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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

would you call this an emergency?

94 replies

mamamibbo · 13/11/2012 13:47

if you had gone half an hour away on the train, also a 20 minish walk from your house with a newborn and 18 month old in a double pram and a 3 year old walking

if your pram broke when you were just heading back to the train station with your shopping , no one else is available to help you, its 4 hours until your husband finishes work near homen and you have a child at school that needs picking up in 3 hours...

would you consider this an emergency and ring your husband at work?

OP posts:

CrackleMauve · 13/11/2012 19:34

Boss is a dick.

I am interested in the people who say "just get a taxi". How do these people expect you to safely hold all those kids in a taxi? I've never managed to get a taxi with a car seat. I know you don't need one in a taxi, but how do you safely hold a newborn and an 18 month old? I know my 18 month old would not be sitting still in that situation.

Bogeyface · 13/11/2012 19:37

I agree crackle

You cant share a carseat with them for fear of crushing them, you cant hold them on your knee because a) they could wriggle off and b) in an accident they would die....."just" get a taxi isnt quite that simple!

And the cost of a taxi for a 50 minute journey would be more than the cost of the shopping!

TomsBentPinky · 13/11/2012 19:37

I wouldnt get in a taxi without carseats. never.

Its allowed but I wouldn't do it.

Bogeyface · 13/11/2012 19:37

sorry, that should be "seat belt" not car seat

CrackleMauve · 13/11/2012 19:42

I have done a very short journey in a taxi with a baby and no carseat and would in an emergency. But a baby and an 18 month old and a 3 year old is too many to try and keep in one place without any seats. I suppose if it was a proper black cab you might fit the broken pram in still up, assuming it was safe enough for the kids to stay sitting in and the brake worked. But I really don't think it is the easy solution so many on this thread seem to think.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 13/11/2012 19:46

From the boss's point of view, it wasn't an emergency. It is reasonable for bosses to be ok with employees leaving work when a child is sick and needs collecting from childcare, or if a close family member has been taken ill. It is not reasonable to expect them to be ok with employees leaving work because of broken pushchairs.

I would have phoned my DH in your situation, but I wouldn't have expected him to leave work for it.

Bogeyface · 13/11/2012 19:49

What would you have expected him to do then Outraged?

Surely ringing him would be pointless if you dont expect him to help? And if you don't have the money for a taxi, what would you have done?

I bet it would have been an emergency if the bosses wife had called in the same situation!

Shenanagins · 13/11/2012 20:09

I also don't think this counts as an emergency from a works point of view. did he get permission before leaving as if not he could be in serious trouble - companies tend to have strict guidelines to stop it being abused.

if i was the manager and permission hadn't been sought i would not be happy either.

if it had been me i would have rung to get some advice on what to do or phoned a friend or relative for help. not ideal but better that than partner possibly facing a disciplinary.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 13/11/2012 20:50

I would have expected him to listen to me wail about the cunting bollocking pram and provide lots of sympathy while I decided what I was going to do.

I rarely call DH at work, if I wanted to speak to him, whether or not I could would depend on how recently he's made a cup of tea. But his boss is lovely and unless she was having a bad day, she wouldn't mind a ten minute phonecall if I was upset about something.

ShellyBoobs · 13/11/2012 20:51

It's a difficult situation but not what I'd call an emergency.

Did the factory have to stop a production line perhaps?

It can cause utter chaos in a continuous process environment if an operator leaves unexpectedly.

Yes, of course people being off sick or having genuine emergencies causes issues too, but it's not massively unreasonable of the manager to be unhappy about someone leaving for a non-emergency.

How long was he gone?

LivesInJeans · 13/11/2012 20:57

From manager's pov I'd agree it wasn't an emergency. It also depends on how essential your DPs presence is. I'd let some of my staff go home (have done) in similar situations. Others...I just couldn't.

If you were a single mum you'd have to find alternatives. If your DH worked away...you'd have to cope. You wouldn't call 999 so not an 'emergency'

But still shite :)

I might sit on the pavement and cry

CharlieCoCo · 13/11/2012 21:40

Thats why i wouldnt have got the taxi, id have called my hubby. but its better than no seatbelt at all though, in an emergancy, a newborn and an 18 month old needs to be strapped in somehow and a normal seatbelt wouldnt work on an 18month old.

Bogeyface · 13/11/2012 21:47

Yes but Outraged, how would you have got home?

Presumably the Op couldnt ring anyone else, or she would have done, and a 50 minute taxi ride is beyond alot of peoples pockets and her DH had the car, so bearing that in mind, what would you have done?

McChristmasPants2012 · 13/11/2012 21:55

If you were a single mum you'd have to find alternatives. If your DH worked away...you'd have to cope

But the OP isn't single or her husband isn't working away. Her husband is there for her.

If it was me I would phoned family who was not working, for me phoning DH would be the last resort. < his boss is lovely and would tell him to take the company car>

PermanentlyOnEdge · 13/11/2012 21:55

CharlieCoCo. If you put a toddler on your knee and put the seat belt over you both it is NOT safer for the toddler. Your own body weight will crush your toddler against the strap if you crash. It's v v dangerous.

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 13/11/2012 21:56

Its very hard to say what I would have done in someone else's circumstances but with that situation.

If I found myself in that situation, if I was still in town, I'd buy another buggy on the credit card. Or cry a lot in mothercare and try to blag a loan. Or I'd call my Mum, or a friend. I might get one of them to be on standby to pick up the other child from school.

If there really was 100% nothing else I could do, I'd call DH, hope he could get away early, and expect him to have to stay later another day. Then I'd make better contingency plans for the next time I planned a mammoth trip with a preschooler and two babies.

whois · 13/11/2012 23:31

Depends where it happened:

Get a v short taxi to a nearby shop and buy another pram.
Ring a friend to come meet me with a loan pram/new pram/lift to pram shop or home if suitable car seats.
Ring family of any nearby for above options.
Would ring DP but may or may not be able to help.
Last resort get a taxi the whole way but would be expensive and unsafe without car seats.

BackforGood · 13/11/2012 23:43

Totally depends on what dh's job is and how feasible it is for him to duck out of work for a couple of hours.
Even then, I'd on'y try people t work, after I'd tried people who might be able to help without missing work.

flyingspaghettimonster · 14/11/2012 00:16

I had a secondhand double stroller full of shopping and baby and toddler snap on me. It was unmoveable. No way can you carry two babies and lots of shopping. I called my mother in law to rescue me. I was only 5 minutes from home. I would rate this as easily a reason to call my husband.

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