Babysitters are the savior of some busy parents and can provide care for children when their parents need to be doing other things. This 21 year old babysitter (we’ll call her Julia) truly cares about Mia, the child she babysits. The amount of of abuse Julia received from an entitled mother and her child on a bus ride one weekend would make some people quit, but Julia loved the girl she watched over. Mia is 8 years old and Julia has been babysitting her for her entire life. The family treats Julia great and Mia is an extremely easy child to babysit.
Julia cared so much for Mia that she never rose her rates over the years and charged an extremely small fee of about $2/hour. In return, Mia’s parents would give her gift cards for special events and holidays. Julia babysits Mia for fun and has a career that takes care of her expenses.
One Saturday, Julia was watching Mia and decided to go on day trip to the nearest big city. Mia loved shopping and sightseeing so it was the perfect way to spend a relaxing day.
Julia hated, HATED, driving places because of all of the added stress so she decided that they’d go on the bus. They booked the bus and for a round trip ticket, it was only $12 with Mia being a free ride because she was under 10 years old. The bus also waited for you if you scheduled the round trip and were a little bit late for departure.
Anyway, they made it to the bus just like normal and hopped on. Julia let Mia use her old Nintendo DSi while on the ride so that Mia could have a solid distraction for the trip and so she could use her phone and relax a bit. Everything was great… until this entitled mom – we’ll call her Karen – and her son got on the bus.
The mother-son duo got on and took the seats right behind Mia and Julia. No problem, right? Wrong. It didn’t take long for the little boy to notice the game Mia was playing and he became jealous.
He said to his mom, “Mommy, I want to play!”
Karen: “Well, go ahead.”
Julia thought that he would just ask nicely, like a normal kid, if he could play with Mia or try out the game but no – the boy jumped up from his seat, reached over Mia’s head and tried to take the game from her hands. He got it for a second, but couldn’t take it completely because Mia had the wrist strap on. Julia made sure that Mia’s wrist was okay and that they DSi wasn’t broken and then turned around, stopping the boy from trying again.
Julia: “Young man, that was not nice at all.”
Karen instantly replied, “He just wants to play. Let him play, too.”
To which Julia responded, “Teach your child to ask properly and I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t tell me how to parent my kid! You’re still a kid yourself.”
The boy cried out, “Mom! I want that game!”
Julia was fed up so she told them no and asked them to leave her alone. After sitting back down, Julia noticed that Mia’s seat was shaking and thought it was just because of the bus, then after a minute she realized that the boy was constantly kicking Mia’s seat. Even after he was asked to stop, he kept on kicking, so Julia told Karen that if she had to say it again, she would tell one of the bus drivers and that there would be an issue.
All Karen did was say, “He’s bored. Give him the game and he’ll stop, it’s not that hard.”
Julia immediately got up and took Mia with her to another part of the bus, then left her there while she went up front to complain to the drivers. Then, all of a sudden, Julia heard Mia yell, “NO! Let go!”
Julia turned around to see that the boy had followed Mia to the new row and had the DSi in one hand and Mia’s hair in his other. Karen was watching this happen, smirking with a look of satisfaction as the boy ripped the wrist strap off Mia, taking the game and bringing it back to his seat.
Julia stormed at him, grabbing the game without saying a word. He started crying and screaming like a little baby, even though he was about the same age as Mia, 10 years old. Mia was in tears, the boy was screaming, and it was only 8 am. Talk about a rough morning. It was just supposed to be a relaxing day.
“You give that back right now! My son was playing with it!”
The second bus driver (they drove in teams of two) came to the rescue, physically forcing Karen back to her seat in the back of the bus. He then asked Mia and Julia to move up to the front, trying to put as much space between the two groups as possible. He told Karen to use some common sense and realize that the game wasn’t hers and that she can’t force people to give her, or her son, something that isn’t theirs. Yes, she was a full-grown adult. Karen tried to make up excuses saying, “My son only wanted to try the game,” and that “these girls are unfairly rude to my son,” and demanded an apology.
After settling down, Julia gave a subtle middle finger towards the back of the bus, hiding it from view with the seat. Mia caught her and started snickering and playing her game again. Crisis evaded…for now.
Fast forward to the end of a successful shopping spree.
Julia and Mia got back to the bus about 10 minutes before it was schedule to depart and checked in. They chose their seats and were told that they were waiting on one more couple to get back and then they would be ready to leave. The company policy was to wait for all customers and then to charge them per minute they were late.
Well, 35 minutes after bus was supposed to leave, the two late arrivals, Karen and her spoiled brat, sauntered towards the bus – not hurrying at all – with ice cream cones in hand. The standard policy was that food was not allowed on the buses so the drivers told them to finish their food outside of the bus and they took their sweet time. After 10 minutes, they finally finished and got on the bus.
The drivers took their attendance and told the mother-son duo to take a seat. They slowly walked down the aisle scanning for seats before Karen locked eyes with Julia. With purpose, she sat directed her son to sit right behind Julia and Mia, but nothing was said between the two groups, though that silence wouldn’t last long, especially after Karen learned the cost of her delay.
The second bus driver came down the aisle to find Karen and explain the fine situation with her. “Ma’am, sorry to bother you, but you caused a 45 minute delay and, according to our terms and conditions, you will be receiving a fine because of the disservice you have done to the drivers and other passengers.”
Karen: “Fine me? What, for a few minutes? No way. I was told there would be a ride home waiting for us and that’s it.”
Second Bus Driver: “I’m sorry, but you knew that beforehand. It’s in our terms and services agreement that you agreed to when purchasing the tickets.”
“No,” Karen said indignantly, “nobody told me that.”
The driver was exercising all of the patience he had in his entire body. “You agreed to it, ma’am. The company will mail you all of the information you’ll need. I need your ID, please.”
“No.”
“Ma’am if you don’t, I’m afraid I will need to get the police involved.” Without waiting for a response, he went back to his seat, brimming with confidence that this woman would do the right thing. Of course, nothing Karen had done that entire day could be described as “the right thing,” so it made sense that she’d continue to act in the same immature, inconsiderate manner she’d been behaving.
Julia noticed something out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the little boy standing next to her, staring intently at the game.
“I want that game.”
Julia sighed. She did not want to have to deal with this again. “I told you no this morning. It’s still a no.”
He made a sad, pouting face and went back to his mom. It was starting to get dark outside, so Mia laid down on her seat and across Julia’s lap to fall asleep while she was playing her game. Mia buried her face into Julia’s make-shift pillow that she made her jacket, the DSi still attached to her wrist.
Karen immediately noticed Mia was asleep and leaned forward. “She’s done playing now.”
“So?” Julia quietly replied, as to not wake up Mia.
“So my son can play now.”
“No… he can’t. It’s my game and I don’t have to share it with someone if I don’t want to.”
“Come on,” Karen pleaded, “Just give it to him. He wants it and you are far too old for it anyway.”
“I. Don’t. Care. It’s mine and I said no. Leave me alone, lady.”
Karen seemed appalled that somebody told her no. “WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT—?!” At that point she was practically yelling and Julia was worried that Mia would get woken up from the noise.
“Me,” Julia responded forcefully, but as quiet as she could. “I own it. It’s mine, not yours, not your son’s. Do me and yourself a favor and don’t wake her up.”
“She’s asleep. She doesn’t need it now!”
Julia was entirely done with her mess. “Ma’am, the game is tied to her wrist. I would have to wake her up to get it and anyway, I would be playing with it then. Not your son. It’s mine and if I have to tell you again, I will ask for the driver’s help. You know I’ll do it.”
The second driver had been listening to all of this happening and turned around. He gave Karen a stern look and Karen moved herself and her soon a few rows back. Julia thought she was defeated. Again, Julia was wrong.
Julia got on her phone, feeling relieved that it was all over and then after a couple of minutes, she felt a tiny hand on her leg. She assumed it was Mia’s hand that just moved while she was sleeping, so she thought nothing of it.
Then Mia shot up with an eardrum shattering scream. The boy was between Julia’s legs. He had crawled up from three rows back to sneak over and steal the game from Mia’s hand while she was sleeping. The hand on Julia’s leg was the boy’s trying to grab for the DSi.
Luckily, the driver didn’t crash into anything after being startled from the noise, but he stopped the bus as soon as he had that chance. Both of the drivers were furious, the boy was crying, the mother was yelling at Mia, and Mia was crying from the mother yelling at her. Complete chaos.
A man that was on the bus came over and helped separate everyone, trying to calm people down, and eventually succeeded.
Karen: “This selfish girl scared my baby! She purposefully screamed right into his face!”
Driver: “Ma’am, was was your son underneath her seat?”
Karen: “I want this girl off the bus now!”
Driver Two: “Ma’am, please answer the question. Why wasn’t your son seated?”
Karen: “He’s a good kid. He can do whatever he wants.”
The boy was in tears. “Mommy, I want the game.”
Karen looked at Julia and yelled, “You owe my child that game now!” Then she called Julia a word that should never be used in a civilized place, especially in front of children.
Julia ignored the insult in order to try calming Mia down. She was also trying her absolute best to not explode on Karen.
The boy tried to reach for the game again and Julia had had it with him. She pushed him back, not meaning for it to be hard, but meaning for it to be a firm sign that she wanted the kid away. He fell against his mother and Julia said, “Listen here, kid. Don’t you dare touch us or our game again. It’s not yours!”
“You hurt my baby!” Karen yelled.
“You better be glad he’s under age, ma’am, otherwise he’d be facing charges right now. Multiple attempts to steal my property, crawling underneath our legs and touching us! For an adult, that’s assault! Child Protective Services would be very interested to learn you even encouraged him to all of this.” Julia had had enough of this entitled duo, who had been nothing but trouble since they’d first boarded the bus. She was getting close to doing something she might regret.
At this point, Karen was screaming. “You have no right to talk to me like that! Your brat made my baby boy cry! You OWE him that game now. He deserves it! He is a good kid!”
Karen tried pushing past Julia to take the game from Mia. Julia was 5’9″ and around 150 pounds and played on an all male rugby team. She was used to tackling guy bigger and stronger than she was and Mia knew that.
“Do your trick!” Mia exclaimed.
Julia’s trick was that she could throw people over out of a standing position real easily. She could manipulate people’s poor balance and knock them over easily. It was her standard move, but she couldn’t bring herself to pull it here. Julia figured that pushing the boy was as far as she was willing to go. Luckily, Karen’s wild antics brought on consequences that were both swift and sweet.
As soon as Karen had placed a hand on Julia, both of the drivers and the man who’d helped out earlier grabbed Karen, who was thrashing around, throwing punches and insults left and right. After the men had been holding her back for what seemed like an eternity, Karen finally calmed down a bit and she sat back down with her son. The calm would not last, however.
Mia was shaking and scared, but Julia had calmed her down by getting her to play the game again. Julia took her phone out and texted Mia’s parents about the bus being late, but didn’t tell them why.
Julia then heard Karen whispering secretly into her phone. She could overhear a bit of the call and realized this crazy woman had called the police and was giving an obviously false story about a stolen toy, child abuse, being threatened and cornered by several men, and being too scared to ask for an early drop-off. She was exaggerating everything and presenting a terribly twisted tale to the police.
Julia immediately went up to the front and told the drivers what was happening. They looked mortified and contacted the police themselves so they could get the story straight.
After 45 minutes, they got to the stop. Eight cops were sitting outside waiting for them with an ambulance. Mia’s mom was there, trying to figure out what exactly was happening, along with an elderly man who was waiting to pick up one of the other couples on the bus. Mia ran to her mom, giving her the biggest hug, and Julia followed with Mia’s shopping bags.
Meanwhile, Karen and her son were in the ambulance being questioned by the and the rest of the passengers were questioned on their own. The bus drivers provided proof of what happened from the security cameras and Karen was busted. She and her son were instantly banned from the bus company and she was charged with a handful of things, including encouraging her son to steal, false accusations, and attacking Julia.
Julia ended up getting off with just a warning for pushing the boy and the charges Karen filed against Julia were dropped. The judge figured that Julia was protecting Mia and her property, so it was considered self defense. Karen was fined for the delay that she and her son caused and was ordered to accept family assistance and Child Protective Services was charged with looking over the family.
The next month, Julia babysat Mia again and decided to go for another road trip to make up for the previous one. When they were getting on the bus, Julia noticed a familiar looking boy with a man at his side. She didn’t think anything of it and took her seat.
A few minutes after the bus started its journey Julia felt a tug on her arm. It was Karen’s son!
“Give me that,” he said, pointing at the DSi that Mia was playing with.
Julia, unsure if it was for sure the same boy said, “How do you ask for things that aren’t yours, young man?”
“I want that game. NOW!”
“No, sorry. Too rude. Go mind your manners please.”
The boy screamed back for his dad, “Daaaaaad! She won’t give it to me again!”
Then Julia knew exactly who the boy was. As she realized this a big bulky man got up from his seat and walked up towards Julia. Luckily, one of the drivers from the previous trip was there to help.
The driver also recognized the boy and said, “Young man, I need to see your ID please. Where is your parent? Is the game yours?”
To which the father replied, “My son only asked to try the game, sir.”
The driver, remembering the kid from the previous month, said, “Yep. That’s why he got banned last month. You have to get off this bus or I will have to call the police.” The father was livid and said that he paid for the tickets and had the right to ride on the bus.
The police were called immediately after and the the bus stopped. The father ending up trying to fight off the police and he was arrested for resisting police and for fraud because it turns out that he and his son had signed in under fake names and he didn’t pay for his child’s ticket.
After all of the hubbub Julia and Mia were able to happily continue with their day without any stress and were finally able to have a peaceful ride home.
