NTA, it’s 2013, they should know how to answer a cellphone.

I’m sorry, the parents came home three hours later than they said they would. They gave you no heads up-and they wouldn’t answer their phone.

What were you supposed to think?!

Alll this drama could have been avoided if they had …

1. Been upfront with you on how late they reeeeeally planned on staying out, or

2. Let you know by text or phone call they were going to be later than they expected, so you wouldn’t worry, or

3. If they had just answered their damn phone any one of the numerous times you called them

But… no. The parents drift home on their own sweet timetable and are surprised and shocked to find flashing lights and officers at their house. Well, I hope they were embarrassed.

And then dad took it out on you by “screaming” at you. Oh, and he is “still very upset”. Well, *you* are upset, *too*.

I bet he didn’t apologize for worrying you, did he. Or give you a bonus for making you stay later and worrying you. lol. That’s classy behavior right there. Yep. (s)

So you called 911.

I hope you *never* babysit for them again. And you should let alllll your babysitter friends know what these people are like. Just tell your friends the whole story, like you told Reddit. NTA

**NTA.**

> At 9 I tried calling him, but he didn’t pick up. I texted a few times. At 9.30 I tried calling again. And again at 10. And 10.30.

> At 11.30 ish I called the police, because I didn’t know what else to do.

You did the absolute right thing. You tried contacting the father quite a few times, and he didn’t respond. They came back three hours after you were told they’d be returning.

The father was in the wrong, and he knew it. That’s why he screamed at you.

A responsible ~~adult~~ parent would have picked up your calls.

I’m sure I don’t have to say this, but don’t ever babysit for these idiots again!

NTA

OP, they were not ‘delayed’ you were straight up lied to. Nobody gets home from a party at eight thirty. That’s usually when things start picking up.

It’s like they lied to you for a variety of reasons. That you not sit if you knew it would be till late, because of your own bedtime. They lied about the number of hours, maybe because they wanted to rip you off of the cost for the extra hours. Who knows?

Either way, never sit for these people again, they are clearly dishonest. Heaven forbid anything happen to the kid after you left, they’d blame you for it!

NTA 3 hours late with no communication is cause for concern.

What’s up with no one picking up their phone? Especially the parents, but even your parents. I get work dinners and all, but it’s not that big of a deal to pick up a call from your kid.

NTA

You did the responsible, safe, logical thing.

They can blame themselves for not calling you to tell you they were going to be late and for not being reachable when you tried to call them.

You can bet your ass that if their kid was supposed to be home at 8:30 and was completely unreachable that they would be calling the police bc they would be concerned.

I used to babysit a lot, and personally i wouldntve called the police. I wouldve just fallen asleep (if the kids were long asleep) until they got back. But that man has no right to scream at you when he told you 8:30 and didnt communicate with you for three hours. Thats ridiculous.

NTA
You were left in charge of three young children and unable to contact their parents for over three hours past the point they were supposed to be back, they didn’t call you and they didn’t answer your calls – they could be in a ditch for all you knew.

It was a responsible, logical thing to do with the welfare of three kids in the mix.
Well done – more should follow your example.

Also, the parents you babysat for a world class assholes and should have left you more than one contact number.

NTA. Do not overthink this. The father screamed at you while she should have screamed at himself and his wife.

You did the best you could. Putting a minor like yourself in that situatiin is pretty irresponsible.

NTA – The parents are the ones who are being extremely irresponsible here. I think that they probably felt that because you are a child and that they are adults, they did not have any need to let you know of a change in plans. This ignored the fact that you were taking responsibility for their children during that time and had no idea what was happening. All they had to do was simply call or text you with updates. After a couple of hours beyond the time that they told you that they would be home, and not being able to reach them, it’s reasonable to start thinking that something bad happened like they may have gotten into a car accident or something on the way home.

NTA, you absolutely did the right thing. WTAF is wrong with these people, your sitter is calling and you don’t answer ? You could simply text or call and say so sorry we’re running late is that okay. What did they expect you to do, because their behavior is ridiculous.

NTA

This was three hours past the time you were supposed to leave, with no contact from them and they were ignoring your calls. Of course you had to call the police. This had gone into child neglect by now, unless there was an emergency, in which case even more reason to involve the police.

I hope you told your mother about this, because she needs to talk to her coworker. He abused your trust, left you in a horrible position, never apologised and yelled at you. He owes you an apology.

NTA sad that a 16 year old has to act more responsibility than adults. Does this loser not understand that this is unacceptable, they could have been in a car accident or anything. Let him be upset, and never return there!

NTA. The dad is a selfish fool. Parents don’t make themselves incommunicado.

Nta, talk to your parents because they need to yell at their coworker. You did the right thing and those parents were irresponsible. I hope you got paid and paid extra.

Again you did the right thing here. Don’t ever baby sit for them again.

NTA. They were taking advantage of you, and putting you into an unreasonable situation. You’re not the parent, and you only signed on for a set number of hours. You cannot be expected to watch their kids indefinitely, and if they don’t notify you that they’re going to be late, or even respond when you try to contact them, it’s perfectly reasonable for you to worry that something has happened. 3 hours late with no contact is negligence at best. What if something had happened to the kids and you had to go to the emergency room? It was irresponsible of them to not monitor their phone while someone else is watching their kids.

NTA, what if they had had an accident and were on the verge of dying trapped in their car and your calling the police saved them and didn’t make their kids orphans? As a parent, I commend you for all your efforts to reach out to your own parents and the patience you had. If they had mentioned in the slightest that they might be later, you would not have been concerned. If they had answered their phones – seriously, what if one of the kids was sick or injured… In 2023, these parents should know how to answer their phone and check up on their kids. The Dad is big AH for berating you.

Something like this genuinely happened to me. I was 14 and babysat regularly for a couple (20$ for 4-5 hours. 20$ total. In 2004. They were assholes).

One day I get there at 12 noon, with them coming back for 4pm. 4 goes by….then 5…then it’s 7 pm and I’m calling my mom because I have no idea what to do. There is a 2 year old with a diaper I have no idea how to change now that the available diapers are all gone (they left 2…) and what to feed the kids because I have no fucking clue what a 2 year old can eat and the 6 year old won’t eat anything. My mom is horrified/ angry and wants to come there but I’m 14 and want to do this on my own so I tell her I’ll handle it and she starts calling me every half hour to check in.

They show up at 1am with happy meal for their older kid and a half assed apology about being stuck in negotiations for a big house sale (they were both realtors). The dad drove me home still only paid me 20$.

When they called the next weekend to ask for me to come watch the kids my mom took the phone into the other room. They didn’t call back again.

NTA.

NTA and do not babysit for them again if you can avoid…

NTA I remember babysitting for my sister’s friends on NYE many years ago. I expected them to be late but I woke up on their sofa at 6am and they weren’t home! The three very young kids were waking up and I was panicked! This was before cell phones, no phone calls from them. I called my house and my sister came over about the same time that they walked in at 7:30 AM. I wish that I would have thought to call the police!