This has been our last couple of weeks:

12/09 2yo positive for Flu A
12/13 4yo positive for Flu A
12/29 DH gets stomach bug
1/1 4yo gets stomach bug
1/2 2yo gets stomach bug
1/7 2yo tests positive for Flu B

Anonymous wrote:You do realize we've had one of the worst cold and flu and COVID and whatever else communicative disease seasons ever?

That parents are having a hard time finding kids ibuprofen and other over the counter kids meds?

That you can't send your kid to daycare when they're sick?

Seriously. My kid has had rsv, Covid, the stomach flu, and 2-3 other colds where I couldn’t send her to daycare. All in the last 3 months. UGH!

I have tons of sick and annual leave and would love to just take off for a couple of days to take care of her (and to take care of myself after I get sick too), but my office is too busy for me to use that sick leave, so I take care of my kiddo while working a full day (switch off childcare with my spouse). So not only does the baby occasionally cry, she makes full appearances on many of my meetings.

If anyone complains, I’m more than happy to take leave….but my boss hasn’t said a peep, and I’m pretty sure that he won’t ever do so, since he wants me to keep working.

Mute yourself.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t heard any crying babies, but enough with the barking dogs.

Gotcha. I’ll just cut my dog’s vocal cords.

Oh, stick the melodrama in your ear and train your dog.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, maybe the baby crying is you.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Oh, I’m so embarrassed for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP is whining more the babies. Stop being a prick OP. Some people have kids. If not, go to the office if you’re that bothered. Geez what a loser.

People had kids before the pandemic too but somehow managed to have decorum while working.

This. They can put their kids in childcare and go back to the office. Problem solved.

Anonymous wrote:No. This is the new normal. Just like it's going to next to impossible to make everyone go in 5 days a week. Get used to it

No, it’s not. Get used to it.

the good news is my work has an on-site daycare with playground. the bad news is that my office is directly above it. so if i worked onsite, it would be 9 hours of infants crying and toddlers screaming in the background of all my calls.

(the real problem for me is that now after having my own baby, i have a very visceral *OMG a baby is crying* reaction that no amount of logical "yes, but it's not MY baby" mental reminders can assuage, and I'm very glad I can be remote.)

that said, I've been known to join calls with a sick baby on me rather than reschedule. I've got 12 weeks of leave I can dip into, so i'm perfectly happy to cancel our call and you can try again in three weeks when there's another opening on my calendar. Of course, odds are good that the baby will be sick again despite the $3000 a month I pay in childcare... feel free to just make your meeting an email, because i really have no need to talk to you, OP.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. i just wanted a meeting without baby crying in the back. she had to stop/mute at times when it got really bad. i thought it's not too much to ask.

So if she was actually stuck with no child care for the day, presumably because her baby was too sick, you were mad that she had to mute herself when her baby started screaming TOO loudly? id be mad she didnt rock that poor baby while she was on the meeting. she probably wanted to, but coudnt, because of A-holes like you who have no soul. so she let it scream off camera while trying her best to look professional.

i hope she quits on you and gets a better job.

Anonymous wrote:Kick rocks, OP. Seriously.

The world has changed. People are going to be people. We’re more available to our professional lives than ever before (24 hours in many cases), and the trade off is that you’re going to have to get used to people not trying to hide their lives outside of work. Deal with it.

Exactly. There are so many times now that I’m working when instead in the before-times I would have had to take a sick day or other leave. There are trade-offs!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

No need to throw shade at Gen X. My kids are in high school and I struggle to balance everything even with WFH. Much sympathy to parents with little ones. The baby days are so hard, and lets not pretend that all of the childcare spots that were available pre-COVID still exist.

There are no under 2 spots in my area. NONE. The only place with an opening is 1k per WEEK. Group care. Crofton/Bowie area.

I don't believe this for one second. Especially in that area.

I live in AA county and I believe it. I have an 18 month old and have languished on daycare waitlists since he was 4 months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

No need to throw shade at Gen X. My kids are in high school and I struggle to balance everything even with WFH. Much sympathy to parents with little ones. The baby days are so hard, and lets not pretend that all of the childcare spots that were available pre-COVID still exist.

There are no under 2 spots in my area. NONE. The only place with an opening is 1k per WEEK. Group care. Crofton/Bowie area.

I don't believe this for one second. Especially in that area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. i just wanted a meeting without baby crying in the back. she had to stop/mute at times when it got really bad. i thought it's not too much to ask.

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

DP and Gen X and I am just so damn happy that I don’t have to commute 5 days a week anymore I don’t care about occasional noise in the background. We aren’t doing brain surgery so a little distraction isn’t going to kill anyone.

OP, this is what gets you spun up? Jeez, get a grip. Who cares?

Anonymous wrote:

I can tell you're on the older side of Gen X.

No need to throw shade at Gen X. My kids are in high school and I struggle to balance everything even with WFH. Much sympathy to parents with little ones. The baby days are so hard, and lets not pretend that all of the childcare spots that were available pre-COVID still exist.

There are no under 2 spots in my area. NONE. The only place with an opening is 1k per WEEK. Group care. Crofton/Bowie area.