AITAH??

[TylerD]

It's summer holidays, so my daughter (7) comes to work with me. Has done for years and it's never been a problem. Customers love her and she doesn't get in the way.

Today, I was doing the house of a bloke who, let's just say, takes his masculinity a bit far (shaved head, neck tattoos, roids, constantly seems angry etc).

Now, my daughter has ADHD and autism. The bloke has a dog. The dog was inside the house. As my daughter was opening the gate into the back garden to sit by herself, his wife appears at the window and tells her in quite a blunt, rude tone "shut the gate so the dog won't get out!". (Reminder: the dog is inside. The doors are all shut.) My daughter comes to the front of the house and looks through the window to see the dog, his wife appears again and says "get away from the window so the dog can't see you!" (I didn't witness this).

My daughter comes to me in tears thinking she's done something wrong and has been shouted at. She's so upset that she has to put her ear defenders on. So I take her to the door, knock on, and tell his wife that my daughter thinks that she's had a go at her. She explains that the dog is old and doesn't like strangers (fair enough, but he was inside), and she somewhat reassures my daughter that she wasn't telling her off. My daughter feels a little better. I carry on with the job.

After I'm finished, roid rage husband comes and says "this isn't working out, knocking on the door to talk to my wife about your daughter!?" He tells me he want to cancel (whatever, I'd rather not have customers like that), but that he's also got his next door neighbour (another customer of mine) to cancel.

Am I the one in the wrong here for putting my daughter first and wanting to calm and reassure her over not "inconveniencing" a couple of arseholes for thirty seconds? I'm not the most confrontational person, but when it's your kids you put them first right? And it's not like I had a go at his wife, I was speaking very calmly.

 

[Pjj]

It's summer holidays, so my daughter (7) comes to work with me. Has done for years and it's never been a problem. Customers love her and she doesn't get in the way.

Today, I was doing the house of a bloke who, let's just say, takes his masculinity a bit far (shaved head, neck tattoos, roids, constantly seems angry etc).

Now, my daughter has ADHD and autism. The bloke has a dog. The dog was inside the house. As my daughter was opening the gate into the back garden to sit by herself, his wife appears at the window and tells her in quite a blunt, rude tone "shut the gate so the dog won't get out!". (Reminder: the dog is inside. The doors are all shut.) My daughter comes to the front of the house and looks through the window to see the dog, his wife appears again and says "get away from the window so the dog can't see you!" (I didn't witness this).

My daughter comes to me in tears thinking she's done something wrong and has been shouted at. She's so upset that she has to put her ear defenders on. So I take her to the door, knock on, and tell his wife that my daughter thinks that she's had a go at her. She explains that the dog is old and doesn't like strangers (fair enough, but he was inside), and she somewhat reassures my daughter that she wasn't telling her off. My daughter feels a little better. I carry on with the job.

After I'm finished, roid rage husband comes and says "this isn't working out, knocking on the door to talk to my wife about your daughter!?" He tells me he want to cancel (whatever, I'd rather not have customers like that), but that he's also got his next door neighbour (another customer of mine) to cancel.

Am I the one in the wrong here for putting my daughter first and wanting to calm and reassure her over not "inconveniencing" a couple of arseholes for thirty seconds? I'm not the most confrontational person, but when it's your kids you put them first right? And it's not like I had a go at his wife, I was speaking very calmly.

I can see your point , but from the customers point of view they are paying you to clean their windows not have your child on their property children aren’t all good and could cause issues with leaving the gate open or break something ime not suggesting for one muinit your daughter has or would but some people won’t like it . I had a guy work for me and he used to bring his dog to work on occasions it wasn’t allowed to go in the back gardens and most customers liked the dog and gave it treats etc. but a couple went nuts when they saw it in the front garden on the grass and on the pavement it was an open plan front garden with no wall or gate just a grass lawn ,and phoned me complaining about it , to be fair i did agree with them it’s there property and it was taking a liberty although it was only one complaint out of a couple of hundred jobs . It’s a case of the customer is always right even when they are wrong

 

[DansClearView]

I've had to take my 2 kids on occasion, been lucky to have got the grandparents to cover most of these holidays but sometimes taking them is unavoidable.
Right or wrong taken them, if a customer upset my kids like that, I wouldn't be going back. At home my kids are no angels but out, I can't fault them.
It's a shame it had a knock on affect with the neighbour but to me that's their issue.

 

[Bell Pallisey]

these days you have to keep your distance ,case you get stabbed ,its a real risk now

 

[Scrubsy]

@TylerD I have taken my Son with me a few times. Luckily when it's customers who I was pretty sure wouldn't mind. Although some customers might get a bit annoyed maybe, I do think he overreacted by cancelling them aswell as the neighbour. If like you said had told the lady your daughter was worried that she'd done something wrong and upset the dog, that doesn't sound unreasonable. Losing a customer or two is frustrating, but I'd just move on. If it's any consolation I have noticed this year more nutters than ever contacting for window cleaning.

 

[Iron Giant]

As my daughter was opening the gate into the back garden to sit by herself,

I think this is the issue someone might have, although I do think that the customer completlely overreacted your daughter is 7 years old no one should be shouting at a 7 year old.

 

[Stuart S]

I have a 9 year old and I wouldn't take hime to work with me. I took my 13 year old to work last summer hols and that was fine, but I'm very conscious that he acts in a professional manner. Not being judgemental of you, your daughter may be very mature, I don't know. I know my 9 year old couldn't act professionally all day long though.

Still though, roid rage and his wife seem to have had a bit of a humanity bypass. It's not difficult to ask you to keep your daughter in the van in future to protect her from the dog etc. Probably best off without them.

 

[tench0771]

some people can get but funny about the smallest things i had someone who nos a friend he a bit speshel needs i think but saw me working and walked through the gate and started chatting guy came out the house and said who is this i said its a mates friend just passing through he then said well i dont want him on my property so i applogized and told him he has to leave dident loose the job but got me thinking people can be bit narky

 

[steve garwood]

Strange how none of my customers have ever had a pop at my son when he occasionally works with me.
I wonder if it’s anything to do with him being 6ft 4?

 

[J'D]

It's summer holidays, so my daughter (7) comes to work with me. Has done for years and it's never been a problem. Customers love her and she doesn't get in the way.

Today, I was doing the house of a bloke who, let's just say, takes his masculinity a bit far (shaved head, neck tattoos, roids, constantly seems angry etc).

Now, my daughter has ADHD and autism. The bloke has a dog. The dog was inside the house. As my daughter was opening the gate into the back garden to sit by herself, his wife appears at the window and tells her in quite a blunt, rude tone "shut the gate so the dog won't get out!". (Reminder: the dog is inside. The doors are all shut.) My daughter comes to the front of the house and looks through the window to see the dog, his wife appears again and says "get away from the window so the dog can't see you!" (I didn't witness this).

My daughter comes to me in tears thinking she's done something wrong and has been shouted at. She's so upset that she has to put her ear defenders on. So I take her to the door, knock on, and tell his wife that my daughter thinks that she's had a go at her. She explains that the dog is old and doesn't like strangers (fair enough, but he was inside), and she somewhat reassures my daughter that she wasn't telling her off. My daughter feels a little better. I carry on with the job.

After I'm finished, roid rage husband comes and says "this isn't working out, knocking on the door to talk to my wife about your daughter!?" He tells me he want to cancel (whatever, I'd rather not have customers like that), but that he's also got his next door neighbour (another customer of mine) to cancel.

Am I the one in the wrong here for putting my daughter first and wanting to calm and reassure her over not "inconveniencing" a couple of arseholes for thirty seconds? I'm not the most confrontational person, but when it's your kids you put them first right? And it's not like I had a go at his wife, I was speaking very calmly.

They seem absolutely horrible people and I think your well rid of them! However I personally don't think it's a good idea to have your kid with you at work, too much to go wrong! Customers won't be overly comfortable with the idea either I'm sure!

 

[steve garwood]

They seem absolutely horrible people and I think your well rid of them! However I personally don't think it's a good idea to have your kid with you at work, too much to go wrong! Customers won't be overly comfortable with the idea either I'm sure!

I agree with this. I wouldn’t be happy with any worker at my house who brought a kid or dog along with them

 

[P4dstar]

Window cleaning at a customers property is no place for a neurotypical child let alone one who is neurodiverse. The customer doesn’t sound like a nice guy but they wanted their windows cleaned, unless you’ve pre agreed you would bring your child this isn’t even a situation they would have been expecting. You say you need to defend your child but in all honesty you need to rethink the whole thing. If you need to work during the school holidays and have no other childcare you need to put pressure on services to provide you with support. When you have a child with additional needs you are entitled to this!