Baby Mama Drama

Today on the train...I was sitting next to a lady about my age. She pulled out her phone shortly after I got on the train with her day care center. Apparently, they charged her for picking up her son late and she didn't want to pay.


If you leave the story at that, it sounds like she should have just paid the fine. The problem was that her son is normally picked up by a neighbor, THREE hours before they called her. The mother had a valid point in saying that the day care center should have called her way before they did to inform her that her son wasn't picked up, and if they had called her then she wouldn't have a fine to pay.

Of course, I could only hear her side of the story, but the fact that this conversation went on as long as it did amazed me. Instead of being all about the customer (and the safety of the child), the person on the other end of the line was trying to defend what was done and enforcing the fee being paid. The mother of course countered that by saying that her son is always picked up on time, all of the people that were listed as emergency contacts live nearby and no one was called until THREE hours after her son's normal pick up time. 


The day care worker obviously then went on to theories of child abandonment and police being called, which the mother then repeated that someone should have called her or one of her emergency contacts before the police needed to be called, but the place waited THREE hours to call.

I give credit for the mother for staying calm and making all of her points, but I still felt bad because through her conversation I learned that she was a single mother of a two year old that doesn't get off work until 6:00 pm, which is why someone else picks up her son from day care. 


That is a lot of stress for one person to handle. I'm sure she spends day in and day out providing for her son, and then this situation comes along, causing her to question her trust in the day care center's ability to take care of him, but probably not having many other affordable options or the time to look for them.