I don’t know, op, whenever my husband and I have had discussions like this, it’s either because he isn’t used to seeing me out of the wife role, or because he’s romanticizing his mom’s house. For example, his mom doesn’t have a dishwasher, never has. You can bet your butt that when our dishwasher broke, I wanted another one, some might say I demanded one. Interestingly enough, my mother-in-law doesn’t have trash service, and my husband has never once mentioned we should take our trash to the dump on the regular like his mom does.
As for being loud and rude, the first time I told a contractor, “I’m not a storage facility” he was startled. He didn’t like me talking to her like that. He never had a problem when I would say that to the male contractors.
Think about if this might be going on.
The older I get, the less willing I am to give vendors a second chance, time to sort it out, whatever it is. I’ve also noticed I have to be on the ball so we get what we need, we bought a new dryer and they were all set to deliver it without a critical part.. until I caught it. We were on the schedule to get a new door, only to have the vendor “forget” to order the handles. You aren’t going to see sweet loving woman in situations like that. Being described as loud and rude is often what men say when a woman isn’t doing what is easiest for the man.. I’ve never heard a man describe another man as loud and obnoxious. Know too, that your wife may be picking up on tone of voice or behaviors that you are not. I’ve had servers be sweet as pie to my husband, then speak to me like a five-year-old. I had a server absolutely refuse to get me an extra glass of water of all things, when she was more then happy to flit around my husband asking if he needed anything. It was infuriating, I wasn’t feeling well that day, had had some blood draws, and all I wanted was an extra glass of water. I had a Starbucks barista be fine with my order and be nasty to the friend I was with in a very subtle way, putting her hands all over the top of the cup so my friend didn’t want to drink it, getting her the wrong size then telling her the friend “didn’t understand” just nasty. Had it been me, I’d have gone into Karen mode, which interestingly enough only applies to women, we don’t have a “go into Jack mode”. If you like your wife, be on her side.
Do you have kids? If you do, your wife may have more insight into their behaviors then you do. We had a teen who would go to the bathroom right before an activity and be in there for 30 minutes, just in time for the activity to be over. My husband thought I was being too hard on the kid. As luck would have it, her 30 minute bathroom stays went away like magic when we removed her from the activity. I remember telling my husband and the kid “You need to be good enough at what you do or have a medical issue for these bathroom trips to be acceptable.. you aren’t good enough at what you do.. yet, and you may have a medical issue”. My husband was treating our kid like you’d treat a coworker who needed to take a long dump, and that isn’t what was going on, the kid simply didn’t want to do the activity and like a toddler, “going potty” seemed like a good way to get out of it. And, no, I don’t know why she didn’t tell us she didn’t want to do it, I think she liked the people but not the activity and was hoping it would get better.
As for you, be nice to your wife. Put her first. You aren’t her business partner, coach or boss, you are her loving husband. If she tells you something listen. Praise her and appreciate her. Don’t compare her to other women even nonsexually, of course the nanny isn’t going to get upset about the dishwasher, it isn’t her house. Of course the schoolteacher will be sweet, she’s not trying to cook dinner with a toddler running full tilt towards the stove, or if she does, you won’t see it or even know about it. If she’s doing weird things like expecting you to be home because it’s Monday and she doesn’t want to be alone, that’s not acceptable. If she expects you to be home so you can see the family or take the kids to activities they are enjoying, then you probably should be there. She isn’t obnoxious to want a loving involved husband.