the tale of the babysitter

[ThePhoneGoddess]

This happened to me at least a decade ago, when I was very young, working my first real job at the front desk of a rather nice casino-hotel in Nevada. I have many many many crazy stories from there...I could easily fill a book with all the things I witnessed in my 18 months there. This was all at a hotel on the border between Nevada and Idaho, where people from Sun Valley, ID and Snowbird, UT would regularly fly their private planes in and spend a weekend gambling in our casino.

This story is about a babysitter. A normal looking teenage girl who was hired by a couple to watch their children while they gambled. This was nice, actually. Many people just left their kids alone in the room while they gambled, but this nice couple actually brought a girl with them to keep an eye on their kids. Of course we knew none of this until it all went down...

About 3 in the afternoon. We're at the front desk, at one end of the casino. The second floor of the hotel had an open balcony when you stepped off the elevator so you could look down right into the front desk. We're going about our business, checking people in, checking them out, ignoring their demands for free rooms because they've spent sooooo much money.

Suddenly, a guest yells eewwwww! and starts freaking out. Someone had spit on her! The shift lead Sherry, runs off, into the elevator. She gets up to the second floor and we hear her using her stern voice (she was known as the general, because you did NOT mess with her.) She brings down 3 kids, two boys about 8 & 11 and a girl a few years younger, all obviously siblings.
They were up on the second floor, looking out over the front desk, and taking turns spitting over the ledge...for fun, I guess.

So Sherry pages their parents and they come to the front desk. To their credit, they were very embarrassed about what the kids had been doing. The first thing they ask the kids is 'where is the babysitter?'

The kids get all shifty-eyed. Wouldn't say anything.

So the parents tell us, apologetically, that they had brought a babysitter to keep an eye on the kids and take them to the pool and stuff, and they don't know why she's not with them. We page the babysitter for them. nothing.

Mom takes the kids back up to the room while Dad goes searching for the girl. At this point, the parents are worried. They're responsible for this girl's safety. She's maybe 15 or so. What happened to her?

Dad searches for a while, then notifies hotel security, who notifies police. Everyone starts searching for the babysitter. Police finally find her, in the backseat of a car in a way back parking lot of the casino. Apparently she had met some 17 year old kid while out at the pool with the kids, and had run off with him...for a little hanky-panky. In fact the police caught them in flagrante delicto!

Later that night, we saw her in the casino diner. She had been crying...a lot, and was stuck there, with no place to stay. The family had told her to call her parents to come get her.

Don't know what happened to the 17 year old. The family kept an eye on their kids, though. Apologized profusely about the spitting, and I'm pretty sure the kids were punished for it.

[friendofjimmyk]

This is a good one! Do share some more!

[pbmods]

What a dumb kid. If she'd only held out for a few more hours, she coulda probably been in the back seat of somebody's PLANE....

[Becks]

I wonder what the babysitter's parents had to say about it all?

[JustaCashier]

And a big bravo to the parents for taking full responsibility, dealing with the situation properly, and apologizing so profusely.

Now, in my opinion, the praise I've just given, should be totally unneccesary, since the parents merely handled as they should have. But, in today's day and age, or ten years ago day and age, in this case, it seems to be a rarity.

Of course, as mentioned, not many parents took the resposibility of hiring a babysitter to begin with.

Mike

[Jester]

I have actually seen a few families bring along babysitters to this pretty much adult-type tropical island resort I live on, and I think that is cool.

Of course, when I say "a few" the emphasis is on "few." As in, I've seen this only a handful of times. But it is still cool. It gives the parents more freedom to enjoy the adult activities and the nightlife here. It gives the kids supervision the whole time. And it gives a lucky teenager a chance for a free, or sometimes even paid, vacation. Too bad the babysitter in the original story did not realize the great situation she had going.

The one thing I disagree with in the original post is the parents' handling of the babysitter after the fact. Yes, she shirked her responsibilities. Yes, she acted immaturely and irresponsibly. Yes, she abandoned young kids that were in her charge. And yes, she set a horribly bad example for said kids. But since the parents were basically entrusted with her care while she was with them, it was, in my opinion, their responsibility to make sure she got home safely, despite her disregard for their children's safety. I am not saying they should have had her watching their kids anymore....but they should not have booted her out just to let her family come get her. I don't think that that reflects well on the parents. Then again, considering the bad judgment they used in selecting a babysitter, this does not surprise me all that much.

[kibbles]

I gotta agree with you Jester also on the last part. It just seemed a bit off that they basically abandoned a 15 year old girl in Nevada. The young girl didn't have a lot of common sense given how she forgot about her responsibilities, but the parents didn't show much common sense either in this case.

Kibbles

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I am not saying they should have had her watching their kids anymore....but they should not have booted her out just to let her family come get her. I don't think that that reflects well on the parents. Then again, considering the bad judgment they used in selecting a babysitter, this does not surprise me all that much.

Was it bad judgement, or simply a case of a normally trusted babysitter that once released into a situation of extreme temptation went a little nuts? I would like to think that a couple as careful with thier children wouldn't have just taken a random teenager off the streets to babysit...they most likely would have taken along someone who had sat for them before.

Frankly, depending on the situation I would have left her. If I had flown in then odds are she has a return ticket and I would have called her parents and told them to pick up their child at the airport at such and such time (according to flight schedule). Otherwise I would have called the parents, made them pay for a ticket home, given her enough money for lunch and then left her...but that's as far as I'd go.

Mongo

[kibbles]

Sorry but I think leaving a 15 year old on her own in Nevada is just cruel. The original post stated that she was basically stuck there with no place to stay, but in any circumstances, leaving a minor on their own like that is just downright cruel.

If this was an adult that they had hired to be a babysitter and they did something similar, then yes I'd wholeheartedly agree, leave 'em there, but this is a whole different situation.

In this story, the parents showed less common sense than the 15 year old, and what they did shows a lot about their character as parents too IMO. I also think the parents of the 15 year old should be able to take some kind of legal action against the stellar "parents of the year"

Kibbles

[draftermatt]

The OP said they called the girls parents. It may have been there idea. Like leaving a kid in jail overnight so they never do it again. Granted, I wouldn't have left a 15 year old alone, but the OP also said "15 or so" She could have been 17-18 and not a minor anymore.

[Banrion]

Sorry but I think leaving a 15 year old on her own in Nevada is just cruel. The original post stated that she was basically stuck there with no place to stay, but in any circumstances, leaving a minor on their own like that is just downright cruel.

That is EXACTLY what this girl did. IMO if she thinks she is old enough to leave 3 kids alone while she goes and gets knocked up in the back of some random dudes car, she better be old enough to at least figure out how to get home when she got caught.

There is no way in hades that I would allow someone like that to remain with my children after she abandoned them and behaved the way she did. Kudos to the parents of the kids for making this girl take responsibilty for her own actions.

[Kiwi]

If they are in a casino, she is still in a safe place, they have security and staff around.

Its a bad situation all around, she at 15 should be old enough to take care of herself, and she totally failed her post by abandoning those children.

It sounds like the parents were on their way to get her anyway.

[Luna]

The teenager was left to care for the children. By leaving them to go get laid - she participated in child endangerment. I'm not saying what the couple did what 100% right, but I would have been pissed too. If the girl is old enough to have sex, she's old enough to make adult decisions and take the consequences for them.

I guess we won't know since we don't know when the parents came or how soon they came.

[Tanasi]

Hmmm, how to respond, how to respond....

There's more than enough fault to go around here.

First IMHO a responsible adult doesn't take their kids where the primary activity doesn't allow said kids. You either leave them at home with a responsible adult or you stay at home. Believe me I understand the need to get away from the yardapes but your first duty is to them.

Second you don't put a child for which you've taken responsibility out. You make sure that child gets safely home, end of story.

Third you spend some quality time (I like to call them Come to Jesus meetings) with you kids explaining (by any means necessary) why what they did was wrong and won't be tollerated (just try to keep the blood off the ceilings.)

Fourth you and the wife take turns kicking each other's butt for bringing four children to a casino and abandoning them to their own devices.

Fifth you appoligize to babysitters parents for leaving her unsupervised. It's not your fault babysitter is a slut but it is your fault that she was able to act upon said reputation.

Sixth you hopefully receive an appoligy from babysitter's parents for their lack of home-training of said babysitter.

Seventh you appoligize to the patrons up were spit upon.

Eighth you appoligize to hotel/casino staff.

and finally Ninth (I couldn't think of a tenth), You take yourself, your wife and all kids, home and remain there until such time you and kids can act properly in public.

If you kids can't behave then it's your fault!!!!

[One-Fang]

The parents did pretty well in regards to their own children and taking responsibility. Their only two flaws are:

1. Hiring a 15 year old to babysit on a Nevada vacation. Too stimulating. She'd be still too immature to fully realise the responsibility placed upon her. Should've had an older person do it, preferably someone who's already had a few vacations of their own to get over the novelty of it.

2. Abandoning said 15 year old. However, we don't know for sure that the teen's parents weren't on their way to get her. Do we know what arrangements the parents in the story made? Only the OP's observation that she was there, and had "nowhere to go". Whether this was the teen's statement or the OP's assumption, I don't know. Either way, it doesn't negate the possibility parental units are on the next flight out to get her and will be there soon.