My Mom Can Fire You
By Susan Mercedes. Filed in Family, Friends, Home, Work |
I had an opportunity to go to see The Passion of Sister Dottie S. Dixon with a girlfriend. It was a blast. We laughed our asses off. Mostly around the Utah humor. But that is not the point of my story.
In order to go out on a work night, I had to make arrangements for my lovely daughter. (News flash: going forward I will refer to my daughter as Elle.) I don’t get a sitter very often. Notice I didn’t say a babysitter since she’s not a baby. Elle is 10. Since I’m divorced and she spends time with her dad, I generally plan my outings around that.
So where does my sitter pool come from. There is a neighbor girl I adore and use occasionally but don’t prefer that option for evening events especially on a school night.
I opted for plan B and went to a rarely tapped group. I “manage” a group of people at work. I put the term manage in quotes since they are unbelievably talented and there is very little to manage. In particular there are two young ladies in the group that have watched Elle in the past and she loves both of them.
Anyhow, the sitter (one of the two ladies mentioned above) came over. She was right on time. As usual I was running late and raced out the door barking orders, “Elle do your homework, behave, I love you and be good.”
When I returned home later I got the recap of the evening with Elle. First dinner, then homework, then fingernail painting, then bedtime. But obviously there was some chit chat going on too. One conversation in particular cracked me up. It went something like this:
Elle: You work with my mom, right?
Sitter: Yes. Your mom is my boss.
Elle: That means that she could fire you, huh?
Elle has this idea that I walk around and fire people. With the unsettled economy and job market, I’d hate for Elle to scare my star employees with that powerful fact. Now I’ll never know if she agreed to be Elle’s sitter because she likes my kid or because she’s scared I’ll fire her otherwise.
Friday, May 8th 2009 at 11:59 am
I say you use this to make the worker think you can fire her, and get her to babysit more so you can go out whenever the hell you want. I’m sure there’s NO WAY you could get in trouble for that…..
Susan Mercedes Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Kel: I don’t prefer to threaten people in order to get them to do stuff for me. On another note, as soon as you move back to Utah you won’t have to worry about those adult photos of you…
Friday, May 8th 2009 at 12:29 pm
God, I’d never watch my supervisors’ kids. My record for babysitting jobs that included 911 calls is about 0.15. Who needs that kind of professional blight in this job market?
Susan Mercedes Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Erin: Makes sense. *scratching Erin Alberty off of my back up sitting list*
Friday, May 8th 2009 at 3:24 pm
Must be the age….
As a boss myself, I have to admit I’ve heard my daughter tell her friends this before, though in my situation, there are a few people I actually wouldn’t mind walking around and firing. I’ve also heard her tell people that I “tell the cops when they screw up,” which, is sometimes technically right, but it’s probably best not to phrase it that way. The thing I hate the most that she does, is tell people, “My mom just sleeps all day long.” She leaves out the part about how I work graveyard shift all night long! LOL
Susan Mercedes Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Amberly: I love what kids say. They have no filter or need to give background. They say it like it is. So pure and sometimes embarrassing.
Friday, May 8th 2009 at 6:12 pm
Sweet Elle! She still cracks me up with the things she says!!
Susan Mercedes Reply:
May 9th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Holly: Elle sends her love. We miss you.