Anonymous wrote:People are under the delusion that phones are a necessity. They are not. They're luxury items that you should never expect another person to have unless you pay for it. The human species survived millions of years sans phones.

PP, I love you!! I couldn't have said it any better.

Honestly, it bothers the hell out of me that in this day and age we are all just expected to freakin' be "on-call" all the time. Like if someone cannot reach us within a certain time frame, whether that be 15 minutes or whatever, then we have to have a valid reason and thus apologize for it. It's like having cell phones these days can be such a burden.

Call me old-school, I am 38, but seriously people, when did it become a requirement that I have to be 100% available within a certain time span, even a 20 minute time span and if I am not, then I am to be held accountable for it somehow.

It's like there is this new unspoken rule that everyone now has a responsibility to always have their phones w/them at ALL times. The phones must be charged fully, ringers turned on and no excuses if you accidentally leave it in the car or at the house for even a short amount of time.

God, I miss the days when I had the freedom of being able to go where I wanted and not have to worry about having to make sure I always had my phone glued to me and having to check the screen every few minutes just to "make sure." It's like a freakin' burden at times.

Honestly, people babysat children for many years prior and people managed to figure it all out.

This family totally overreacted and I would talk it out, but it isn't something that I would leave for. This can be discussed and resolved easily. I am sure this has nothing to do with trust. It has more to do with their anxiety issues. If they didn't trust you fully, they wouldn't have left their kid alone with you.

But Gosh...I hope you never have any bathroom issues in the future where you are stuck in the bathroom for like ten minutes for an emergency, etc. That could get quite awkward.

People are under the delusion that phones are a necessity. They are not. They're luxury items that you should never expect another person to have unless you pay for it. The human species survived millions of years sans phones.

I'm sure they will get over it. They overreacted, but I don't think that automatically means they won't trust you or use you in the future. About two years ago I had a similar situation happen to me. I had been working with the family for over two years in a weekly basis and one day I forgot my phone in my car when I took my charge to the park. About 20 minutes into our park time I saw the mom standing and starring at us from the parking lot. At first I thought she was spying on us, but then she started walking towards us and told me she had called and texted me multiple times and she freaked out that something bad happened to us. It's 3 years later and I'm still with the family and we have a great relationship. I know it hurt my feelings at first, and I could tell the mom was upset that I didn't have my phone with me. But we talked about it and that weekend I went out and bought a case for my phone that I can clip on my clothes so I always have my phone with me. I highly recommend you get one, as I haven't had the same problem since. Good luck OP, I'm sure things will work out.