A 15-year-old babysitter has gained widespread attention after sharing her experience of a conservative family refusing to pay her due to disapproval of her tank top.
The teenager, who goes by the name Mae, expressed her disappointment on Reddit’s r/AmIOverreacting forum. She described the disagreement over her payment, which has astonished many commenters.
As Mae explained in her post, she had been babysitting for this family for over a year, looking after two children, until her choice of clothing unexpectedly caused an issue.
Mae explained that she’d worn an $18 Brandy Melville skylar stripe lace tank top, layered under a sweatshirt for a routine seven-hour babysitting shift.
She only removed the sweatshirt when the children, Sarah and Eliza, begged her to join in some high-energy playtime.
In a text to the children’s mother, Marianne, Mae wrote politely after waiting several days for her usual Venmo payment.
‘Hi! Hope you had a great weekend, I just wanted to reach out because I haven’t gotten my payment from Wednesday yet. I know you guys celebrate Good Friday and Easter so I totally get that it probably slipped off your radar but if you could Venmo me when you have the chance, that would be fantastic!’
It was the response that ignited outrage online.
A 15-year-old babysitter (not pictured) who looked after a pair of children for seven hours is going viral after revealing how a conservative family refused to pay her they did not like her tank top
A series of text messages posted to social media details the back and forth the 15-year-old had with the parents of the two girls the teenage was babysitting
‘Hello Mae, Dan and I have been talking about it, and quite frankly, we do not feel comfortable paying you the full amount after you wore such inappropriate clothing to our house. The kids love you and we are more than happy to give you a second chance, but we cannot pay you more than $50 after you wore that outfit.’
What followed triggered a wave of sympathy and fury from Reddit’s legion of armchair judges.
Mae posted screenshots of the conversation to the subreddit, prompting thousands of supportive comments.
‘If they had such an issue with the outfit, they shouldn’t have let OP babysit and should have dismissed her before working a full 7 hours,’ one commenter reasoned. ‘The fact that they’re refusing to pay now, they’re 100% being shady.’
Another called it ‘disgusting’ that grown adults would weaponize a teenager’s clothing to justify withholding pay.
The outrage only deepened when Mae explained how she was Jewish and the family she was sitting for was Catholic, and how the parents had sometimes clashed with her mother over their differences.
When her own mom intervened by emailing the family, Mae said they ignored her entirely, forcing her to send another text to hold her ground.
The teen posted an update on how the situation was finally resolved
Marianne’s reply was anything but conciliatory.
Mae reported that the mother wrote back, scorning her for ‘growing up into another version’ of her mother and sneering that she had ‘prayed that [she] would find a sliver of normality among [her] parents.’
Marianne concluded by stating they would not hire Mae again.
Mae’s persistence ultimately paid off and, Dan, the husband, quietly sent her the full $150 that she was owed.
Even then, the teen refused to let the family off the hook.
‘I do not feel comfortable coming back in your house anymore, considering the way you have treated me, talked about my parents, and attempted to use me and go back on your words,’ she wrote in a final message, to the couple.
