Tuesday I was babysitting one of my neighbor's kids. It was just one little girl and I don't mind helping out where I can. This little girl wanted her best best BEST friend in the whole world to come over and play. (The schedule we made included baking cookies, drawing princesses, watching Strawberry Shortcake and the Glimmerberry Ball, makeovers, pedicures, playing kitties, and drawing hearts.)
We went to ask the mom.
Patty: (with Little Girl) Can your daughter come over and play?
Mom: Oh! Well... she has been asking me all morning... but
Patty: I really don't mind at all.
Mom: Well... we are about to sit down to lunch. (nods and scrunches face up in that "you understand" look.... only I didn't understand. At all.)
Patty: Oh! After lunch! She is welcome to just stroll right over. We'll be together until about 3 or 3:30.
Mom: Well.... aren't you babysitting? (puts hand on the door to close it)
Patty: Yeah. But sometimes it's even easier when they have a friend. We were going to make cookies and draw princesses. Huh? (looking down at little girl I'm watching) It's going to be so FUN!
Mom: Well... like I said we are about to eat lunch. (nodding and half way closing the door)
Patty: Yeah? Well, Nooooo problem you can bring her over later. (smiling widely)
Mom: Well.... I think we're going to the store. (door is three quarters of the way closed)
It is not until THIS point that I realize the mom is trying to tell me "no" and HAS been trying to tell me "no" as politely as she can. If I count them up... she told me "no" 4 times and I was just as persistent as can be.
I was fully embarrassed. I felt my cheeks getting hot. I grabbed my little tendees hand, and dashed back to my apartment. Waving over my shoulder something about how we better get our lunch going too.
Ugh. Awkward. Humiliating. Sad. Fill in the blanks with any kind of those words you can think of.
I've been too nervous to take the trash out just knowing I'll run into the mom and I'll have to talk to her again with my absolute lack of social radar.
5 comments:
Eeeeks! You know for blogging about not being great at small talk, seems like here you weren't sure when to pull the plug! Lol sorry I couldn't help it
HA!
Yeah, have to agree with DC on this. heehee. I think you used up a week of small talk trying to get that kid out of the house. heehee
If her daughter is small enough it might have simply been nap time after lunch or something. Don't know.
I think that lady is weird. If someone offered to take one of my kids off my hands, I would have been like, "YOU BET!!! I'LL SEND HER OVER RIGHT AFTER LUNCH!!" I really don't get why she wasn't okay with this. I'm chalking it up to the fact that she just had a baby. (She did, right? Isn't this the gal you told me about in your e-mail?) Maybe she's in that weird, postpardemey phase. That's my only guess. But still. Even with the weird postpardemeyness, she should have been like, "Sweet, someone to take a kid off my hands. I'll do it." I don't get it.
I totally agree with the comment above. If you came over and wanted to do all those fun things with my little girl, I wouldn't even hesitate.... heck I would pack her lunch and send her with you ! hahaha Some people are so weird....
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