Question:
Is He Blowing the Situation Out of Proportion?
TwinkaTee
2012-08-20 11:12:43 UTC
I've been dating a guy for nearly 6 months, and as you can expect, we are still trying to learn each other's individual ways. Well, apparently, I crossed boundaries on Thursday, and as a result, my boyfriend is very upset with me. One of the areas we are having a challenge in is the sleeping arrangements. My boyfriend works nights and is off on Thurs - Sat. On the other hand, I work week days, so I only really get to see him on Friday evenings and all day Saturdays (when he is awake). As you can imagine, it is very frustrating for me to sit around all day Saturday waiting for him to wake up at 3pm or 4pm. I tried to be playful and go into his room and coax him to wake up, but he got very agitated and a bit snappy, so I learned very quickly not to do that. Well, this past Thursday evening, he came over to hang out, since he would be travelling home for the weekend. A few times during the night, he told me to scoot over, which I did. When I woke up the next morning, he was on the couch and was not happy. I tried to make light of the situation. A few minutes later, he grabbed his clothes, got dressed and left. He didn't call me on Friday and on the way to the airport, he was very quiet when I dropped him off. I tried to reach out to him over the weekend, but he gave me very short replies. On Sunday, he finally replied and said he was mad at me, that I didn't care whether or not he got sleep, and that I even joked about it when he was on the couch. I was COMPLETELY side swipped because I am not a mean spirited person, nor have I intentionally tried to make his sleeping uncomfortable.

I tend to get my feelings hurt easy and I don't like it when people are mad because of something I did wrong (which I am working on), so this situation has me very uncomfortable. I did my best to apologize and let him know that I respected his needs and would do whatever I needed to do to ensure he got his rest. But, his response was "actions speak louder than words"....
So, my questions are this:

Is his response really appropriate for what happened? Do some people really get this upset over not sleeping? Yes, I like sleep, but I would never react like this.

Is his behavior something that needs to send up a "red flag" - I just really feel uncomfortable right now and don't want to be in a situation where I am tip toeing around my house out of worry for waking someone up.

In addition to having to watch my noise level, how can I best work out a sleeping situation where he doesn't feel bothered by me being in the bed? The thought of having to sleep in separate beds really saddens me...

Should I try to reach out to him again? I feel like I have adequately apologized and let him know that the relationship and his feelings are important. However, I don't want to cross boundaries and seem desperate.

Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Three answers:
ashton
2012-08-20 11:22:00 UTC
My husband worked 3rd shift for a while and he was the same way. There are people who do not like to be woke up and there are people who HATE to be woke up.



This guy sounds like he loves his rest and needs it. My suggestion is to let him sleep. Trust me, we fought all the time because I felt lonely because he was up all night and I was up all day. Honestly, the only thing that helped us was he switched shifts...sorry



If this guy is someone who will be working 3rd shift the rest of his life then you should probably reevaluate whether or not feeling like this is worth it.



I definitely do think he over reacted a lil though. Don't worry It will work itself out. Let him get over it.
Natie
2012-08-20 18:38:55 UTC
Gosh guys like this really irritate me. Sounds like my ex-boyfriend. He's being a little girl. You didn't intentionally mean to hog the bed and force him to sleep on the couch. Right now, he's only concerned about his own well-being. It's ironic that he's trying to make you feel bad and tell you that you don't care about him. He should swallow his words 'actions speak louder than words'. He's acting like a selfish jerk - I think he knows it - so he's trying to project it onto you. You don't need to apologize. He's being childish. I would consider this a 'red-flag'. My ex-boyfriend acted similar in a different situation and things just got worse. You seem like a great, caring, fun girlfriend. You're fun-loving. You deserve someone who appreciates you and enjoys being around you. You don't deserve to be treated this way - to be made guilty and seem like the 'bad' girlfriend. Stand up for yourself. If he continues to act this way, dump him.

Best of luck!
Danielle Williams
2012-08-20 18:14:07 UTC
Yes


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