AITA for saying it’s not my responsibility to watch my (F19) coworker’s (F26) kids (M4 & M1)

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The original was posted on /r/amitheasshole by /u/HotWall1967 on 2023-07-27 15:27:05+00:00.

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I don’t want to give too much away since she has reddit, but we work in a food service establishment, all the employees work with the food in the back, and then hand it to the customers at the front counter.

My coworker can’t find a babysitter/daycare 9/10 of the time, so she takes her kids to work and keeps them in the back. They’re really hyperactive kids so she brings a portable crib and an iPad to keep them occupied. Well, the 4 year old already knows how to climb in and out when he gets bored, and keeps running around the establishment barefoot and bothering customers, her 1 year old always tries to do like his brother and constantly climbs out only to fall face down on the floor.

My coworker uses her phone a lot, so she constantly goes outside for a 15-30 minute period to talk on the phone. This is when she tells me to watch her kids while she is out. Usually I have no problem doing so if the store is empty, since I’m usually in the back anyways. But when we’re in rush hour and she does this, it’s literally impossible for me to do so.

Yesterday this happened. She went outside to talk to her boyfriend, and left me with her kids, asking me to watch them. But as soon as she left a family of 5 came in, so I told the kids to stay calm and set them up with a YouTube video while I took their orders.

As I’m taking their order I hear a loud thump, a second later I hear a scream from the smaller child, I apologize to the family and excuse myself, when I go check on the kids, the baby is again on the floor on his stomach, staring at me crying.

I check that he is okay, he is, and pick him up and finish taking the order with him on the side of my hip.

Right then my coworker walks in and asks what happened, I tell her. She tells me how she asked me to watch them.

Then a customer chimes in, saying the thought the kid was mine. I said no and then she tells my coworker that it’s not my responsibility to watch her kid since that’s not the job I’m getting paid for. My coworker gets her kid and goes to the back.

After a while the store emptied again and my coworker started talking about how rude the lady was, and how it’s just a favor I’m doing for her.

I said “she’s right though” and before I could even blink I was getting called all sorts of names.

Now she complained about me to our boss and I’m being lectured about team work and empathy. I just simply don’t understand when this one time favor turned into part of my job description, so AITA?