My hubby is furious at my text to another man

We argued about this and I called him a ‘control freak’, which really annoyed him and in truth I regret saying it (he isn’t)

Dear Coleen

I’ve been arguing with my husband about a text I sent to a tradesman who refurbished some furniture for us. After he’d finished the job, he left some material which he said I could use for something else.

A few days later, I sent him a text thanking him and he responded with another text starting with ‘LOL’.

I didn’t mention this to my husband, but he noticed it on my phone. He thinks the use of LOL by a tradesman who doesn’t know me is rather forward and that I didn’t need to send and over-the-top text thanking him, as I’d already thanked him when I paid him.

We argued about this and I called him a ‘control freak’, which really annoyed him and in truth I regret saying it (he isn’t).

What’s your view?

Coleen says

First, make sure he knows what LOL means - it doesn’t mean ‘lots of love’, it means ‘laugh out loud’. He sounds a little insecure, so his reaction was over the top.

If you’d been exchanging regular texts with this tradesman, talking about stuff unrelated to the job, then he’d have a point. But he just replied to your text out of politeness and that was that. So I think your husband is being oversensitive and maybe you need to talk about why that is, instead of focusing on this text.

As for calling him a control freak, we all say things we don’t mean in the heat of the moment and instantly regret it. All you can do is explain you were angry and apologise.

And if it makes your hubby happy, then delete this workman’s number from your phone.

I’m sure you’ll find it again if you need a job doing.