One of the drawbacks of my irregular schedule is that I am most often the go-to person for babysitting during the day.
I usually don't mind occasionally chipping in, but there are a lot of times that I am home, yet still working on something -- papers, schedules, advisement, committee crap. However, I am not interested in becoming a regular care-giver with a set schedule. Need someone to watch your son while you get your oil changed? No problem. Want me to keep your daughter for a day because you have a migraine? Sure! Need someone to take your kids three mornings a week from nine to noon? Hell, no.
My only real rule deals with sick kids. NO SICK KIDS. Period. I won't watch 'em. Your kid is sick and you don't want to take the day off? Suck it up,buttercup, because I get grossed out by cleaning up my OWN kids' puke and shit. Plus, Wee Ginge tends to get sick a lot, and I don't need to force-feed her germs.
So when I got a phone call this morning, I was peeved.
"Shay has strep. Can you take her for the day, and run her to the pediatrician for a follow-up this afternoon?"
"Uh, no. I have to run OctoBoy and Ginge to the doctor for flu shits this afternoon, and I have several other errands that have to be done before class tonight. I really don't think I can help today."
"Well, what the Hell am I supposed to do with her? She's too sick to go to school; they won't take her if she has a fever!"
"Well, either you or your husband is going to have to stay home with her. Plus, if she has a fever, she's probably still contagious. No one in my house needs strep right now!"
"He's already left! I'm dressed for work! I really don't want to stay home with a sick kid today!"
"That makes two of us. I'm sorry, but no."
*click* (She hung up on me, for the record.)
Was that out of line?
Yes.
ReplyDeleteShe was definitely out of line.
I agree. It was totally out of line for her to ask you in the first place then get mad when you said no.
ReplyDeleteKinda callous to not want to stay home with her sick kid too...
Um. Is this your sister-in-law, or a close relative? Because the idea of asking a friend to take YOUR kid to the doctor is pretty weird to me.
ReplyDeleteAlso - do you realize you wrote "flu shits"? *gigglesnort*
ReplyDeleteGawd, I so hate it when we're expected to actually, like, be a parent to our kids...geez, great mom, your soon-to-be ex-friend.
ReplyDeleteShe was completely out of line. After all, the girl is her goddamned spawn. Why should you have to do the dirty work, as well as run the risk of infecting your own kids, because Mrs. Priss doesn't want to stay home with her sick offspring?
ReplyDeleteGood on you.
Out of line? Hell yes she was out of line.
ReplyDeleteAsk once, maybe. Whine, piss, and moan because she didn't like the answer she got?
Someone needs a great big 'grow up' pill shoved up her....
Carteach0 beat me to it, and he was MUCH nicer than I was gonna be...
ReplyDeleteYep, she was way out of line. Not even offsides, more like out in the parking lot trying to crash someone's tailgating party when she should have been doing her job.
ReplyDeleteWhich is being a mom, not "having to go to work."
um, "flu shits"... if that's what they do, I think I'll take the flu.
Some things, you don't outsource. Taking care of your sick kids is near the top of that list.
ReplyDeleteWow. I think I would have said a few other choice words to her if she had said all that to me... And she'd be cut-off from babysitting services for a good long while too...
ReplyDeleteUnless she has saved you from horrible, painful death at great risk to herself, or if you are living, rent-and-mortgage-free, by her largesse, she is WAY out of line.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the second case, it's questionable.
You have more patience and forgiveness than I do. Calling her back and firmly inviting her to never call again would have been on my mind.
ReplyDeleteNot only was she out of line, but she was seting you up for criminal child abuse charges, plus whatever else your state wants to throw into te mix.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is illegal for a non-custodial person to seek medical treatment for a child, absent either a properly endorsed medical care consent and power of attorney or a court order. Other charges (child endangerment, contributing to the delinquency, possibly kidnapping, conspiracy to violate heave knows how many other laws) are lurking out there.
Please go back to your caller and apply a large clue-bat to her brain-housing group. Then explain again why you refuse to infect your entire family, and then your students, colleagues and te general public. Right after turning her in to the local health department and DHS for threatening bio-terrorism.
Can you tell I have some opinion regarding this?
stay safe.
A person who would even ask that of you, let alone get indignant when you refuse, should by rights be removed from the gene pool. Failing that (especially considering how some jury might possibly be hoodwinked into convicting you, if you did your civic duty), she should at least be removed from your life.
ReplyDeleteSheesh! And you already have kids of your own to deal with - intemperate language is called for!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of intemperate language, does anyone care to venture an opinion on whether a childless person (me, or my wife) should be annoyed if asked to work late and finalize a presentation so Proud Parent can "be there" for Coddled Heir's soccer game?
@Doctor Benway: I'd say at least moderate annoyance. Soccer game schedules are usually posted for the whole season, well in advance; Proud Parent should have known well before the presentation came up that Coddled Heir would have a game on such-and-such a date.
ReplyDeleteAs such, it's kinda on them to make sure that they have their work out of the way in order to meet that familial obligation.
Hell yes she was out of line, and I dearly hope you are not related to that spur-galled clotpole so that you may splice that cumquat from your life.
ReplyDeleteNot only would you be removing a waste of DNA from your life, but maybe then she and her husband might be forced to parent their own offspring.
My mouth is hanging open...what kind of person would ask you this. I just can't fathom this kind of behavior, hug the kid, spank the parent!
ReplyDelete"it's kinda on them to make sure that they have their work out of the way in order to meet that familial obligation."
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah, that pretty much follows my own thinking. And there's never any suggestion of a quid pro quo either: apparently, raising the next generation of cubicle dwellers is an awesome thing and, having no future cubedwellers of my own, I should be happy to do my bit for posterity.
(I ask you: what has posterity ever done for me?)