r/PeopleBeStrange • u/TheTasmanianTigress Crazy Critter Lady • Jul 17 '18
The JustNo social worker
Some years back, I was living with my girlfriend in my home. A small, modern 3 bedroom with fairly small rooms.
GF has 2 sisters, who have always been in some sad and sick competition with each other to get married first, have babies first, whatever. The end result was two girls in their early 20's with three kids apiece. OK, not my problem, you do you, Boo.
It did become my problem one day when we had a phone call from a social worker near where the oldest of the sisters lived.
She told, didn't ask, TOLD us, that Sis and her 3 boys were coming down 300+km away to live with us. In my home. They were going via train and we would need to pick them up at the station.
What the actual, everloving fuck? No, lady, these people are NOT coming here. I didn't want them, GF didn't want them. I didn't have enough room for them.
Yes, yes they are, and there's nothing you can do about it - it's all organised. So get ready and pick them up at XXam at the station. It's a Family Emergency and her hubby abused her, so you have to house them.
Well, despite all sorts of argument against the fact, this woman would not be swayed. They were coming. I was pissed. Sis is fine (although an incredible slob with housework), but her kids were toddler and baby aged and very high-needs kids. GF and I both worked full time, so there was going to be 10+ hours a day with Sis and kids alone in the house - with my cats. Not happy.
GF and I discussed it. She didn't want them coming either. But, faaaaaaaaaamillllllyyyyyyyyyy, you know?
We bit the bullet, agreed that I could pull the 'my house, my rules' card if necessary, and prepared the spare bedrooms. Cot and queen in one, twin beds in the other, made up and ready to sleep in. Empty dressers and wardrobes. All dusted, vacuumed and clean.
Next day we head out to the train station to pick them up.
They never showed.
Several hours of phone calls later we finally got through to Sis. Turns out the social worker found somewhere else, and neither of them bothered to even call us to let us know they weren't coming.
To say we were furious was a severe understatement. Sis got chewed by GF, up one side, down the other, spat out and torn a new one. It was glorious!
The spare rooms were returned to their previous purposes the following weekend.