'And I would NEVER lock my cats outside': Audacious mom attempts to force the company Christmas party host into making drastic changes, gets put in her place

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Nov 10, 2023 1:00 PM EST

Childless adults get a pretty bad rep amongst people who have children, especially in the workplace. Perhaps we're just not ready to have grubby fingerprints on every surface of our home and Cocomelon playing on loop, but for some reason, Stephanie in accounting seems keen on weighing in on our lifestyle choices. Thanks for the unsolicited advice, but us childless adults have our fur-babies, so we're pretty content in the 'caregiver' department. 

Even if you like kids outside of work, nobody wants to have their coworker's children forced on them– it's just weird! (And yes, this is a PSA to that one coworker who won't stop showing you pictures of their kids and won't catch the hint that you don't care) But when it comes to dodging kiddos in the workplace, you'd think you'd be totally safe at a company-sanctioned event, right? WRONG. 

For u/LegElectrical9214, the last thing they wanted in their house was a gregarious group of small children, so after they offered up their home to host the company Christmas party, they made it crystal clear that their one stipulation was that the party was to remain childfree. However, one of their insufferable coworkers, a woman who had just returned from maternity leave, tried to force her kiddos through their gracious host's front door, kicking their poor cats to the curb! Scroll onward for this entire audacious story which is originally from a popular Reddit community. 

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  • 01
    "I straight up said NO"
    via u/canva
  • 02
    r/AITAH. Posted by u/LegElectrical9214 15 hours ago AITAH for refusing to baby proof the house and lock my cats outside during Xmas party? So Xmas is coming and my work place is brimming with lights and ideas of who should hold Xmas party this year. Since it is a small company
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 03
    1 small house would be enough. I happen to have a pool in my backyard and just invested in a bbq. They all ask me if I could hold party this year and I said yes with 2 conditions: First, this will be adult only party and second: we will have
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 04
    bbq with prawns and other normal bbq stuff, meats are always welcome. Everyone agreed and some just ask if I could cook the prawns separately since they are allergic, no problem, I am more than happy to assist with that to make sure noone would go the hospital.
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 05
    One coworker just came back from maternity leave last week after 6 months and she was very adamant to come to the party, she sent an email to all of us asking if she could bring her 3 children with her to the party, one reply with the old email stating my conditions to host. She
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 06
    was not happy to say the least. In the last few days, she has been talking to others including the boss and persuading them to talk to me, and they did. My boss asked me to be flexible and because she just came back we should not cut her out
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 07
    like that, she was there while we talked and asked me to baby proof the house, because her oldest child is suffering some type of illness that he cannot sit still, and also she is allergic to cats so I should wipe the
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 08
    whole house off cat hair and lock them outside until the party is done. According to her if each of us pay some attention to the children there would be no problem, the youngest will stay by her side
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 09
    I straight up said no, I will would not baby proof the house, and I would NEVER lock my cats outside for any reason. I told her and the boss that she should not join the party since there would be alcohols, and hot bbq, also the pool would be
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 10
    dangerous to children without supervision. I made it clear that I agreed to hold the party because everyone agreed with my terms, if anyone is unhappy with that, they are more than welcome to hold the party at their place, I will not complain. She stormed out of the boss office with tears in her eyes.
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 11
    Some people told me to keep the office peaceful by just going along with her demand only for a few hours. I refused, I really don't care if anyone decided to not show up that day. If there are less people, then more alcohols for me, no biggie!
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 12
    Now my boss decided to reevaluate the situation and sent an email asking if anyone else volunteered to hold the party, I was not included in that email I found out through a work friend. I did not say anything and ignore it, people have been
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 13
    replying by email to each other without me and no solution. Yesterday, she came in with her baby and try to show me, I don't like any type of kid so I asked her to leave my table and continued to
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 14
    work, she took offenses and left for the whole day, her workload fell back on us since we all thought she would comeback, but as of right now, she comes and goes as she pleases because her there would always be something with....the babies.
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 15
    People are telling me to stop being an ah and just give her what she want, because being a mother of 3 is no small job and she deserves a break too. To be honest, I almost laugh out loud hearing that. Still people insisted that I was the AH in this situation. So AITAH?
    via u/LegElectrical9214
  • 16
    HappySparkly Unicorn 10 hr. ago I would speak to your boss and tell him to host or hire a venue and cancel having it at your place. It's doesn't seem very productive to have a work event at your home (despite it being a small business) unless your the boss and even then there's a possibility of something happening or something going missing.
    via u/HappySparklyUnicorn
  • 17
    kstev1994 11 hr. ago Nope. She could either follow my conditions or not come, period. Her kids are not your problem. I would lock her outside before locking my cats out, lol.
    via u/kstev1994
  • 18
    aussie_nub 9 hr. ago "Sorry, my initial conditions were a requirement for hosting the Christmas party and you've all asked me to change them so I've realised that I'll no longer be able to host."
    via u/aussie_nub
  • 19
    Gothmom858 hr. ago The cat thing is so insane. Baby proofing a house for a few hours is insane. I could see "hey can you put anything breakable on a higher shelf" but baby proofing is a of a lot more than that.
    via u/Gothmom85
  • 20
    No one even realizes how hard it is until you have a crawler or walker and see what they get into. She'd be constantly unable to talk to anyone to keep an eye. Why would she want to bring the kids? That sounds miserable.
    via u/Gothmom85
  • 21
    (D). cockslavemel 8 hr. ago She has no intention of watching her children. She said they should be fine if all the adults look out for them so she plans to ignore them and let everyone else deal with bad behavior.
    via u/cocklavemel
  • 22
    Live2sk888 10 hr. ago It's bad enough to ask you to allow the kids AND rearrange your house for them, but then to suggest that everyone should take turns watching the kids? no!
    via u/Live2sk888
  • 23
    Your boss should pay for a sitter for this lady's kids if she is so concerned about making sure she can come. And definitely no to putting your cats in potential danger.
    via u/Live2sk888

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christmas boss worker maternity leave employee manager audacity childfree work coworkers Christmas party working moms maternity company party parenting childless employees Party supervisor workplace company mom coworker parents children
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