Lies and Cheats
I think to myself in retrospect of all the occurrences where the SP was telling a COMPLETE lie. Of course, at the time, I knew something wasn’t right, but I wanted him to make it right. I wanted him to prove to me what he was really saying was true, which he never did. For a very long time I did not want to believe he was cheating…that much. I couldn’t fathom it. But he was.
Surprise Visit
I went to teach dance every Thursday evening and he came home from our office early so I could beat the traffic. 9 times out of 10 he was late, so I eventually had to tell him the schedule at work had changed to earlier, so when he was late, I would still be on time.
One day I decided to randomly stop by our office to check on my office manager, since now he came home earlier than I really needed him to because he was always late. I figured I had a couple minutes to kill, so I would go and check up on things.
The LuLu Lemon Cleaning Lady
I pulled in the parking lot to see a woman get out of her car and go to the trunk. She pulled out a vacuum. She was dressed in her LuLu Lemon attire, with her fake boobs popping out of her tiny shirt, with about a mile of cleavage. Her long hair was tied up elegantly in a high pony tail and she was strutting a full set of make up. She was a good looking woman. I thought to myself, “I won’t doubt that that is our new office cleaning lady.” I meaning knowing the SP, why in the WORLD would he bring a woman anything less than someone he was hooking up with? It’s just gotta be my luck.
Heat ran through my body at that moment because I really knew what this meant. I got all clammy and started to have what I now look back and label as a small anxiety attack. I walked into my office and greeted my office manager, and we sat down to chat. Sure as sh** seconds later GUESS who walks into the office?! Of course it was her. My office manager had no clue who she was.
Deer in Headlights
I took the liberty to speak with her and introduce myself as the wife and part owner, and asked her if she needed something. She looked kind of nervous and timid. She said that she was there to clean the office.
I looked at my office manager and he knew nothing about it. It was getting late in the afternoon, and my office manager was going to be locking up the building soon, and I was leaving to go to teach. I asked her how long it would take her to clean and she said she didn’t know.
I’m thinking, if you are a “normal office cleaning person”, you would be able to look at the space and get an idea for how long it would take. I suggested that she look around and give us an idea since we were going to be locking up soon.
She walked to the back of the building while I whispered to my OM if he knew what this was all about. He said he didn’t know she was coming and didn’t know who she was. I decided to walk back there and ask her to come up to the front so we could get her information to pay her.
When she came into my OM’s office, I asked her to fill out a W-9 so we could pay her when she was done. She looked at me like a deer in head lights. She was confused. Then I asked her how much she charged an hour. She had no idea.
Just Friends…Again? I Mean Come On!
I’m like, “wait, you don’ t know how much you charge?” She stumbled over her words. Then she told me that SP had contacted her to come and clean, and that they hadn’t talked about any of this. I asked her how she knew SP and she mumbled her words by responding to me that they were friends. Uhuh, I’ll bet you are.
At this point I was getting more aggravated because I knew where this was leading; I could feel it. So I directed my office manager to phone SP, on speaker, so that we could get this little hiccup figured out, and sweet little cleaning girl could get paid. My OM got SP on the phone to ask him these questions.
SP immediately was enraged that my OM was calling him. SP now knew that I was there. SP didn’t know how much he was paying her.
Not Thought Through, What a Surprise
This was definitely not thought through very well, probably because it wasn’t what they were making it out to be. The SP and my OM argued and then the call ended. I looked at her and I said, “well since you don’t know how long it’s going to take you, you don’t have all the cleaning supplies that you need, you don’t know how much you charge, you can’t get the person that asked you to come in to give you the amount you are to be paid; maybe you should come back tomorrow in the morning.” She left.
A Hot Bod What?
I knew from the moment she saw me, she was stunned. I know that SP told her to come in not thinking in a million years that I would happen to show up when she showed up. I mean what cleaning lady have you ever seen that is in their late twenties come into your office in LuLu Lemon with a hot bod and cleavage, with beautiful make up and just rocking it? I think said no one ever! My OM was taken aback.
We talked for a minute, mostly how we were so surprised at what she was wearing, that she was going to pull off that she was a cleaning lady.
There’s Always More
I wasn’t done yet. There was something else. I felt that there was something else. I went to go into his office and open up one of his filing cabinets.
Now WHAT do we have here? It’s a copy of “A Purpose Driven Life.” Well now what’s this about? SURELY SP would not buy something of this depth for himself! I opened it and to my wonderment, guess who had written a monologue on the inside page? It was surely the cleaning lady! She had purchased the book for his birthday a month prior. Good graciousness.
I about flipped the $%:#$%*$ out. I was on a mission. Back home I drove, luckily still in time to address this and get to work. I walked back into the house to find him sitting on the couch reclining.
And Here Come the Lies
What is this?
I don’t know.
You don’t know?
Well there is an entire letter to you on the inside page of this.
I haven’t read it yet.
This was in your drawer in your office. Who is Lucy?
Ugh she’s just a friend.
A friend that buys you gifts for your birthday that I don’t know?
I wasn’t even there when she dropped it off at the office. I saw it on my desk and then I just put it in the drawer.
Why is another woman buying you gifts for your birthday…AND writing you a long, personal monologue in the inside cover? And now she’s the cleaning lady?
She bought me the book for a business thing. She buys those for all the people she does business with.
Wait, so you’re telling me Lucy has an office cleaning business, and that every client she has, she buys this book and gives it to the owner and writes a letter in the book?
What is your problem?
What is my problem? hahah. Oh my gosh really? How do you not see how this makes no sense?
Why did you ask her all of those questions? You were being rude to her. I was trying to get the office all nice and cleaned and now you sent her away.
I will clean the damn office myself before I will have that coming in there. I want to know how you know her.
I was trying to get in touch with her brother that is in jail, so I called her to get his number.
Really.
Then she mentioned she had a cleaning business and I had a dirty office.
So wait, if that’s all that transpired, why did she buy you a gift and balloons and a birthday card?
(I started ripping all the pages out of the book) Conversation over, I wasn’t getting nothing out of that.
Why Do We Buy Their BS?
I went to work. Later I found her on Facebook. She ain’t no cleaning lady THAT’S for sure. She was some kind of Mexican Singer.
I think we tend to believe pathological liars because they are so good at it. We think how hard it would be for us to lie. We might have to think for a moment, what if I lie right now and then I can’t remember the lie and then I get caught? Not them, they just splurt out what they are thinking at the moment. Screw consequences of getting caught, because then, they will just lie again.
Maybe they will throw a little gas lighting in there and make you think that you misunderstood what they originally said, or that you heard something that they didn’t say in the first place. OR it could be that you are just jealous and are making things up in your head.
No, none of those things. You are just being lied to by a pathological liar. We believe them because they believe their own lies so much, how could we not as well? This is the cycle of psychological and mental abuse that goes along with being in a relationship with a sociopath, which is turn means being in a relationship with a pathological liar, they go hand in hand.
Just Assume Everything is a Lie
Now instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, I assume everything is a lie. It’s so liberating. Every time he tries to say anything, when I do have to be in contact with him, I just tell him he’s a liar. And at this point, I don’t really care if any of it IS true, because it probably isn’t.
One of the biggest “helps” I had was reading Donna’s story about how this was a “lesson” I had to learn. I resisted that idea for a long time, the anger and desire for revenge wouldn’t allow me to accept she had done this to me. Now I am “getting” the lesson part. Unfortunately we all have to learn that “they walk among us”. There is a benefit to accepting this as a lesson, as hard as that is to embrace (it was for me anyway), I am much smarter now and have my guard up constantly because I am the trusting type. As long as you remain aware this is always a possibility you can protect yourself from further exploitation. In my case it was two in a row. 2010 – Mortgage fraudster, 2012 – Immigration fraud. I had to learn or lose everything. I also architected the divorce “my way” to ensure everything was protected.
Reading this helps a lot. I was stuck at the he has no consequences for his actions stage for a good while. I am finally starting to let that go and focus on the lesson learned parts.
Roxy17
Yep, what they do makes perfect sense when you realize they follow the path of DISORDERED personalities. That’s what Disturbed personality disordered people do. LIE, CON, STEAL, and many times, terrorize.
Roxy… it’s really hard to get past that part!! I did the same, questioned constantly how could he not care how much he was hurting me over and over again??? How could he have NO conscience? It’s too much for us to grasp because we have an overabundance of compassion (that’s why we were their targets in the first place… we’re all givers and they see that immediately). It’s great that you’re moving past that part because there’s really nothing that can be done to change the disturbing reality.
Unfortunately, the lesson learned is really about us, not the spath. We all have to come to an understanding of what drew us so easily to these manipulators, we need to ask why we ignored our gut reactions about him and why were we so sure even though we did see signs along the way that told us everything we needed to know. We have to ask ourselves all of these questions, but do it with the understanding that we are NOT the ones at fault for the mess created by the spath. We are not to be blamed for the wrong-doings of a mentally disordered person!! But we do need to look at our own role because it will enlighten us about why we are too quick to trust and love, and why we’re so afraid of being rejected by these abusers! We need to open our eyes about ourselves so that we can grow and be 100 times better than we ever thought possible!
After filing for divorce from my ex, a avalanche of truth came down on my head. The over time he was doing at work? He was screwing his brother’s wife, the babysitter and or some woman he told me was his cousin…his mom was an only child, and his dad had a brother. The best was the explanation for why he broke into the house and violated the restraining order to only take his military file. All along he told me it was a medical discharge for a serious injury to his arm. YEAH RIGHT! He was given a psychological discharge. He was diagnosed Antisocial Personality Disorder and described as “unfit for service”. All this from his mom and older brother. When asked why they didn’t tell me before…would I have believed them…well I guess they had a point there.
Hi Andi…. my ex’s family didn’t bother telling me my ex spath is a pedophile. I had to figure that out on my own. It was quite horrifying being that I saw his porn and other evidence. Those things don’t go away easily. It was April when I saw it and I still can’t move past it, but I’m getting there (through therapy and support from friends). It’s funny that he still tries to deny it to me, even though he knows I saw it with him sitting right there opening every file on the computer (and he now thinks I took pictures and video of the hours we spent with me forcing him to show me everything on his computer… hard to explain, but he thinks I have proof against him – not sure if that’s good or bad!). Anyway… off on a tangent there! What I meant to say was I can relate to the lies and the things that you believed the whole time you were together only to find out it was all BS. It’s devastating!! And it shows nothing he said or did can be trusted.
Gaslit,
How are things going?
I know you had a small setback.
I hope things are back on track now.
Hugs,
Stronginthecity
Not
So happy to hear your daughter is doing great. Yes, I did celebrate my one year divorce anniversary and my over 2 years of no contact. I learned a lot in those years. Most importantly I learned to love myself regardless of my own flaws. I feel free now because my ex husband became my entire life , I as a person did not exist anymore. I feel good not trying to gain his approval which I never did. And also it’s great not playing detective anymore. Because that’s not who I really am. My life became quieter and more peaceful. I learned that all my good qualities of empathy and compassion and also love are not weaknesses. Like I was told for so many years.
As for my ex. I occasionally receive a nasty note with my alimony check. Usually I just move them into a folder called “evil” as instructed by my lawyer. One note baffled me though “you are the worst mother in the world “. I know he tried to get a response out of me with this statement. But it shows that he is still the same evil , manipulative monster he always was and always will be. And my silence, my no contact is still my victory.
It wax a tough road to travel. And I am still recovering but I will not what happened to my family define me as a person.
I don’t know if Donna has commented or can comment on the possibility that us “targets” have a tendency toward codependence? I realized this about my self, I “want” to please, I want to have others see me as valuable seeking my self esteem externally. This is my focus right now, discerning to what extent this is true for me.
Me too 😩 Codependent I think. Started out with my dad that now I am certain was a SP, N, ass ! Always the shinny star we all wanted to hold. Except for when he disappeared, locked himself in his room for days refusing to see any of us. All the while my mom begging him to PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. WHAT HAD SHE DONE WRONG ? What had the children done wrong. One day he would come out as if nothing ever happened and it would all begin again. I think my childhood set the stage for the victimization of my adult life. Never felt worthy, loved , or accepted. Today all I ever wanted in life was to be loved. I let this happen to me. As long as I stay in this bed paralyzed I’m still doing this to me. I’ve got to get up. I’ve got to change. I’ve got to live better for me. I just need to do it.