What would you do?

[Anonymous]

I got called in early due to a snow day. I was in bed when my MB texted me and asked me to come in before 10:30. (The text was sent at 9:40) when I didn't respond she sent another one practically begging me to come in because she had to meet with a friend, so I quickly showered, grabbed whatever I could for breakfast and lunch and headed to work, when I got there my charge was still in his pjs, teeth unbrushed and hair wild. (Usually my charge and the family are up at the crack of dawn and dressed for the day.) MB tells me he need to be dressed and etc, and she had to go because she was late. She leaves and 2 minutes late comes back saying her friend cancelled on her. I was pissed! Not only did I rush here to help her while she was out, but I cut all my errands out of today to help her, and now she's walking around with an attitude gripping, about some events that happened yesterday. I cannot deal with this today, and decided it's time to have a talk with MB or find another job, but I don't know how to approach the situation without coming off as an asshole.

[Anonymous]

All of this is confusing.

Is this usually a day off? Then say "no, I can't make it."

Did you schedule errands because you thought you had the day off because of snow? If the snow was light enough that you could run errands, then it was light enough to go to work. You don't get a free day for that.

Do you normally go in later than 10:30? Then, again, say, "no, I can't make it." You could follow up with, "I can come early some days if we plan in advance, though," if you want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of this is confusing.

Is this usually a day off? Then say "no, I can't make it."

Did you schedule errands because you thought you had the day off because of snow? If the snow was light enough that you could run errands, then it was light enough to go to work. You don't get a free day for that.

Do you normally go in later than 10:30? Then, again, say, "no, I can't make it." You could follow up with, "I can come early some days if we plan in advance, though," if you want to.

I normally come in after school hours and get the children off of the bus. So I do all of my errands before I come into work in the afternoon. Usually MB would ask me days in advance to come in early and I would say yes or no. Today was different. She asked last minute and followed up with text after text until I responded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this is confusing.

Is this usually a day off? Then say "no, I can't make it."

Did you schedule errands because you thought you had the day off because of snow? If the snow was light enough that you could run errands, then it was light enough to go to work. You don't get a free day for that.

Do you normally go in later than 10:30? Then, again, say, "no, I can't make it." You could follow up with, "I can come early some days if we plan in advance, though," if you want to.

I normally come in after school hours and get the children off of the bus. So I do all of my errands before I come into work in the afternoon. Usually MB would ask me days in advance to come in early and I would say yes or no. Today was different. She asked last minute and followed up with text after text until I responded.

I think when anyone does something out of the ordinary, it's fair to cut them some slack and assume something strange is going on. It is also reasonable to ask questions, and to still say "no." It is also reasonable to not respond to "text after text," or to respond once and say, "I'm sorry; I'm busy right now. I'll see you this afternoon."

It's important not to agree to so something you're going to be resentful about if it doesn't go perfectly; if you didn't want to give up your morning, you should have said no. Once you said yes, even if her plans fell through, the reasonable response is to be irritated, but be happy with the extra money and file this information away for next time.

But you say you need a new job, so does this kind of thing happen on a regular basis?

[Anonymous]

You're getting paid right? Bank the extra money and put it in your travel fund or new couch fund or whatever. Relax.

When MB came back you could easily have said, Great, now I can run my errands. See you at 3! Then left. You didn't.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully you got paid for at least four hours of work for your time + effort.