A woman has revealed how upset she was after her husband’s colleague introduced herself as “his work wife”.
On British parenting platform Mumsnet, the irritated wife revealed that the woman patted her husband’s belly at a summer work event and made a comment about how she would “make his lunches from now on” because his wife “makes them too big.”
The woman revealed that she snapped at her husband’s co-worker and said ‘who the hell are you?’ before the woman quickly exited the awkward conversation.
However, now her partner is upset with how she reacted and calls her ‘rude’ for overreacting to an innocent comment.
Asking for advice, she questioned whether it was unreasonable for her to have reacted that way, saying she can’t decide if she is furious with her husband or devastated that he is upset with her.
A woman revealed on Mumsnet that her husband’s co-worker referred to herself as his “work wife” at a party, which made her “furious” (file image)
The post read: ‘Yesterday afternoon we went to a summer work event organized by DH work. It was some sort of fancy garden party and I had been looking forward to it for years, bought a new dress etc.
‘About 10 minutes later a woman approached us (well, actually closer to him, since I was two steps away having a drink at that precise moment) and greeted us. When I turned around, she gushed “nice to meet you” and then said directly “but I have a matter to discuss with you; you need to stop packing John with so many things to eat as everything is moving forward.” here!”.
He patted her belly!!! Then she went on to say something about maybe I should bring her lunch from now on, followed by a laugh so horrible it made me want to punch her in the face.
‘I think I said, “What the hell?” or “who the hell are you?”, I can’t remember which one. Either way her face fell and she started trying to calm me down.
She continued: “He said he clearly made a mistake, it’s just that she’s his work wife and she was relaxed because she feels like she already knows me because John talks about me so much.” The entire interaction lasted maybe 20 seconds. She suddenly “saw a friend she wanted to catch” and left very quickly.
The poster went on to say that her husband was “furious” with her for “being rude” to his co-worker and they spent the rest of the night without speaking.
He added: “Today he said very coldly that my behavior makes him question things, which I assume means questioning our marriage.” I can’t decide if I’m angry at him or devastated that he’s upset with me, or both.
‘I still have no idea who this woman is who feels comfortable enough to pat my husband’s belly. Am I so unreasonable to have reacted the way I did?’
On the parenting platform, the irritated wife revealed that the woman patted her husband’s belly at a summer work event and made comments about how she would pack his lunches from now on because his wife makes them too much. big.
People were quick to comment on the comments with their own thoughts, with some saying the colleague was “overly familiar, inappropriate and rude”.
One person said: ‘SHE was overly familiar, inappropriate and rude. I would have been furious and reacted the exact same way OP.
‘This whole “work wife” thing is a load of absolute bullshit and your husband shouldn’t be encouraging it.
‘It could just be his flattered ego, but I’m sorry to say, are you sure you two aren’t having an affair?’
Another said: ‘I probably would have reacted like you! In my opinion, she crossed the line. Surely he wouldn’t break up the marriage over this, unless there was something else going on. I really don’t like the term “work wife.”
Someone else agreed saying: ‘Whaaaat, 1 Work wife: no thanks, 2 She sounds annoying, 3 It was completely normal to be a little taken aback by this oddity, 4 He should have told you about her if he’s going to be like that.
‘YOU should be mad at HIM for having a fucking ‘work wife’ ewww. I wouldn’t automatically procrastinate over this, but it needs to be talked about over and over again until the pain of what happened and his response goes away, and I guess the pain of you being rude in his mind (even though I’m firmly on your side) has also subsided. gone.’
People were quick to comment on the comments with their own thoughts, with some saying the colleague was “overly familiar, inappropriate and rude”.
Meanwhile, others thought the wife was “rude” and completely overreacted to the situation.
A fourth said: “I would ask him why he is more worried about her feelings than his own.” His behavior was clearly very strange and excessive, and I think his slightly rude response was perfectly justified.
“I think he has a guilty conscience in your place (unless there’s a massive trickle down, like she’s actually very senior and this could cause problems for her professionally).”
Meanwhile, others thought the wife was “rude” and completely overreacted to the situation.
One person said: ‘I agree with your husband. He sounds like any crazy employee my own husband works with.
“Who the hell are you?!” It would absolutely mortify my husband and he would make sure that he never mixed me up with his colleagues again.
‘My job at your work events is to be socially friendly and ingratiate myself with everyone. If her husband is older, much more so.
Another said: ‘I think the problem here is that a lot of people commenting here haven’t been in that office environment before. This was an innocent exchange and I’m not surprised DH is upset.’
Someone else wrote: ‘Well yeah, you were obviously rude and overreacting. “I’m really not sure what else there is to say.”