Some Parents Are Such Babies

I have a small doll collection. A few months before this happened, my grandma gave me a doll for Christmas.

I do some babysitting every now and then. Around 14:00, a mother drops her kid off at my house. I usually don’t babysit in my own home, but it doesn’t bother me that much. At around 16:00, [Kid] says she wants to play hide and seek, so we play for about half an hour until she hides in my room, where she sees my display.

I’m usually really insecure about people seeing it, but she is six and looks so excited, so I take down the dolls to show her. I let her play with them until 17:00 when her mother comes to pick her up. [Mother] goes to my room to get [Kid] and I start to clean up. [Mother] notices the dolls.

Mother: “Hey, are you selling any of those? [Kid] loooooves dolls.”

Me: “Oh, I’m not selling any of these ones, but I have some others in storage I could—”

She points at the one my grandmother gave me.

Mother: “Oh, but that one is soooooo pretty! I’m sure you could spare it for my daughter. How much would you like for it?”

Me: “I’m sorry. That’s from my grandma. I can’t sell it.”

Mother: “Is she dead?”

Me: *Extremely confused and shocked* “No?”

Mother: “Well, then, how important could it possibly be? Dolls are for children, anyway. Don’t be so selfish!”

I am still technically a child, so her logic is ridiculous.

Mother: “Here, I’ll give you $5.”

I am a little frustrated because she won’t even give me a chance to talk.

Me: “Even if $5 was anywhere near a decent price, I wouldn’t sell this for $100. Now, if you’d please pay me for babysitting [Kid], I would be happy to sell you a different doll—”

Mother: “What is wrong with people these days?! You are so selfish! What are you even going to do with those dolls?! Grow up and stop trying to ruin my daughter’s childhood! [Kid] deserves that!”

Luckily, my mom’s car pulled into the driveway at that exact moment, and [Mother] paid me for babysitting and left, but not after having a little temper tantrum. After that experience, I stopped letting parents drop their kids off at my house for babysitting.