Woman fires babysitter for breaking microwave; her parents call her 'cheap.'
When these parents are conflicted about their babysitter, they ask Reddit:
'AITA for firing the babysitter after she broke our microwave?'
I (F35) live with my husband (M37). We have two children aged 6 and 8. My husband and I work full-time and occasionally hire a babysitter during the day on weekends if we need to work.
The babysitter is a girl named 'Sam' (F19), who's my friend's daughter. We pay Sam the average market rate for a babysitter for two kids in our country.
A few weeks ago, we hired Sam to babysit on the Saturday for around 5 hours. I came home from work first, and I noticed Sam was a bit unusually giddy. Sam got her things and left about 5 minutes later.
A few hours after I went to go use the microwave and I noticed the inside of it was all burned and it had a funky smell. I tried to use it anyway (silly me) and although it could be switched on, it didn't work at all.
I asked my kids if they knew what happened to the microwave. My eldest said that Sam did magic in the microwave. I asked what he meant and he said Sam put a burrito in the microwave and there was a fire inside the microwave.
My youngest backed him up and said that Sam told them it was a magic trick. I asked them if the burrito was wrapped in foil and they both said yes.
I admit my kids tell tall tales sometimes but I can tell just by their faces when they're lying. When he got home from work, I told my husband what happened, and we agreed that Sam should pay for a new microwave.
I texted Sam and explained to her that we know she broke the microwave and we expect her to pay for a replacement. Sam apologised and said that she was tired and didn't really think about what she was doing. She said she can't afford to pay for a new microwave, I offered installments but that was still a no go.
My husband and I decided to fire Sam because putting foil in the microwave was very poor judgement and could've caused a fire, and also her refusal to get a replacement was unreasonable. Plus she didn't even tell us it happened. Sam was really upset that we fired her.
Sam's parents think we were being very unreasonable and cheap, and said that Sam is only 19 and deserves a second chance, and that microwaves aren't super expensive and we should just get a new one.
I told my friend if they aren't expensive then she should get us a new microwave since her daughter broke it. She told me to stop being ridiculous and said that we're being assholes to her daughter. AITA?
Let's find out.
para935 writes:
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking and accidentally left the foil on a burrito that I microwaved! I unfortunately can’t afford to buy you a new one, but maybe we can figure something out?”
THAT was the two-line way she should have handled this with integrity, and if it were me, upon hearing that I would’ve just told her not to worry about it. Like “keep being my kids’s favorite babysitter, and we’ll call it even” kind of thing.
But no, she lied and tried to wriggle out of responsibility. And no, that doesn’t engender trust and isn’t the kind of character lesson I’d want my kids to pick up on. So NTA. You’re right that it’s best you guys part ways.
jcbash writes:
NTA. Okay the real issue here is that this 19-year-old won't take accountability for the fact that she destroys your microwave, and her parents are involved in this conversation.
It is as simple as she is an adult who was in your house watching your children, and she can't behave with enough basic integrity to take responsibility for her actions, she shouldn't be watching your kids and you're allowed to make that judgment.