Kate Hackett
If you were ever a teenager who babysat, you know how important it is for the parents to get back roughly when they tell you they will. It can be nerve-racking to sit there and wait, plus you have to get home to your own bed!
So imagine being poor u/RepresentativeRow608, just 15 years old, and the parents didn’t come home. She did what she had to do — but felt awful. So she wondered: was she a jerk?
She explains that she is 15 and babysits for some extra pocket money.
I am 15 years old and I babysit to make money. I took a first aid course and a babysitting course.
She got a gig and they told her they’d be home by midnight. Her dad would pick her up from the job.
Lat weekend one of my little sister’s classmates parents had a wedding to go to and asked if I would babysit. I asked how late they would need me and if I should pack an overnight bag if they were going to be staying out all night. They said that they would be home by midnight. So I checked with my dad if that was okay because he is my ride. He doesn’t want me alone in a car with adults that he does not know.
OP’s dad got there at 11:50 and the kids were in bed. OP had texted at 11 to make sure the parents would be home & got a “yes”.
So my dad was there to pick me up at 11:50. The kids were all asleep and I was watching tv. I had texted them at 11:00 to double check that they would be in time. The mom texted me back “yes”.
But by 12:30, they weren’t there, so OP texted again. Her dad was getting angry at this couple. 1 AM, nothing.
12:30 they still aren’t there. I texted again. No answer. I called my dad and he is pissed. Not at me. One o’clock. I call them. No answer. My dad went and got a coffee at home and came back. He is all calm. Not good. He is ready to blow.
Her dad is furious and OP is still texting every 15 minutes.
I texted every 15 minutes. No response.
At two thirty in the morning, OP lied and said someone tried to break into the house. The couple was home within 15 minutes.
2:20 I have an idea. I texted them that someone tried to break into their garage but that the alarm scared them away.
OP’s dad (who sounds great) made them pay OP more for the extra time and said she couldn’t sit for them again.
They were home drunk in an Uber in 15 minutes. My dad made them pay me for my extra time before we left. He told me that I’m not allowed to babysit for them again unless I charged them for an overnight stay.
The mom saw OP a few days later and was angry that OP had lied about the breaking.
Yesterday at school I saw the mom when I was picking up my sister’s after school.
She gave me shit for scaring her and her husband. That they had checked their security cameras and no one tried to break in. I said sorry the alarm went off so I called you.
She called me a liar. Which is fair. But I don’t feel bad about what I did. They lied to me first.
OP’s mom thinks OP should’ve just sucked it up, but her dad said no – she did nothing wrong.
My mom says I should have just sucked it up but my dad says that they broke our deal.
I kind of feel bad for tricking them into coming home from their party. But they could have told me it was an overnight or texted me that they were going to be late. My dad has brought me an overnight bag before when that has happened.
OP’s mom also wanted to know if they had been in an accident, but OP didn’t want to cause a scene.
EDIT
My mom wanted me to call the police to see if they had been in an accident. But I thought that if they were still at the wedding it would cause a scene.
Those PARENTS are the assholes here, and Reddit agrees with me.
“NTA – the fact that the parents said yes they would be home at 12 & then couldn’t/wouldn’t respond for 2 hours is bullshit. Where she gets off being pissed at you is crazy!!! Please tell me they apologized when they finally got home,” wrote one user.
