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What would you do?

(58 Posts)
H1954 Thu 18-Mar-21 14:28:30

Five years ago OH and I were invited to joint his brother and wife in a short holiday break in the UK. When we arrived brother was alone as his wife wasn't well and stayed home. I'd never met him before btw.

One evening whilst we were out for the evening the brother was on the wrong side of alcohol and was behaving rather inappropriately towards me when my OH wasn't close by. At the time I let it go and ignored the lechy comments.

Brother has now left his wife, taken up with another, rather wealthy woman and moved very close to where we live. He phones and messages OH regularly and it looks highly likely, once lockdown is finally over, that he will expect for the four of us to get together and socialise.

I'm not at all comfortable with this, his lady friend seems very nice and appears to be funding their lifestyle, he's apparently drinking heavily and I know from past experience, just what he's like when he's 'in drink'.

I've never mentioned the brothers behaviour to my OH and I know, eventually, I will run out of excuses to not visit them or have them visit us.

Lemontart Sat 20-Mar-21 22:40:00

You should have told your OH about his brother in the first place. Tell him now!

MagicWand Sat 20-Mar-21 15:44:33

Chapeau
Coco51 Assault is no laughing matter

And laughter often makes the situation worse and may even make it dangerous. Insecure, misogynistic men do not take kindly to being laughed at by the women they are trying to gain dominance over.

Newatthis Sat 20-Mar-21 09:11:51

What did he say/do?

Sparkling Sat 20-Mar-21 08:00:28

I would wait until the time comes and you arrange a meeting. Then I would say to my husband, whatever you do don't leave me on my own with him as he came on to me last time, I put him in his place as I thought it was the drink talking. I must be very assertive as when it happened to me I very clearly told the man, drunk or not, if he said anything else out if turn he would have to run from the fall out, it seemed to work.

Chapeau Fri 19-Mar-21 23:10:57

Coco51 Assault is no laughing matter

coastalgran Fri 19-Mar-21 18:34:30

Why don't you summon up all your courage and tackle him head on when he is relatively sober. The lady friend may be aware/unaware but she will be left in no doubt how little he thinks of her, you and his brother by behaving in this way. People only behave in an inappropriate way if they can get away with it. In some cases it is an inadequate person's way of feeling powerful and important. So maybe it is time to point out that they are not important, powerful or frightening in any way. Good luck.

Forestflame Fri 19-Mar-21 17:20:31

My Mum had the same problem with her sisters husband. The worst time was not long after we had lost my Dad (who would have killed him if he had known). I wanted to tell my aunt but my Mum wouldn't let me. We made sure she was never on her own with him again. Please tell your OH what happened.

Coco51 Fri 19-Mar-21 17:14:47

I had the same with my SIL’s husband. There were regular family supper dances at the time so no chance of avoiding, and family were aware. I just laughed it off. SIL and I rolled our eyes at his behaviour. Even after he’d divorced SIL and remarried I went to meet the new wife and in the course of showing me their house he shoved me on a bed and launched himself on me - again best way of dealing I found was to treat it as a joke. (No cassanova likes to be laughed at)

MissAdventure Fri 19-Mar-21 15:58:13

I can understand the reasons why she didn't tell, and go as far as to say that for certain men, this in itself is one of their goals.
To make women so uncomfortable, or worried, that they keep quiet.

Saying that, I probably would give the brother a chance to redeem himself. Drink brings out the absolute worst in some people.

MagicWand Fri 19-Mar-21 15:08:38

Annifrance I absolutely agree with you!

Surely this is the perfect time to discuss this with your OH. Isn't it the perfect time for ALL of us to have this type of conversation with our menfolk? I've certainly had it with mine this week.

I can absolutely understand why H1954 didn't tell her OH at the time because we are conditioned not to. We automatically think we must have done something that sends the wrong signals or we make excuses for the man's inappropriate behaviour, in this case blaming it on his drinking. He may very well be worse when he's drunk alcohol, but the underlying lack of values must be there when he's sober too.

If the outpouring of women's stories this week have taught us one thing, it is that we should be talking about this to anyone who will listen! This sorry episode is an exact reflection of the problems we, our daughters and our granddaughters face every day and it's time it stopped!

Blinko Fri 19-Mar-21 14:30:40

Karalou51 you should start a new discussion on this....

CarlyD7 Fri 19-Mar-21 14:18:16

I'm not clear about why you didn't tell your OH at the time (I certainly would have done) but in your place I would sit him down and explain calmly that these are your fears - about being expected to meet up - and this is why. You'll have to explain why you didn't tell him at the time. You could also say that you're hoping this won't be repeated and are willing to give him ONE more chance but only one (if you are). If it happens again, then I agree with others to IMMEDIATELY tell him to back off in a loud voice. You have to remember that, from his perspective, he behaved inappropriately towards you and there were NO repercussions - not even from your OH. What message does that send to him ?

Nanananana1 Fri 19-Mar-21 13:44:34

Tell your OH so that when the s* hits the fan (if it does) again then he won't be alarmed at what is happening.
One more chance maybe? Then a very loud and public "get your hands off me" or "don't speak to me like that" and hopefully everyone around you will rally
Making bad behaviour public might be enough to stop it. If not tell your husband you tried but will not be socialising with his brother again
Be brave, be clear, be strong
Good luck

Riggie Fri 19-Mar-21 13:40:54

If by OH you mean spouse, live in or long term partner then why wouldn't you tell them? Or do you think they would react by saying it was your fault? I would expect them to support you.

Karalou51 Fri 19-Mar-21 13:36:44

I'm just looking for a few opinions on on-line shopping. Specifically with Iceland. I've online shopped with them for years with no problems. Then, a little while ago, came across something on Facebook where someone had been charged twice for their order. At the time, I thought it was a one off as I'd never had any problems with them at all, in years. However, once the seed was planted I realised that I'd never actually checked so a few weeks later, I thought about it again and that very week - I'd been charged twice. A call to head office and the money was reimbursed that day. But it happened again. This time it was a few days before I noticed but again, a phone call had the money sent back to my bank. This week, it happened again so I called the bank. It'd been 3 days and the money hadn't been put back in. The bank asked me to call Iceland and let them (the bank) know what happened. The girl I spoke to at Iceland was very apologetic and said she'd speak to her supervisor. I had a feeling then that a supervisor was already on hand. The girl asked me if I'd spoken to my bank and there was a very subtle change of tone when I said I had. By now, someone had had my money for 4 days and Iceland were blaming my bank saying it happened all the time but was nothing to do with them. I've been with the same bank for many years and nothing like this has happened, other than with Iceland, to the best of my knowledge. And only Iceland would benefit from having someone's money for an extra few days. Why would the bank have it?
So, am I being paranoid in thinking there's a bit of petty fraud going on here? If Iceland takes payments twice on a regular basis, from some of their customers, even for 24 hours, the interest they're gathering must mount up. Or am I over thinking things? I just wondered if anyone else has noticed this happening. By the way, if you go back over your bank statements nothing shows up. You wouldn't know a thing about it unless you happened to check your account on the day your delivery is made.... or if you checked your online banking and saw a 2nd, duplicate, 'pending' amount, for Iceland.... or maybe this is normal?

Theoddbird Fri 19-Mar-21 13:20:39

You can't keep making excuses. Tell your husband what his brother did....

chris8888 Fri 19-Mar-21 12:59:39

Tell OH he will never understand your reluctance to socialize otherwise.

Blinko Fri 19-Mar-21 12:54:23

NotSpaghetti

Can you tell your "other half" that you only want to meet up with his brother and new partner in the daytime for tea or outings as "he's lechy when he's drunk".

That seems straightforward and is also true.
If he's inappropriate when sober, that's another matter.

That's what I'd do too.

sodapop Fri 19-Mar-21 12:28:25

What a horrible thing to happen to your daughter Minerva must have been so frightening for her. I expect her friend found her fiance had feet of clay at some time during the marriage.

knspol Fri 19-Mar-21 12:27:57

I'd tell your OH you don't particularly want to meet up with his brother because of the lewd remarks he was making to you the last time you met. Tell your OH you'll give him one more chance as you knew he'd had too much to drink the last time you met but that if it happened again you'd wouldn't meet him anymore.

Nannymarg53 Fri 19-Mar-21 12:26:52

If he’s done it to you I bet he’s done it to someone else. Shop him ?

SecondhandRose Fri 19-Mar-21 12:24:58

Goodness me. Tell your husband!

Yammy Fri 19-Mar-21 12:24:02

Tell your husband what happened in the past. If he asks why you did not say at the time, say everyone was in their cups and you did not want to cause family rifts.
Though do tell your husband if it happens at the next meeting you will repeat what he just said loudly as others have suggested and you will not be mixing with him and any partner he has again.
If on the meeting he repeats himself tell him he is not getting away with it this time your husband knows about his previous behaviour and you are telling everyone what he has just said.

ElaineRI55 Fri 19-Mar-21 12:12:33

I think you must tell your OH. Only you know the degree of inappropriateness in his previous behaviour, so can decide how to word it.
Even if you just say that his brother made you feel a bit uncomfortable with some things he said when he had a good drink in him and that you're not sure how much you would want to socialise with them. Your OH may feel that you would both be best to avoid them or, if you do meet up, will at least know to try not to leave you alone with him . I wouldn't keep quiet and risk feeling obliged to socialise with them - if you end up in a situation where he tries to touch or kiss you, you also want your OH to be aware in advance of what his brother can be like.

A few years ago I innocently met up ( he gave a good reason for meeting) with a relative whom I was close to when we were younger. We met in a restaurant for coffee and while we were there he admitted he had told his wife he was elsewhere. I had known he was attracted to me and he had in the past said things he shouldn't . I had told my DH about my relative's feelings etc and was so glad I had told him I was meeting this relative. Letting my imagination run riot a wee bit, I realised if someone had seen us and mentioned it to my relative's wife, she might have been angry and even phoned my DH to see if there was anything going on - it might have looked odd if I hadn't told my DH I was meeting him for coffee.

sandelf Fri 19-Mar-21 12:03:44

Explain it all now to DH. (As others have said if he supports this behaviour you have another problem entirely). But I hope he will understand that you should NEVER be alone with him. And if anything inappropriate happens he should be pulled up on it straight off. This really means you cannot have a drink while he is about as you will relax - a big no no. I had this with husband of a neighbour who was a good friend until... I have never been able to explain to her why I have cooled off.