Mumsnet Talk

My daughter(19) works Friday nights until 10:00pm and as the buses around here stop running at 9:30 she usually gets a taxi home.

She booked a taxi for 10:00pm, and finished work and waited outside for it until 11:20pm! She flagged one down in the end. It was only then that she rang the taxi company who informed that they showed up at 10:00pm and she wasn't there and so they left.

She woke up today and has complained that she is now ill (from standing in the cold for an hour and 20 minutes) and that it was the taxi companies fault.

I love my daughter but one of her major flaws is she will always shift the blame onto someone else. Yes the taxi company might be lying but seriously who waits for that long? I would have waited half an hour max.

I think I just more annoyed now that she is complaining that she's ill and won't be going to work now.

She's not ill from standing in the cold.

I'd not wait longer than 10 minutes if I had a taxi booked. Why didn't she phone them?

I don't blame you for being cross with her, she must have been frozen not to mention the safety aspect!.

I'm assuming she didn't have a phone on her to check where the taxi was.

You don't get ill from standing in the cold.

Why didn't she phone the taxi company?

Why are you bothered she isn't going to work?

An hour and twenty minutes? Shit, she has the patience of Job! I would have been on the phone after 5 minutes.

Silly not to have rung them. But being out in the cold didn't make her ill. And as she's 19, it's not your responsibility whether or not she goes to work.

Most people would have rung by 10.10. Did she not try that?

If I were a taxi driver I wouldn't have hung around on a Friday night. Busiest night of the week!

Yanbu.

stop being mean! it was friday night and taxis are notoriously slow to arrive. why didn't she phone home and you get your ass out there to save her? she's shifting the blame? you're her parent!

Do you really think she was stood there all that time??

She was off out getting up to stuff she doesn't want to tell you about, surely?

Tbh I'd be having a chat about the dangers of flagging down taxis. You should never ever do it.

I reckon she's been for a drink after work.

my 85 year old mum rang a taxi from a supermarket, they told her half an hour, she waited 45 mins and it did not show she commented to a lady outside who was just about to get in a cab, she took my mum and shopping in her cab with her right to her door, even took her shopping to the fron door. Thank you random lady for your kind good deed.

If she works until ten and booked it for ten, that was her first mistake. That didn't give her any time to leave the premises. Did it? Unless she leaves work a few minutes before ten, which I'm sure she doesn't. I can't imagine her bosses being happy with that every week. So yes, at ten she was leaving and they were outside. If she was even a few minutes after ten by the time she was at the pick up point - they could have gone. If they've waited for her up to now, that's good, but it doesn't mean she can rely on it. She should book taxis for ten minutes after her finishing time.

And waiting for over an hour without contacting them? Or seeing if there was another taxi available?

Sorry, either she has no sense at all, or she's not telling you where she was.

If things happened as she describes - it was her fault. For booking a taxi for the same time as she actually finishes work. For not phoning them after 10 minutes to see where they were.

Do you think that she's actually hung over, rather than ill?

I should have mentioned - I'm a midwife so my work pattern is obviously never the same. So in answer to your suggestion mrsbunnylove my ass was already out there.

AgentZigzag she was stood out there the whole time. I arrived home after her, so I wouldn't have any idea what time she got home.

And I never said it was MY responsibility for her to go to work. I'd just like my children to have a good work ethic.

It does sound suspiciously like it could be a hangover

But if she's not telling you where she's been, why would that be?

I'd been moved out of home three years by the time I was 19, my parents wouldn't have asked me what I was up to more than just in passing, and I would never have been quizzed about it or had to make up what I'd actually been doing.

At 14 maybe, but not 19.

Actually, at 14 definitely, no maybe about it

Why is the age you moved out relevant zigzag ?

<sigh> she isn't lying to me. I'm annoyed at her stupidity for waiting so long and not using her common sense.

Does she not have a mobile?

hmm. i can see that you might not want to leave a woman in labour to pick up your daughter when the taxi let her down. but she needs a back up plan. presumably, as well as being annoying, she is very precious to you?!

"Tbh I'd be having a chat about the dangers of flagging down taxis. You should never ever do it."

Um...what? Since when? Unlicensed minicabs is one thing, an actual taxi quite another.

Yes, she needs a back up plan - like call for another taxi!

Sorry but what a fool. She clearly has no idea how taxis work. She need to get clued up and start taking responsibility for herself.

YANBU for feeling annotyed but it isn't really your problem. If she carries on like that she'll get a reputation for being flaky and unreliable. Being irresponsinle does have consequences.

you are all mean. so there. nineteen is young.

You're sighing at me OP, but I'm not sure I believe anyone would wait that long for a taxi to turn up.

Which made me think she must be making it up, because who would do that and not know to just make other plans?

And if she was making it up, why would she do that at 19 when it's none of your business what she gets up to?

I'm not saying she definitely is, just suggesting it's possible.

But if she really did wait, what do you think about that OP? It is a bit unusual to not know it's too long, winter or summer.

19 is young mrsb, but not young enough to not know the taxi's probably unlikely to turn up after an hour, and then wait another 20 mins just to be on the safe side.

Aw come on OP.

Waiting outside, alone, in the dark, at the end of a shift for well over an hour ?And not contacting the taxi firm until she was safe and on her way in another cab? And being 'ill' the next day from her exertions?

Either really really daft or really really telling porkies .

What would you think if someone else had spun that tale?

If 19 is too young to take responsibility for getting oneself to and from a place of work, it's too young to have a job.

Does she manage to organise transport when going out with her friends? Often pull out of social events because she thinks she's made herself ill?. (Maybe she really is ill but it wasn't because of standing outside).