Do you talk to your spouse...

...about your workday?

I typically do not. I try to forget about as much of that circus as I can. Sometimes I will relate something funny, outrageous, or infuriating. But for the most part when my wife asks how my day was I just tell her, "It was a day."

My wife is a special education para at a local school. She will talk for 2 hours about what happened during her day, who said what... Who did what... On and on.

It's fine that she does it. No harm, and I don't wish she would stop. But I feel no need to relive a play by play of my workday... I made money and that's all I care about.

Just weird to me.

Mike

I talk to her all the time about work while working.Then again I'm working in the woods at Baxter State Park

Nothing wrong with that!

She does the talking. I just pretend to listen and smile once in a while

I do, she's my best friend..but it ain't no two our conversation..

Lol I can relate. It's a woman thing. My wife homeschools the kids and takes care of the farm so I listen. She gist mad when I ask for the abbreviated version. I don't like filtering through 15 mins of fluff to get 3 min of viable
info.. Now my Mom tells me all about every one of her friends their husband's or boyfriends and kids. I try to humor her for a while but sometimes I ask her if she realizes I have no idea who those people are and would not be interested even if I did.

Yep, same.




Also same. I say 2 hours. But it isn't a solid 2 hours. It comes in spurts. I sit thru a story, and when I think she is finished I proceed with what I was doing... Until she interrupts me again in a few minutes with another story. It's a process.

Mike

What is this "spouse" that you speak of?

I find it hard to listen for the important stuff. I really don't care that the neighbor girl got a new dress for the school valentine party. Then she will tell me the bathtubs plugged up and without missing a beat tell me how her cat chased off a dog. I will hear about the new dress and the cat for 20 minutes but the plugged up bathtub drain is only seconds. She will wait to tell me at the most inopportune time she can and get a little miffed when all that makes me grouchy.

Still not as bad as when she moves my stuff. Tells me it didnt go there. She doesn't remember where she moved it to only that where I put it isnt where it goes.

And in all honesty I couldnt do without her

Expensive pet

I prefer to listen to her day, much more entertaining.

Just awesome!!! where is the like button @?

I listen to my wife. She's an ER nurse. So I'm her release valve.

When I would talk to her about my day I'd relay funny stories about what happened. That way she could laugh and forget about her problems for a little while.

I hear constantly about her coworker *Hailey* who I met once... For a minute 30... When I dropped off lunch for my wife when I had a day off.

But apparently, *Hailey* and I are old friends now... Practically family.

*Hailey's name was changed to protect the innocent.

Mike

Yep! I had one once, no need to try that again.

I couldn't do my wife's job without resorting to choke holds... These kids nowadays. Sheesh.

Mike

That's my exact situation. I almost never say anything about work. She ask and I say it was fine or long. She goes on and on and why she can't skip the play by play and just get to the point is beyond me.

Nope we don't talk shop much but she works from home on insurance data so it's against regulations to share the info and it's boring to her as well. I do hear about how the home business she is starting is going, but that's interesting because it should make us money, and of course we talk about the local government and school board as both are completely out of control. The school board has made some national news lately and we are both highly invested in our local community. And you can bet I'll hear how the dogs acted, how her friends are and general lady topics. I probably don't communicate as much as I should but yeah I talk about my day a bit usually at supper time, when the three of us sit down and just let the conversation go where it will.

I am particularly fond of asking her a question. Could be answered yes or no. The answer takes five minutes and I still dont know her answer.

Not her fault, women are much more detail orientated than men are.

We want the highlights, they usually need to go in depth.

Not all women though, just the majority.

Exactly

Do I have to? Lol

Seriously though, yes we talk throughout the day.

Glad to know I'm not alone. It's not that I don't want to talk to her, I just don't care to relive my day.

Mike

BTW, she's never set a trap but she's picked up enough to read basic sign and point out good set locations. She also tags along on her off days like today.

That's also part of it. I've been to her job a few times. And I attended school. I know what happens there. She knows I'm an electrician and she helped me put up conduit and pull wire when I remo'd my shop... But she really doesn't know much about what I do. Most people don't actually... They think we show up to their house in clean clothes and charge them $100 to change a light switch.

She has finally caught on to the fact that when my coworkers and I say horrible things to each other it's because we actually like each other and it's part of the fun.

Mike

Wait you show up in dirty clothes and charge more than 100 to change a light switch?

I'm usually only half listening to most of my wife's stories, but I'm sure glad she is here telling them.

My own time yes my job day no, that’s between me and the people I deal with it’s not for entertainment.

I rarely get the gravy calls for light switches. I usually get the heavy industrial stuff. Good times.

Mike

Well it's probably good that you're not both the same personality.

Telephone, telegraph or tell my wife it will be known!

It is very hard for a woman to answer a question with one word!! I get my wife's day each evening and it's rarely good!

that'd be adult entertainment to you....

We talk. I think? . No seriously. We talk about our day. In all honesty. I work with approximately 100 female coworkers. Each day. Do I need to say more? . I can’t wait to show this picture. It is great and so TRUE

Yes she acts interested but I know she gets tired of trapper talk , so I start talking about the beautiful wild horses I saw a the cute foals , then she seems all happy till I talk about what great draw stations they make.

What's a general lady topic? Hahaha

I hear a lot more about her work than she hears about mine.

when I start talking about my work eyes glaze over and well thats when I am talking to people who want to know

Probably true.

Mike

Ol dad

Not exactly, if it's a hunting or fishing or trapping story, guys tell it like the bottom picture. If it's my wife it is more like a ball of yarn a kitten has been playing with for an hour.

My wife was a stay at home mom for 32 of the 38 years when I worked. I did not talk hardly at all about he said, she said or stuff like that. We did talk quite a bit about working with my students and scheduling. 2/3rds of my job was scheduling time to meet one on one with over 90 farmer a year 5 to 6 times per year each. So lots of phone messages, schedule changes etc. and yes I talked a lot about how much i enjoyed my work even though it was taxing in many ways. Worked several weekends during the winters helping put together financial materials etc. My wife's one job for 5 years was a bear for her. I and the kids kept telling her to quit and look elsewhere. She did not and when the company merged her and a dozen others were let go and she never went back out looking. I wish I could have been more help for her as getting that type of treatment and not being willing to leave hurt her a lot .

Bryce

my wife and I talk about everything , work ,kids problems, the world, if you can't talk to your spouse about thing who do you

I talk some about work but not a lot. Usually just the funny or interesting things that happen. I spend all day there, I don't want to spend my time off talking about it all night too lol.

Well Pete does wear the pink in the family!!! j/s

Same here I’ve learned grandpa was right “be seen not heard”

Men and women who are in roles where there's psychological demand tend to want to "debrief" with a compassionate "other" person.
Mike, if your wife has a role/job where she can't recharge along the way.... by the time she limps across the home threshold, she's prolly just glad to survive one more day and she will find a compassionate human to hear her trials, one way or another.

In you case, consider it a blessing, the Mrs. chose you sir.

Some choose the bar,
Some choose another "better listener." Women don't typically commit adultery for the playfulness as much as the listening skills of the new partner at that particular moment.
Some get crabby when their partner doesn't seem to care because women communicate eye to eye and man are mostly shoulder to shoulder communicators. To women, men seem like they don't care because two guys can hang out and never look at one another and have a great time, but to a woman this seems as if the two hate each other.

Mike, you are blessed. Give her a hug and ask her to tell you about her day.
She'll keep your trapper butt around forever!

Blessings,
Mark

Ever since we became empty-nesters my wife and I have "coffee time" about 4:30 after we both get home from work. We sit down, have a cup of coffee and discuss the days events. She is a nurse at a loony-bin and I remodel for lots of customers that should probably be in the loony-bin. So there is no shortage of topics.

We talk for ten to twenty minutes. Once we have our second wind we go our separate ways to do the various evening chores.

You are one smart man Lugnut and the two of you are no doubt better for the time you spend caring for one another.

We typically only discuss work if either of us have a bad day. We both learned years ago we are much happier leaving work at work.

Yup, I am on a first name basis with a bunch of her co-workers I have never met, talked to or ever will. I know their kids and grandkids name and every illness, pets names etc. all this so I can come home and rant for 2 minutes a day about some sub-contractor or customer who is determined to set the new record for incompetents .

Most of the stuff I keep to myself. She knows my job is very stressful, and it has skewed my perspective on humanity. Every now and then, usually when her family comes around, they start asking for "stories" and "what's it like" scenarios. I'll tell them a few of the funny ones. But when they get to pushing for "more" I'll give them 1 or 2 of my gory stories and that usually puts an end to the conversation. Sheltered people, or folks outside of LE/Fire/EMS/Military just don't get it.

I call my wife every day as soon as I get out of work and ask if she needs me to pick anything up on the way home. She knows now if I don't call, don't ask! I use my 40min drive to decompress on bad days.

I work alone so nobody to talk about. My wife is kind of soft hearted and doesn’t really want to know what/how/how many, critters I snuffed in any particular day. When I work in my shop she can’t really relate to materials, tools, techniques, etc. On the other hand, SHE works in a hospital!

I spent the night watching cows. Just got home and she was complaining about something in her bra. Since I was raised to be a gentleman I offered my assistance. That didn’t go over well and she’s not talking now. I think I should try not talking more. Lol

My wife says I never listen to her , Or something like that.

My gal asked me "HAVE YOU HEARD A THING I'VE SAID THE LAST 15 MINUTES?" I said "that's an odd way of starting a conversation".

Sometimes after she's talked for awhile I'll ask her. "Is this going somewhere?"

Guys say horrible things to each other but they don't really mean it.
Gals say nice things to each other but they don't really mean iit.

I know I'm blessed Mark. I just find it funny more than anything. I forget about that rat race as quick as I can so I can just be around her and not stress about it... If she wants to talk about her day, so be it. I'm just glad she's there to tell me.

I am making moves to change careers pretty soon... One where I get to work by myself and a much shorter commute. I'm closer to 50 than 40 now... Have a harder time shrugging off the physical demands than I used to, and the stress.

I'll still have to deal with people, but not near as much.

Mike

I've always made it a thing to not bring work home, it is some times a mess, most times just boring to relive, wife does the same thing we work complete different type of careers. If some thing of great merit happens we talk about it though.

If we find something that might entertain the other about work then we share it. But when are together we are always talking about our kids, grandkids or friends, what's happening around us here together, or now mostly economics, the covid debacle, or now what's going on with the Politics of the country or the world.

Some times I welcome a quiet evening when she is out with her friends playing Bunco !! LOL