Dear Carolyn: Ive recently moved in with my boyfriend, and a habit of his is really starting to bother me. He cant seem to understand that when I make a request, its not a demand that he drop everything and do that thing immediately.
Lets say hes slicing vegetables. If I ask him to pass me a spoon, hell get annoyed because Im asking him to do two things at once. Im not, I just want the spoon when hes done. Ive even taken to tacking when youre done onto every request, but he still immediately responds, Cant you see Im busy? It also happens if I mention something that needs to be done at some point (and not necessarily by him!). For example, I said I thought the front walk would need to be salted before we left for work. Cue snippy comment about how hell rush right out and do it in the dark.
When I explain, he seems to understand, but the next day hell go right back to doing this. What really worries me is that his dad is like this, only much worse. Hes a hothead, always angrily accusing his wife of nagging him, asking the impossible, etc. and hell ignore everything because I cant do 50 things at once. Is this the way my boyfriend is going to end up? Is there anything I can do?