

He knows I don't like it, and when I've gotten upset over it in the past he just tells me to 'stop doing stupid things then' and that it's true, so now when it happens, I just say nothing.

He is also incredibly patronising and he is younger than me. He acts as if I do stuff wrong every day but I don't.If he is cooking a meal, he will insist I help him, which I always offer to do anyway.

However, the other day, I was cooking, and he just came in and started complaining why I was using this spoon and not the proper one, why I was cutting the onion like this etc. and then he told me my meal was disgusting and covered it in sauce, after i'd spent an hour making it.

He will speak when he wants during a programme, but sometimes if I speak he will shush me, because I said one thing. His sister came recently and was laughing loud and talking during shows but he never shushed her.

I am unhappy at the minute and miserable being with him. He's nice also, but he just makes me feel so dumb and useless. He also tells me to shut the **** up and stuff like that. We live together (I live in his country and all of my stuff is here) and it's so hard.

He's so stressed at work and he complains about his job to me every single day. It could be making him like that even more, but he does it anyway. Can I get him to change? I'm literally miserable every day. We also NEVER go ANYWHERE together as a couple, but he goes out drinking with his mates every fortnight or something.

How can this change? I don't want to break up as I want to make it work and since we live together. Can he change? Please help.Thanks in advance.

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What a dork. He still needs to grow as a person and acquire some empathy.

You should be with someone who lifts you up not brings you down :smile: You done goofed by putting yourself in this position. You're trapped with an abusive partner and you can't leave. This is why I'm so picky with people and have commitment issues lmao.
(edited 9 years ago)
He sounds absolutely awful, that is emotional abuse that you've described there. Get rid of him!
Original post by Anonymous
this has only really manifested itself since we began living together in 2013. (When we first got together he used to remark on how he found me smart, hardworking etc.)

since i've been with him that I have never felt so dumb.

He will tell me every day at least once that I am. I suppose I am quite clumsy sometimes, in the way of spilling things,and a little 'slow' in the way of having a bit of a bad memory, not quite getting jokes at first, not quite understanding stuff, etc. He will say stuff like, you're so dumb it's unreal/I've never met someone as stupid as you/You're 24 years old and you don't know how to do that/You're like a 6 year-old/You cannot do anything, it's crazy. Stuff like that.

He knows I don't like it, and when I've gotten upset over it in the past he just tells me to 'stop doing stupid things then' and that it's true, so now when it happens, I just say nothing.

He is also incredibly patronising and he is younger than me. He acts as if I do stuff wrong every day but I don't.If he is cooking a meal, he will insist I help him, which I always offer to do anyway.

However, the other day, I was cooking, and he just came in and started complaining why I was using this spoon and not the proper one, why I was cutting the onion like this etc. and then he told me my meal was disgusting and covered it in sauce, after i'd spent an hour making it.

He will speak when he wants during a programme, but sometimes if I speak he will shush me, because I said one thing. His sister came recently and was laughing loud and talking during shows but he never shushed her.

I am unhappy at the minute and miserable being with him. He's nice also, but he just makes me feel so dumb and useless. He also tells me to shut the **** up and stuff like that. We live together (I live in his country and all of my stuff is here) and it's so hard.

Can I get him to change? I'm literally miserable every day. We also NEVER go ANYWHERE together as a couple, but he goes out drinking with his mates every fortnight or something.

How can this change? I don't want to break up as I want to make it work and since we live together. Can he change? Please help.Thanks in advance.


Quoted some bits.

I know you 'want to make it work' but this is crazy. You just need to leave. Cracks can start to appear in a relationship when you move in together, but somehow I feel that this is borderline abuse.

You are not happy and you have to get out, whatever it takes. He is just stepping on you and I found that quite frustrating to read. Don't have like a final confrontation, just take your stuff while he's out and live with your parents or something, and cut him out completely.
Reply 4
Thanks for the replies. It's so hard because he is frequently really nice, and he tells me that he loves me and such. He seems to know he's said something wrong sometimes and tries to make it into a joke.But I moved to this country to be with him and my family are in the UK. All of my belongings are here and I have my job here. We have a 3-month notice period on our flat and we only moved in a couple of months ago..

I just wish so hard I could make it work. I left him a letter a couple of weeks ago explaining how he needed to sort it out, and he was really sorry. But I just want a permanent change.I really want to be with him and I am so cut up...
Original post by Anonymous
Been together a few years now, and this has only really manifested itself since we began living together in 2013. (When we first got together he used to remark on how he found me smart, hardworking etc.)

I hold a degree from a high-ranking university, speak another language very well and am in the teaching industry, so I had thought that I was of at least reasonable intelligence, but it's since i've been with him that I have never felt so dumb.

He will tell me every day at least once that I am. I suppose I am quite clumsy sometimes, in the way of spilling things,and a little 'slow' in the way of having a bit of a bad memory, not quite getting jokes at first, not quite understanding stuff, etc. He will say stuff like, you're so dumb it's unreal/I've never met someone as stupid as you/You're 24 years old and you don't know how to do that/You're like a 6 year-old/You cannot do anything, it's crazy. Stuff like that.

He knows I don't like it, and when I've gotten upset over it in the past he just tells me to 'stop doing stupid things then' and that it's true, so now when it happens, I just say nothing.

He is also incredibly patronising and he is younger than me. He acts as if I do stuff wrong every day but I don't.If he is cooking a meal, he will insist I help him, which I always offer to do anyway.

However, the other day, I was cooking, and he just came in and started complaining why I was using this spoon and not the proper one, why I was cutting the onion like this etc. and then he told me my meal was disgusting and covered it in sauce, after i'd spent an hour making it.

He will speak when he wants during a programme, but sometimes if I speak he will shush me, because I said one thing. His sister came recently and was laughing loud and talking during shows but he never shushed her.

I am unhappy at the minute and miserable being with him. He's nice also, but he just makes me feel so dumb and useless. He also tells me to shut the **** up and stuff like that. We live together (I live in his country and all of my stuff is here) and it's so hard.

He's so stressed at work and he complains about his job to me every single day. It could be making him like that even more, but he does it anyway. Can I get him to change? I'm literally miserable every day. We also NEVER go ANYWHERE together as a couple, but he goes out drinking with his mates every fortnight or something.

How can this change? I don't want to break up as I want to make it work and since we live together. Can he change? Please help.Thanks in advance.


Fast forward five years, he's broken you entirely and you're a slave to his will.

Get out now while you still have a sense of normality - it's lucky that you've caught this before it's gotten any worse. Dude sounds like a sociopath.
Reply 6
Echo what other people say - he's abusing you mentally and you need to get rid, even if it is hard.
Interesting. You're halfway there. You've moved into a different country and it's difficult for you to escape. Now he's destroying your self worth. You'l lack the confidence to leave and make your own way in life without him later.

http://www.wikihow.com/Spot-a-Sociopath


True sociopaths will slowly gain dominance and control over a person without the person realizing it. They like to be in control of every situation and are uncomfortable being around other strong people.

(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 8
I feel like I am stuck because of our living situation. If we weren't living together and I wasn't in his country, I think I probably would have left him by now. We went to the shops about a month ago because he needed stuff, but apart from that, I cannot remember doing anything else together this year, and not much better last year. I am constantly saying we should go here, try that etc. but nothing at all. As soon as his sister told him she wanted to go to this event, we took her, that was it. He knows I would like to go to a restaurant or something together and I constantly suggest ones we could try but we never, ever go. If he was broke I would completely understand, but he's quite rich really. However, he will take his sister to restaurants no problem. He won't do anything with me that he knows I want to do, even though I would always go with him to see a film or something he wanted to see. I am never invited on a night out (he has the right to go out with his mates alone of course, what I mean is that I have never even met them once because he's never introduced me to them) and there are other girls there. I just feel like a piece of dirt. I always buy him presents and stuff too and it just feels so one sided. :s
Original post by Anonymous
I feel like I am stuck because of our living situation. If we weren't living together and I wasn't in his country, I think I probably would have left him by now. We went to the shops about a month ago because he needed stuff, but apart from that, I cannot remember doing anything else together this year, and not much better last year. I am constantly saying we should go here, try that etc. but nothing at all. As soon as his sister told him she wanted to go to this event, we took her, that was it. He knows I would like to go to a restaurant or something together and I constantly suggest ones we could try but we never, ever go. If he was broke I would completely understand, but he's quite rich really. However, he will take his sister to restaurants no problem. He won't do anything with me that he knows I want to do, even though I would always go with him to see a film or something he wanted to see. I am never invited on a night out (he has the right to go out with his mates alone of course, what I mean is that I have never even met them once because he's never introduced me to them) and there are other girls there. I just feel like a piece of dirt. I always buy him presents and stuff too and it just feels so one sided. :s


Did you check out the link? Was slightly joking but he does actually sound like a sociopath now




See if the person likes to isolate you. Sociopaths like to meet people and to move fast and come in close. This is so you don't have a chance to pull back or change your mind. You may find that, after just a few weeks, the sociopath is acting very intensely around you, if you're romantically involved. He or she may even make you feel like you're soul mates because he or she is so good at reading people that he or she can say exactly what you want to hear. Ultimately, the sociopath will want to have you all to him or herself instead of "sharing" you with the world.[6]

If you're dating, the sociopath will quickly try to get you to stop hanging out with your friends, because he or she will feel threatened by them. He or she will make excuses for not hanging out with your friends, saying things like, "They don't really get you like I do" or "They never gave me a chance," trying to make you feel like everyone is against you and that you should spend all of your time with him or her.

I feel sick really :frown: I've written a note explaining how I feel and what I would like him to do. He'll probably blow up in a fit of rage when he reads it and deny everything, but what can I do. I'll have to tell him that I'll find another place to live. However it's difficult in this city, and my job has a 2-month notice period so I cannot just leave the country right away :s i'm scared of what is going to happen...
Communication. Tell him to stop patronising you and speaking to you like that. Let him know you don't appreciate it.

Aside from that he sounds like a prat and I'm sure you could do better.

edit: After reading your follow up statements he sounds even worse. I know it is difficult but if you are miserable with him then there is no point continuing a dead relationship.
(edited 9 years ago)
What country are you in? Could it be cultural? (By that I don't necessarily mean a totally different culture - even in the south of France they have strange views on married / partnered life).

Either way, get out. This won't get better. He knows you don't like it and he's carried on - he belittles you and he has no respect for you, and you are completely under his control. I almost never advise people to leave their partners over the internet, because I don't want to destroy lives over one paragraph, but in this case I sincerely doubt he will ever get better. Meanwhile, your life is slipping away.
Original post by Anonymous
I feel sick really :frown: I've written a note explaining how I feel and what I would like him to do. He'll probably blow up in a fit of rage when he reads it and deny everything, but what can I do. I'll have to tell him that I'll find another place to live. However it's difficult in this city, and my job has a 2-month notice period so I cannot just leave the country right away :s i'm scared of what is going to happen...


I know it's scary, but the very fact you are worried about him blowing up in a fit of rage means you have done the right thing. Take care of yourself. I hope it goes well :frown:
Original post by Anonymous
Been together a few years now, and this has only really manifested itself since we began living together in 2013. (When we first got together he used to remark on how he found me smart, hardworking etc.)

I hold a degree from a high-ranking university, speak another language very well and am in the teaching industry, so I had thought that I was of at least reasonable intelligence, but it's since i've been with him that I have never felt so dumb.

He will tell me every day at least once that I am. I suppose I am quite clumsy sometimes, in the way of spilling things,and a little 'slow' in the way of having a bit of a bad memory, not quite getting jokes at first, not quite understanding stuff, etc. He will say stuff like, you're so dumb it's unreal/I've never met someone as stupid as you/You're 24 years old and you don't know how to do that/You're like a 6 year-old/You cannot do anything, it's crazy. Stuff like that.

He knows I don't like it, and when I've gotten upset over it in the past he just tells me to 'stop doing stupid things then' and that it's true, so now when it happens, I just say nothing.

He is also incredibly patronising and he is younger than me. He acts as if I do stuff wrong every day but I don't.If he is cooking a meal, he will insist I help him, which I always offer to do anyway.

However, the other day, I was cooking, and he just came in and started complaining why I was using this spoon and not the proper one, why I was cutting the onion like this etc. and then he told me my meal was disgusting and covered it in sauce, after i'd spent an hour making it.

He will speak when he wants during a programme, but sometimes if I speak he will shush me, because I said one thing. His sister came recently and was laughing loud and talking during shows but he never shushed her.

I am unhappy at the minute and miserable being with him. He's nice also, but he just makes me feel so dumb and useless. He also tells me to shut the **** up and stuff like that. We live together (I live in his country and all of my stuff is here) and it's so hard.

He's so stressed at work and he complains about his job to me every single day. It could be making him like that even more, but he does it anyway. Can I get him to change? I'm literally miserable every day. We also NEVER go ANYWHERE together as a couple, but he goes out drinking with his mates every fortnight or something.

How can this change? I don't want to break up as I want to make it work and since we live together. Can he change? Please help.Thanks in advance.


Emotional abuse. Kick him out. Kick him out now. You don't need this ****.
I cannot kick him out because the flat is in his name through his job :frown:
Ok, now the tough talk. If you dont change the situation, then things will very likely only get worse. Everyone deserves respect and you are in a relationshipo which does not recognise you as an equal and it is likely that your boyfriend has lost respect for you. You absolutely owe it to yourself to leave and find your self-respect again.

Unfortunately, there are lots of reasons why the abused does not leave a relationship like yours. I have a feeling that mainly it is because they convince themselves they love the other person.

It is a pattern that abusers beg forgiveness and promise change but this never happens. Abusers are very manipulative and will weedle and promise all kinds of things to get you to go back but they very rarely change.

I hope you find the strength to leave and restore your own dignity and self-respect. Do NOT give in to his pleading that he loves you and he will change. IF you believe he is the one leopard who will change his spots for you, then I am sorry... he wont. Once you eventually find this self-respect the same abusive relationship situation is unlikely to happen again. If you are unable to find it, then the chances are that you will attract another partner just like him.

Good luck.
Original post by Anonymous
I cannot kick him out because the flat is in his name through his job :frown:


Do what you said you were going to do, and do it quickly. Find another place and leave. Don't tell him what you're going to do if you think it would be dangerous to do so. Seriously - read through what you've told us and imagine someone else was telling you the same thing. What would you say?
This guy honestly sounds dangerous and you need to leave.
He's emotionally abusive, and the crumbs of niceness are what keeps you there. They're still just crumbs.

Plan. How much does it cost to rent a room in the city? You have a job. Should you make arrangements to leave before you tell him? Make sure your mobile phone is fully charged and to hand, and have your passport and any other important possessions located.
Original post by Anonymous
Thanks for the replies. It's so hard because he is frequently really nice, and he tells me that he loves me and such. He seems to know he's said something wrong sometimes and tries to make it into a joke.But I moved to this country to be with him and my family are in the UK. All of my belongings are here and I have my job here. We have a 3-month notice period on our flat and we only moved in a couple of months ago..

I just wish so hard I could make it work. I left him a letter a couple of weeks ago explaining how he needed to sort it out, and he was really sorry. But I just want a permanent change.I really want to be with him and I am so cut up...


I would suggest getting a loan from your parents, handing in a notice to the flat people and staying at a hotel near your workplace, and when that's done just leave the country.

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