How unprofessional was this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a Director. I would have rescheduled the meeting if my staff member was going to be mentally MIA. I probably also would suggest they use PTO because they are not working while watching a toddler.

Omg MR DIRECTOR. I bet you are losing employees every day and have no idea why.

Losers like Mr Director don’t understand that you don’t get to treat women like garbage anymore. People will just quit on you.

Oh and if I was your colleague I would report you for harassing this poor mom in a tight spot with her one year old baby.

Grow up Director.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Director. I would have rescheduled the meeting if my staff member was going to be mentally MIA. I probably also would suggest they use PTO because they are not working while watching a toddler.

I am a Director. I would have offered to reschedule (and encouraged it given my boss) and would not have given a crap about whether you used PTO or not. We’re all doing what we can, here.

Hahahaha yes exactly! Me too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She can’t get a sitter w a possible covid kid at home. A lot still won’t come. That’s the whole problem parents are in!!

But some will - our neighborhood listserv is full of sitters who are comfortable and explicitly state as much.

Maybe you live in a poor area with high unemployment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two years into this thing you should have a few last-minute sitters on speed-dial, a neighbor/friend nearby who might be able to pitch-in, and a safe space for the baby. Absolutely unprofessional - you're not the only one with kids - we've all made adaptations with difficult kids - you just chose to not plan for the worst case scenario for whatever bizarre reason. The defensiveness and snowflake attitude is also off-putting. People like you need to be put back into the office because you're just abusing the flexibilities at this point and ruining it for those of us with real back up plans.

I love how this person never once asked why your husband didn’t find childcare. Or why he wasn’t frantically texting a babysitter.

There are no “emergency babysitters” available for kids with Covid. If you know of one, hold on to them and pay them well. The reality is that your workplace needs to make adjustments for the new normal. This isn’t surprising- it’s a global pandemic. We all have to adjust. And if businesses aren’t willing to adjust- there is extremely low employment. People will quit. The age of the draconian boss is over. Moms don’t have to hide their kids because it’s “unprofessional”. It’s unprofessional to pretend a working mother in a pandemic won’t have to bring her baby to a meeting on occasion.

So many of you are showing your misogyny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Director. I would have rescheduled the meeting if my staff member was going to be mentally MIA. I probably also would suggest they use PTO because they are not working while watching a toddler.

Omg MR DIRECTOR. I bet you are losing employees every day and have no idea why.

Losers like Mr Director don’t understand that you don’t get to treat women like garbage anymore. People will just quit on you.

Oh and if I was your colleague I would report you for harassing this poor mom in a tight spot with her one year old baby.

Grow up Director.

This is the problem with working from home, work time and parent time and personal time are all mashed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op you are making excuses. You could have definitely strapping him into the high chair. My 3.5yo that is 99% height still goes in the high chair with a fun activity (slime, cooked noodle "worms", orbeez etc and then I go in my bedroom to take calls.

OP here - you do realize all kids are different right? If I put my son in a high chair he would flip it over. Also what is the point of putting him in it if he would just scream the whole time while you are in the bedroom on a call?

OP don’t listen to that lady. She sounds like the worst mother of all time. What kind of person gives their baby a few choking hazards and casually leaves the room?

Also the manufacturer of Orbeez says suitable for children ages five and older. So the high chair strapper would have gone to jail if she left her baby alone with some nice little choking hazards.

God what is wrong with people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly you just want to complain and make excuses.

This is very cringe behavior. This pandemic has been going on this child's entire life - surely you have had time to come up with backup plans? If you have truly no child-safe space to put your kid in this type of situation, you only have yourself to blame.

Ah, there's one in every crowd.

Work is important and work meetings can be important, but also, perspective. I would probably send an email with an apology to my supervisor, but explaining that the circumstances were sudden and the choice was attend or not, so you chose to attend.

And I also had a kid that could not be contained from like 15 months to 2.5. It's just the way it is.

[Anonymous]

I cannot BELIEVE that people are suggesting that the appropriate response would have been to shut a two year old alone in a room and let them cry for a 30 minute meeting.

OP, it's really not so bad, honestly. You showed up. You could have called out. If you want to mitigate possible concern, front up to your boss, level with them that you are juggling an exposure and childcare. Come straight out with a plan -- you'll be tag teaming with spouse, you'll flex time to do work after hours, you'll may have to take some half-days or partial days of sick leave.

[Anonymous]

Some of you are completely ridiculous and give working moms a bad name. This feigned helplessness is gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op you are making excuses. You could have definitely strapping him into the high chair. My 3.5yo that is 99% height still goes in the high chair with a fun activity (slime, cooked noodle "worms", orbeez etc and then I go in my bedroom to take calls.

This is sad if it's happening more than twice a day/for an hour +.

[Anonymous]

I am so glad that I was a SAHM when my kids were little. This level of stress is ridiculous. OPs life is a circus. Now OP has another thing to worry about and stress about. It's nuts.

Being a parent is a job and when you have another job, that means you have TWO jobs. You are not supposed to enjoy working two jobs, it's hard. It sucks. Make a choice, quit one or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly you just want to complain and make excuses.

This is very cringe behavior. This pandemic has been going on this child's entire life - surely you have had time to come up with backup plans? If you have truly no child-safe space to put your kid in this type of situation, you only have yourself to blame.

What child care do you use when your toddler is not allowed to go to daycare because of a COVID exposure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, I would end this thread. It happened, your supervisor was fine with it. Some people agree it was fine, some people don't. You're torturing yourself by responding to everyone.

Agreed, this is simply a pile-on of Mean Girls at this point.

Seriously.

OP - why haven't you ended the pandemic and figured out Ukraine!?!? You are just a slacker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you have a two year old with no safe place for him? That’s insane.

Op here - where would you put a 2 year old? Or strap them to what? I am confused.

DP. Mom of 7. You don't have a pac-n-play? You don't have a crib? You don't have a contained small room that is child safe with a baby gate set up?

I would have moved heaven and earth to reset my laptop and camera so that my kid was in a contained thing (aforesaid pac-n-play or crib or small room with baby gate or something) and I would have a veritable treasure trove of amusements for him. Then I would have pieced them out as needed for the duration of the call.

I also would have endeavored to take him outside for 2 hours. I would have literally run his little legs off so that by 10:45 he could barely keep his eyes open and by 11 he would be out like a light.

I also would have called every single friend I had to get someone over to my house OR even hired a sitter from Care.com.

I think you had a lot of options. I don't think you exercised any of them.

Dont listen to this lady- she has 7 kids. Clearly she has poor judgment and no self control.

Op- no one cares. If they felt you were unprofessional, that’s on them. Don’t hide your kids or put them in a baby dungeon. Covid exposures are a fact of life. Don’t feel bad and don’t give it a second thought.

LOL. I am dying.

[Anonymous]

There's an online tool you can install to drown out background noise during Zoom and other web meetings. Google it. I think it's called Krisp.

It works.