A babysitter started getting hungry and was developing a headache as she waited for the kids’ parents to get home. That night, the parents were running several hours late. They had told their babysitter that they’d be home around 8 p.m., but later informed her that they’d be back by 11:30 p.m. instead. Meanwhile, she hadn’t even eaten lunch, so once the kids were asleep, she decided to order DoorDash — a decision that led to her losing the babysitting gig.
The mom was horrified when she learned about the DoorDash delivery.
In a post on Reddit, the babysitter explained that after she got her food, the kids’ mom texted her to confront her about it. The mom said she was “uncomfortable that someone came to the door.” She also accused the babysitter of leaving the kids alone when she went out on the porch to grab her food.
In a series of texts, the mom explained she was “really concerned” that the babysitter felt like she could order DoorDash “without asking first.”
“I would never be okay with a stranger coming to the door while my kids are sleeping,” the mom wrote in a text. “I really wish you had asked me before doing that.” She then urged the babysitter to check the doors and make sure they were locked.
But the babysitter explained that she ‘really needed to eat something.’
In her response, the babysitter apologized for making the mom uncomfortable, but explained that she was super hungry, especially because she thought the parents would be home at 8 p.m. She also clarified that the food delivery was totally contactless, as the person who delivered the food left it at the door. The babysitter assured the mom that the driver had already left before she stepped out on the porch to grab the food. And while the mom accused her of leaving the kids alone while she grabbed the food, she said she only stepped out on the porch for “10 seconds.”
This explanation didn’t satisfy the mom.
In a follow-up text, the mom said she understood why the babysitter was hungry. However, she was worried about her kids being left inside the home while the babysitter went out to grab her food. “This is my home and my kids, and I need to be able to fully trust who’s there,” she wrote. She also told the babysitter that she could’ve “eaten from the cabinet” instead.
In response, the babysitter apologized. She said she “didn’t think it would be a problem” and “would never do anything that would put the kids in [her] care at risk.”
However, the parents decided to fire her.
In the texts the mom sent to the babysitter, she said they would talk about the issue when they returned home. When the parents arrived though, they fired the babysitter, saying they could no longer trust her. The babysitter found the decision baffling, especially because the parents had found her on Facebook and didn’t ask her many questions before hiring her.
Redditors told the babysitter she wasn’t overreacting.
While many people found the story ridiculous, they could also relate. One person explained that they also lost a babysitting gig for a similar reason in the past.
“One time I babysat for people who found out that I went downstairs after putting their kid to sleep upstairs,” the person wrote. “And they not only fired me, but talked s— about me to other clients and I lost a couple jobs because of it. I did not understand. I had a baby cam-why would I need to be on the same floor as them?”
Others couldn’t believe how the parents didn’t even seem to really acknowledge how late they were, and instead blamed the babysitter for ordering DoorDash. “It’s not just the overreacting to the DoorDash, it was the fact that the DoorDash was the response to a problem she created by being three and a half hours later than she told you,” one person wrote. “Frankly, at that point she had a responsibility to make sure you did have food.”
Someone else agreed, writing, “I’m a Mom and I would be so embarrassed to be that late, let alone leaving a babysitter with no food. She should have offered to DoorDash whatever you wanted at her expense.”
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
