My wife didn’t come to my work Christmas party so I canceled our babysitter, I don’t get why she’s mad, we’d waste $200
A COUPLE has divided opinions after revealing they argued over hiring a babysitter to watch their three children.
The husband, 38, had initially booked a babysitter because he and his wife, 36, were going to his annual workplace Christmas party.
He penned a lengthy post on Reddit explaining that his wife had agreed to go to the axe-throwing festive party almost two months ago.
However, when the day came she no longer wanted to go because she was in a “bad mental space” after having a horrible day at work.
The man said he was “disappointed” but understood his wife’s decision to stay at home.
Without discussing it first, he canceled the babysitter they had booked and paid $30 via Venmo to compensate for the late cancellation.
The couple are parents to three children aged 10, eight, and five.
He said: “As I was getting ready to leave, my wife asked when the babysitter was going to come.
“I kind of looked at her funny and told her I had just canceled the babysitter because she was no longer coming with me.
“She got mad at me and told me that I knew she had a bad day and was in a bad mental state and needed some time to herself.
“I told her that I had assumed none of that meant she was incapable of watching our kids.
“I didn't think having the babysitter come when my wife was at home made any sense at all.
“She told me to call her back and see if she could still come to watch the kids and I told her that if she wanted to do that she could do it, but I'm not going to.
“She tried to argue with me about it, but I told her that I had to leave for the party.
“While I was at the party, she sent me multiple texts about how the kids were driving her nuts.
"The babysitter didn't answer her calls and she needed me to come home.”
The man said he left the Christmas party over an hour early to go home because his wife kept ringing his phone.
He said she called him an “a**hole” as they continued to argue over his decision to cancel the babysitter.
“I told her I was not going to pay a babysitter just so that my wife could rest after a bad day,” he explained.
“I told her she could have just thrown a movie on for the kids and relaxed.
“I told her she was the one who ruined our potential night out and that having a bad day at work is not a good enough reason to pay a babysitter $150-200.
“She still thinks I was an AH [a**hole] for canceling the babysitter without talking to her first and she's still mad at me for it.
“But I don't think that was an unreasonable assumption to make.
“There have been plenty of times when I've had a bad day and I am still 100 percent capable of watching the kids by myself while my wife leaves the house.”
Responses to the post were divided as some people accused the man of not caring about his wife’s feelings.
One person wrote: “You took absolutely no consideration that your wife might have really needed some time by herself.
"You decided ‘Well If she’s not going with me to do my thing she can’t do her own thing either’ so yeah YTA [you are the a**hole].”
Agreeing, another said: “I mean, we've been married for almost 50 years, and one of the basic reasons that we've made it this far is that we try for consensus on mutual decisions.
“She might have even seen your point about the expense if she had been asked her input.”
However, the majority of responses to the post defended the man and argued his wife had behaved unreasonably.
One person quipped: “If I have a bad day I still gotta watch my son. It’s life.
“If the family is wealthy okay maybe but I don’t think they are.
“Having to deal with your kids when you feel like s**t is part of what we sign up for as parents. And if the husband is capable of doing it the wife should be too.”
Another chimed in: “I feel like you should have communicated better, the both of you, but it seems logical to me that if the night out is canceled then so is the babysitter.”
A third added: “You accommodated her and changed two-month-old plans due to her bad mood.
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“You dealt with the babysitter and attended the party alone. And she made sure to ruin your evening by harassing you on your phone.
“It sounds like something else is going on.”