Anonymous wrote:If he's at work, he doesn't respond to any emails and will barely spare two seconds to talk to me on the phone while he's picking up lunch. (I work too, so it's not like I have all day to chit-chat, but sometimes I have something important to discuss.) When he's on a trip (either for business or say, to attend a friend's wedding) he doesn't call or email the entire time he's gone. We've been married for 20 years and we have two teenage kids. He's been on a work trip for three days now and hasn't once checked in. I sent him a message on the first day saying 'how's Chicago' and I haven't heard back. We're in the middle of trying to buy a house so I need his feedback on OH listings coming up this weekend but I'm just annoyed and and upset and don't even want to send him stuff. Obviously I should have gotten used to this by now but it still hurts every time it happens. Are a lot of spouses/husbands like this?
Have you tried eliminating the pleasantries? He may think that "How's Chicago" means you just want to chit-chat which he doesn't want to do.
I know some people who ignore anything resembling idle chatter, but if you send a question or ask for feedback on something important that they respond, albeit briefly, sometime with just "Yes", "No" or even "y" or "n".
For example, if you say "How's Chicago?" or "Call me" or something vaguely pedestrian, they will ignore. But if you send a link to a house listing and say "I'd like to tour this house when you get back. Tell me when you're available and I'll schedule a visit.", they will check and respond something like "T or Th after 4pm".