WIBU to give my daughter's friend a lift home in torrential rain?

Honestly it sounds as though she suffers from bad anxiety or ocd and had a panic thinking the worst and took it out on you. If you talk about it with her again I’d encourage her to talk to her dr if you’re close enough. I’ve had very bad anxiety and OCD in the past and your mind can literally show you the worst case scenarios and it’s very scary.

You kkow....It shouldn't have cause a panic at all though. I'd assume someone would take longer to get home in a downpour even if they didn't drop off another kid.

The girl couldn't use her phone - the battery had died.

I’ve read your updates but just from your OP I knew she had panicked when you were late.

I knew this because a relative of mine was kind enough to occasionally collect my kids from school, but would occasionally stop for a chat or call in somewhere on the way home…I always worried on those occasions. Didn’t want to ring/text as they’d be driving (they didn't use hands free). They often didn’t think to text.

I’ve lost a family member in a car accident and am always terrified it’ll happen again.

At 15, the neighbour's girl should know to phone her mum if she is going to be late home and knows her mum will worry. She's not a tiny child in your care. If she didn't have a phone with her at school, she could have asked to use yours.

They are 15 not 5.

WTF, unfortunately the last lift for her DC as her DM is batshit.

Neighbour = weirdo

Send her this thread so she can see what a ridiculous behavior she is displaying.

You were an extra 15 minutes, the girls could have been a bit late out, there could have been traffic, you could have needed to stop for milk on the way home. Its a completely normal delay.
She completely over reacted in my view.

She's unhinged. If she was that worried about the 15 minute time enhancement of her daughters free time, she could have quite simply called you, or even, her own child? She had your number as you had messaged her. There is sometimes no pleasing cunts but do offer the girl a lift if the same circumstance arises, the child is not responsible for her parents complete drama response. Probably one of those that starts with 'I've got PTSD because the croissants were cold in Waitrose' type. You did nothing wrong apart from not tell her about herself.

How can she be that irate over 15 mins? You could have easily been stuck in traffic for 15 mins longer - would she have been furious in that situation too? Or is it because you’ve given another girl a lift home?

You're a good egg, OP. Glad it all got sorted sensibly on both sides.

I would’ve assumed you were maybe 10 mins late picking them up, whilst they waited out the rain for you. She’s mad

People can be bonkers. I'm a lot older than my sister (10 years) but was a student (long course) in the same city as my family lived. I didn't live at home but in the student area.

One night when my sis was about 15 she was out with her friends (pre-mobile) and my parents called me say that my Gran was unwell and needed them so could I collect my sister and her friends as they now couldn't (my Mum was quite unwell and had stopped driving). I agreed. This was a stable friendship group (still is) and I'd been driving my sister around and doing school/ brownie/ orchestra type pick ups since I passed my driving test due to my Mother's ill health.

I duly collected my sister and associated friends and did the drop offs for each girl waiting to see that they got safely into the house. After dropping off the last girl I did a U-turn to then find the road blocked by her Dad.

He was furious. Shouting and screaming that they didn't know me. My parents had agreed to collect their daughter and how dare they substitute it. How did he know I was a safe driver. How did he know I hadn't been drinking (in actual fact I think the problem was that he had been drinking. A lot).

My sister and I mumbled some apologies. Explained who I was, that I was actually pretty old and had been driving for 7 years and that if he had an issue he should probably take it up with our parents who had thought they were doing the right thing at short notice. Now I'm older and wiser I kind of get it, but I also think WTF. Surely he didn't think my parents were going to farm their own child out onto a drunk irresponsible driver....

30 years on my sister is still friends with the girl in question and I dropped her back to her parents over Christmas. I half expected her Dad to appear and start yelling at me. Turns out middle aged me is beyond reproach.

Please read at least the OP's posts. She has since spoken to the mother and her daughter's phone's battery had died, so couldn't phone her mother. Nor could the mother contact her, hence the panic,

She was 7 min later. The girl is 15. It was a downpour, which hopefully meant she drove slower, so she couldn't possibly know when she'd drop.her off.

Thanks for the update but she’s obviously another overbearing,controlling parent that has to micro manage every single thing that their poor child does.God help these poor kids in a couple of years when they actually have to exist in the real world not the online one.I bet her daughters every move is also tracked 24 hours a day on an app 🥲

Absolutely bonkers!

I really don’t understand people who are difficult for no apparent reason. I’d hear her out to see why she’s upset but absolutely do not apologise if it’s not something totally understandable. I also think she seems to be taking you for granted somewhat and speaking to you in a way that doesn’t sound respectful at all.

While I agree with your incredulity, I feel like I have to speak up in defence of home education as there's so much misinformation about it. It's an excellent option that can work really well, especially now when so many schools are struggling (I was a school governor for 5+ years so have seen the challenges up close).

There are many valid reasons why a family might choose to home educate their child - but not wanting to walk in the rain or spend time at the school gate don't count among them! Absolute madness.

By the way @Applewisp, if you genuinely plan on being responsible for your child's education, in this country it's called home education (or to be completely correct, elective home education - EHE), not home schooling. Home schooling refers to the process of educating a child who's enrolled in school but unable to attend for some reason eg/being hospitalised or chronically unwell.

You have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG.

My guess is she is on MN hence the multiple apologies. She saw the thread and recognised herself!

I'm assuming everyone has mobile. The girl ought it have messaged her mum what was happening. She's not a baby and surely they communicate. Where are you what time you home etc. This has nothing to do with you actually. Responsibility is theirs. You're in a cross fire of their lack of communication.

"She clearly still feels bad because she messaged me to apologise again and to thank me for being so kind. The thing is, I wasn’t being particularly kind or going out of my way. This is just the way we are in my area."

She may mean that you were kind by not being annoyed that she rudely told you she wasn't happy in her earlier message, rather than being kind by providding the lift😊.