'Does He Think He's the Queen?': Man Who Won't Carry House Key Sparks Fury

A woman has taken to social media to vent her frustrations after her husband told her he would no longer be taking a set of house keys with him whenever he goes out.

When it comes to responsibilities around the house, women continue to take on the bigger workload. A 2019 Gallup poll of married or partnered heterosexual couples in the U.S. found that 58 percent of couples said women took the lead on doing laundry compared with just 13 percent of men and 28 percent who said the responsibility was shared.

Meanwhile, 51 percent of women in the couples polled said they shouldered the bulk of the responsibility for cleaning the house and also preparing meals compared with just 9 and 17 percent respectively of the men quizzed in the research.

Women also paid more bills (37 percent) and took on a greater level of involvement in planning family activities (37 percent) according to the study.

Though men took on more tasks like yard work, keeping the car in good condition and managing financial investments, the study shows that, while much has changed in the world today, old habits die hard in the home.

Some men take things even further though. The husband described in a post shared to Mumsnet by his unhappy wife is one of them. According to her post, her husband recently decided he would no longer carry a house key with him.

"This means apparently, that I am now responsible for ensuring he is not locked out of the house ever," she wrote. "If I have the audacity to not be in when he requires to be let in, I have to ensure a key is left in a safe location and that he is informed of this."

To make matters worse, she said he often leaves for work around 5 or 6 A.M. and, due to the design of their front door, she has to get up to lock the door behind him when he leaves or risk leaving the house open to being robbed.

According to the woman, her husband's reasoning amounted to little more than the fact he "doesn't want to have to bother" with a key and thinks they are "old fashioned."

The new setup has already resulted in one major bust-up. "He took the kids to school and asked if I would be in when he returned, I said no and left [for work]," the frustrated wife wrote. "He had not sorted himself a key so rang me as he was locked out on his return and I had to come back and let him in and thus was late for work."

The woman put the change down to the fact her husband realized "he could delegate the task to me and add it to my mountain of stuff to do."

"He genuinely thinks he is too important to carry a key," she added. "I think also it's a bit of control, to try and get me to be in when he will be coming home."

The post sparked fury among readers on Mumsnet, with many incredulous at the husband's actions.

"Does he think he's the Queen?" Icevolcanoes asked. Pointythings, meanwhile, commented: "There's really only one reasonable response to this decree. It consists of two words, the second of which is 'off.'"

Vapeyvapevape said: "I would carry on as normal and let him stand on the doorstep. Or actually, seriously consider the relationship." CheshireCat, meanwhile, urged the woman to just "say no" to his demands.

"He needs to be responsible for himself as a (hopefully) functioning adult," they added. "Nip this in the bud now." Kdubs1981 went further, urging the woman to "file for divorce" with MrMrsJones agreeing: "he sounds abusive."

DirtyDancing added: "This is abusive control. Literally who the hell does he think he is? Please don't pander to his demands."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.