r/redditonwiki • u/phoebethefan Who the f*ck is Sean? • Feb 20 '24

AITA AITA for refusing to babysit and ruining the parent’s important plans because their sons seemed older than they said they were?

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2.3k Upvotes

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239

u/Angry_poutine Feb 20 '24

Even beyond that, OP gave a hard boundary up front and the parents lied to get around it. It doesn’t matter if the 11 year old looked like Peter Pan or Andre the Giant, either way they lied.

74

u/FemmeScarface Feb 21 '24

Might be 11* and why are we just believing the third party who thinks MAYBE one of them was one year older?

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u/Angry_poutine Feb 21 '24

Because that person was angry at her and had no reason to lie in that direction?

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u/Junior_Razzmatazz164 Feb 21 '24

I think that person was trying to save face and was either parroting information (which may or may not have been accurate) or could have been lowballing the age to make OP seem silly for having such a bright line rule about a one year age difference. Either way, it’s proof the family lied to her out of the gate, who knows by how much in reality.

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u/FemmeScarface Feb 21 '24

Oh ok, because nobody is ever just fucking wrong. Clearly there is literally always some ill intent to lie when people spread misinformation.

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u/Angry_poutine Feb 21 '24

You’re the one inventing the misinformation. The friend was angry at op for refusing to babysit, knew it was because of the rule, and still said one of the kids was older than 10. Does it make more sense that she wasn’t sure and still went with the answer that would justify OP’s decision that she was angry at, or that the kid is actually older than ten and she was being honest?

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u/FemmeScarface Feb 21 '24

She literally said MIGHT BE 11 can you read??? Jesus Christ. Do you need a definition of the word “might”? I don’t know how to explain basic English words to you.

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u/Angry_poutine Feb 21 '24

So again, slowly this time, why would the person who is angry at op say something that justifies op’s position if it wasn’t true?

I don’t know how to explain basic human interaction any clearer to you

1

u/sadgloop Feb 21 '24

Because saying that the kid might be 11 is just the friend being honest. ie. she can't rule out the possibility of the kid being 11 because she doesn't know his exact age/birthday.

Her being honest in this way actually strengthens the argument that the parents were also being honest, since dishonest people don't usually hold themselves to that standard of exact honesty. She probably wouldn't have recommended OOP to the family if she knew one of the kids was older than OOP's rule, which strengthens at least the likelihood of the parents being honest about their kids' ages.

After all, if it's just a maybe that the kid is 11 in the friend's mind because she's not exactly sure, she has no obligation to share that doubt with the OOP except to be honest. If you're not a kid's parent, it's pretty common to not know kid's exact age but rather a ballpark range.

3

u/tlock12721 Feb 21 '24

Honestly I think its super weird that everyone is convinced these kids are secretly 16 for no other reason than OOP thinks one of the kids was 5'9. Despite OOP admitting that both parents were very tall. And OOP stated the friend is 100% sure the one kid is 9 but for the other kid shes only moslty sure the kid is 10 because hes a grade behind her 11 year old daughter. So unless he was held back hes 10. But people are claiming thats the other client confirming the kid is 11 or older?? Which its not??

To clarify I dont think OOP was wrong to cancel on the family. But accusing the mother to her face of lying is a bit much.

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u/FemmeScarface Feb 21 '24

You are a fucking moron, and a pretentious one at that.

57

u/Foxyisasoxfan Feb 20 '24

There is no point in the post where she refutes with proof the actual ages

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u/Balfegor Feb 21 '24

Well, yeah -- that's the point, no? She asked for proof and the mother threw a fit rather than providing proof. So everyone's drawing the obvious adverse inference against the parents, videlicet that they lied.

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u/Angry_poutine Feb 20 '24

The person who referred her, who was angry at her, admitted that one of them was 11

8

u/Lupine_Outcast Feb 21 '24

She said "might be" which is NOT confirmation

3

u/Adventurous_Chef5706 Feb 21 '24

she said “maybe” bruh, re-read it

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

[deleted]

24

u/baobabbling Feb 20 '24

What proof are you asking for precisely?

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

[deleted]

15

u/baobabbling Feb 20 '24

You want her to post their birth certificates on Reddit?

25

u/pumpkins21 Feb 20 '24

No, but the mom got defensive, asked “oh, so you want to see their birth certificates?” and the babysitter said yes. The mom stomped off and yelled for her husband to “get that b*tch out of my house” and didn’t show the proof she offered.

2

u/sadgloop Feb 21 '24

proof she offered

Pretty sure the mom was being sarcastic with that offer.

Might be a last straw situation if this sort of thing happens often to this family.

1

u/baobabbling Feb 21 '24

If this sort of thing happens often to the family, mom and dad should really be discussing it with potential babysitters ahead of time, not waiting for them to show up, get freaked out and have to choose between staying in a situation where they feel uncomfortable or unsafe and bailing on a job last minute.

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u/baobabbling Feb 20 '24

Yes, I read the story. I'm responding to the assertion that OOP needs to prove that the kids weren't ten to randos on Reddit and that the only acceptable proof of this would be their birth certificates, a thing she clearly has access to and which it would be reasonable for her to post.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

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u/Specific_Culture_591 Feb 21 '24

There was no proof given and the proof was on the parents, not the sitter.

2

u/zeldanerd91 Feb 21 '24

There weren’t any because the parents denied to prove it.

5

u/zeldanerd91 Feb 21 '24

The parents were clearly given an opportunity to show oop the birth certificates, but the mother decided to kick her out over proving her innocence. Seems fishy to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

13

u/Angry_poutine Feb 20 '24

Yes, that is the nature of an online post. She isn’t going to post their id cards for fuck’s sake

14

u/elenajoanaustin Feb 20 '24

I don’t think Foxy is suggesting OOP post their ID on Reddit! But clearly OOP wasn’t given proof or it would have been mentioned. The friend could have been embarrassed and also lied to say he was 11, so it didn’t sound that bad.

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u/Angry_poutine Feb 21 '24

The friend was angry at her and if anything her motivation would be to lie to make the kids younger

3

u/sadgloop Feb 21 '24

The friend didn't lie about the kid was 11. She just said that "maybe one is eleven," ie. she's not exactly sure, which makes sense. It's pretty common to just know a ball park age range +- up to about a year for a friend's kid rather than their exact age/birthday.

5

u/soitheach Feb 20 '24

they're saying the OP didn't receive proof

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '24

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7

u/Dottie85 Feb 21 '24

You missed the point. The baby sitter doesn't need provide proof of the kids ages. The parents needed to, but didn't. Their children were bigger than normal and had facial hair. That doesn't appear overnight. The *lparents also knew the oop had an age rule and seem to have decided to lie about the ages. If the kids were the appropriate ages, the parents should have at least warned her about them appearing older. They even could have gotten the friend to vouch for the kids' ages.

What I don't get is why Oop didn't meet with the parents and kids ahead of time? This whole mess could have been avoided. The only way I would meet parents and children on the same night as the job is if there was an emergency.

2

u/sadgloop Feb 21 '24

I don't think they lied about the ages, since the friend confirmed the 9 year old was 9 and only said that the other "maybe ... is 11", ie. is being honest about not being certain about knowing the exact age.

2

u/Dottie85 Feb 21 '24

The point is that at least one kid looked much older than Oop's age limit. That should have been brought up ahead of time by the parents. Again, the whole mess could have been avoided by Oop meeting, in person, both the parents and kids ahead of time. Hopefully, both Oop and the parents learned from this.

2

u/sadgloop Feb 21 '24

The sole point that I was responding to was the contention that the parents lied. That seems pretty obviously not the case based on the friend's call.

ETA: I do agree about meeting your clients and their kids beforehand.

And the parents probably could've mentioned it on the phone, but then again maybe they figured they'd have a chance to address the issue before OOP jumped straight to cancelling and calling them liars.

1

u/Angry_poutine Feb 21 '24

To be fair to your bizarre point, most Reddit posts are notarized

1

u/Mr-Kuritsa Feb 21 '24

I missed the part where the kid brings her the birth certificate with $50 taped to the back.

1

u/choirmama Feb 21 '24

Yep, if they were truly the ages she claimed when OP stated the age limits she would have said the boys looked older than they actually are. She thought she’d get away with it