Help! My Husband Almost Got Us in Major Trouble on an International Trip. I’m Not Sure I Can Trust Him Anymore.

Dear Prudence,

My husband and I recently got back from a vacation in Mexico and had a great time … until the last day. On the last evening of the trip, we went by taxi from a large city to a smaller tourist town about 45 minutes away for dinner. We were low on pesos, but the front desk at the hotel who arranged the taxi said we could pay with a card. On the way back from the tourist area, the cab driver is explaining to me that he would like a portion of the fee paid in pesos and the rest by card. I told him we had very few pesos and were told we could pay with a credit card. He offered to stop by an ATM along the way. I told him I preferred to drive us to the hotel first and we could straighten it out then.

My husband speaks zero Spanish (I speak a little) and got really mad when I told him about the conversation and raised his voiced and cursed and demanded we be taken back to the hotel (which is where we were going). The cab driver didn’t know what he was saying other than understanding some guy was getting mad at him, and I figure the driver could understand some curse words. I kept trying to get my husband to calm down. I was getting worried the driver was going to kick us out of the taxi in a city where we don’t speak the language with only a few pesos and the battery life on both of our phones was really low.

We made to back to the hotel lobby and my husband continued his rant. I was no longer scared, but now embarrassed. I went outside with the cab driver and paid him with my card and gave him a large tip and an apology. I think my husband assumed the guy was trying to rip us off, but I assumed it was easier for the guy to be paid in pesos and there may have been high fees associated with the credit card payment. I really think it was a misunderstanding.

I told my husband the next morning at the airport that I was upset by the way he acted. We were both in a stressful situation and he was making it worse by losing his temper. He has never handled stress as well as me, but I felt in this case he was putting us both in danger of getting kicked out of the taxi. Or, worse, what if the driver had a gun if he thought my husband was refusing to pay? My husband responded by telling me I overreacted and he stomped off.

This morning he asked about our next trip to Mexico. I told him I won’t be going back until we are both more fluent in Spanish.

My husband did apologize two days later, and I thanked him but asked him if he understood why I was upset. That made him mad again because he felt I was treating him like a child. So I apologized and told him I should have accepted his apology at face value. But I’m still upset. Should I bring it up again or let it go?

—No Mas Mexico

https://slate.com/advice/2024/12/dear-prudence-overreaction-in-mexico.html