Nothing like a Friday afternoon Am I The Asshole thread to take you smoothly into the weekend, right? Today, it’s all about babysitting – specifically, whether it’s right or wrong to blacklist a couple from all their local babysitting options for bad (or rather, a bit rude) behaviour.
Over in the US, the story begins with a college student who has just taken up babysitting to make extra money. ‘I love kids so it's no hardship for me and while I’ve had a few bad experiences it's nothing that I’ve not been able to handle until a few days ago,’ OP introduces. ‘I was babysitting for a couple while they went out to celebrate their anniversary.’
Arriving at the couple’s house, OP noticed their toddler seemed a bit out of it and lo and behold a few hours later she became very unwell. Weepy, vomiting and with a rising temperature, the babysitter tried to contact the parents’ numerous times to no avail – so she made the executive decision to call an out of hours doctor who advised her to bring the toddler in for a check-up. Three hours later (and one set of ruined clothes after being vomited on), the babysitter returned exhausted.
‘I gave her a bath, changed her into fresh PJ's and gave her the medicine the Doctor had given me for her,’ OP writes. ‘Once she was asleep, I took a quick shower myself and changed into the spare clothes I keep in my car for emergencies. When her parents returned, I filled them in on what had happened and what the Doctor had said, and that I’d bathed and changed her before getting her settled and that I’d taken a shower myself.’
Naturally, OP was expecting some semblance of gratitude or an apology for not being contactable – no such reaction came. ‘They weren't apologetic at all and said their phone must have been on silent,’ OP said. ‘They then paid me, and I left, and they acted very casual about the whole mess as if it hadn't been a night from hell for me.’
After returning home, the babysitter text two of her friends in frustration and – since they’re both babysitters to – advised them not to sit for that family. ‘It had a bit of a domino effect as they ended up telling their friends who told their friends and so on,’ she explains. ‘I had no idea the scale it had reached until I got a call from the Mother today demanding to know what I’d said and why no sitter will agree to watch her daughter this Saturday. I didn't intend for it to reach this scale and I’m a bit in shock wondering if maybe I went too far, AITA?’
Over 300 comments later, Redditors have decided that the babysitter is absolutely not the arsehole. ‘I don’t believe their phones were on silent for a second,’ one person commented to near 6,000 upvotes. ‘IMO they were having a good time without a worry in the world and just disregarded your multiple calls. If other babysitters decide that they do not want to work with this family due to their actions, that is on the parents, not on you.’
‘I’ll be honest with how out of it she was when I arrived, I suspect they had to know she was under the weather if not outright sick,’ the babysitter confirmed in responses. ‘I just figured she was shy as I was a new person at first though.’
‘This right here is the main reason the family deserves to be blacklisted,’ a third added. ‘If the child was even showing mild signs of illness, they should have stayed home or at least warned you about it and given instructions on what to do if it got worse.’
What do you think, is one bad night enough to be blacklisted from all babysitters, or do the parents need to learn their lesson the hard way? One thing is for sure, we won’t be missing any babysitter calls in future.