Kate Hackett
The AITA subreddit is rife with terrible behavior — from the original posters, from the people in their posts, from just every angle you can possibly imagine. And sometimes it makes rendering a judgment hard; this is not one of those times.
In this post from u/Electronic_Professor, which went viral and garnered quite a lot of responses, we hear tale of a babysitter who has to deal with a perpetually late parent — a mother who does not respect the babysitter’s time. So the babysitter finally called the police when the mom was incredibly late AND not responding to phone calls or texts.
Read the post below and let us know: what do you think?
OP explains that she sits on the weekends for some easy cash… but the mom is never home on time.
I (28F) do babysitting on the weekends to make some babysitting on the weekends to make extra cash. There is one family I definitely should’ve fazed out by now but the kids are cute and if I don’t have another job, it’s easy money. My issue is, the mom is never home on time.
The mom wouldn’t give OP end times, wouldn’t stick to them, it was eating OP’s entire weekend — lame.
She used to not give me return times but finally I started asking as it made it impossible to get anything done on the weekends. I’d go babysit so she could go to “brunch” but she’d be gone from 11 AM to 7 PM. My whole day was gone. After that, she’d start giving me times but never stick to them. She wouldn’t even call to tell me, she’d just stay out.
One Saturday, OP heads over and makes it clear that she needs to be out of the house by 9 so OP can hang with friends. Valid. Clear. Simple…
On Saturday, I got to her house at 6 and she was supposed to be home by 9. I told her she needed to be on time because I had plans to go out with friends.
And, go figure, the mom isn’t home on time. OP calls, texts, hours go by… and it’s midnight. Three hours late. Yuck.
I was even getting ready at their house after I put the kids to be. She promised. Of course, 9:00 rolls around and she’s not home. I call her, no response. Text, no response. Another hour. Nothing. Still calling and texting. Finally, it is midnight.
OP calls one more time and warns the mom that the cops are coming if mom isn’t home in an hour.
By this point, my plans are long ruined but I’m pissed and exhausted. I call her and leave a voicemail saying if she’s not home in the next hour, I’m considering the kids abandoned and calling the cops.
And makes good on her threat. OP calls the police.
I also text her this. I try calling her 30 minutes later and it goes to voicemail on the second ring, I text her again and she leaves me on read. If she had reached out saying “Hey, I’m staying out until x time”, I would’ve stayed. I don’t know any of her family nor the father of the kids so I can’t call them. I gave her a grace period of 15 minutes and tried calling again, finally called the cops (non-emergency line).
The mom doesn’t answer calls FROM THE POLICE. The police take the kids to the station and OP goes home.
They showed up and I showed our agreement in text from earlier in the week confirming that she’d be home by 9. They try contacting her, didn’t answer. I was dismissed and they took the children to the police station. I go home and go to bed.
It seems the mom FINALLY got home… at 3am. And there were no kids, no babysitter… OP explains that the kids are with the cops, mom gets furious, and OP goes to bed.
I am awoken at 3 AM by a frantic call. It’s her. Where are the kids? Why am I not here? I tell her I followed through on my threat, check the police station. She cursed me out, I hung up and went to bed.
OP gets an essay from the mom the next day chewing her out and after talking to a friend with kids, OP’s wondering if she maybe went too far.
The next day, she sends me an essay saying the kids’ father was called and there’s a DCF investigation launched against her. She called me every name under the sun but I didn’t think I was wrong until I spoke to a friend with kids. She said I should’ve just waited it out and refuse to ever sit for her again. She asked if her potentially losing her kids was worth me being petty.
And like, no, right? Y’all are with me? 9pm to THREE IN THE A DOT EM is not the same as running a few minutes late sometimes.
Reddit weighed in:
