Brooke (1:45)

True, true. All right, so comments before we get into this brand new episode.

Jeffrey (1:50)

Yeah.

Brooke (1:50)

Adam Rodriguez said, I've been a listener since 2018.

Missy (1:54)

You guys have helped me smile through the tough years.

Brooke (1:56)

Now you get me through my 10 hour shift at work and comfort me on my group motorcycle rides. Keep up the great work. Adam from San Antonio, Texas. Why did I picture him with a group of people on his motorcycle? And that's a group motorcycle, right?

Jeffrey (2:09)

Like a circus act?

Brooke (2:10)

Yeah, yeah.

Missy (2:11)

No.

Brooke (2:12)

Everybody jump up.

Jeffrey (2:13)

Bill, get off my back. You're gonna fall.

Brooke (2:17)

Hey, be safe out there. Thank you for listening. And your brand new episode starts right now.

Jeffrey (2:23)

I'm gonna read a headline for you.

Brooke (2:25)

Okay.

Jeffrey (2:26)

Suburban mother of two refuses to pay Gen Z babysitter after she watched her kids.

Brooke (2:32)

Wow.

Jeffrey (2:33)

Oh, man, that's gonna trigger people. It's not a laser story. It's an actual situation one of our listeners is dealing with. And it's not a ton of money. But the reason why this woman won't pay her is so ridiculous. She asked for our help. Oh, boy.

Brooke (2:49)

Oh, I wanna hear it.

Jeffrey (2:50)

Now she's gonna have to call and confront this lady.

Joel (2:53)

Hey.

Jeffrey (2:54)

Oh, you know, this is gonna be uncomfortable. It's the case of the bitter babysitter and the penny pinching parent in your brain. That's what I'm.

Brooke (3:01)

A headline.

Jeffrey (3:01)

Yeah, we should write for the news, Awkward Tuesday phone call. Next. It's awkward.

Missy (3:07)

It's Tuesday.

Jeffrey (3:09)

It's Awkward Tuesday phone call. If you listen to our show regularly, you know that our own Brooke Fox is a proud value shopper.

Brooke (3:18)

Oh, yeah, very proud. AKA Cheatskate, I find without label too. Jeff, if you thought that insulted me, you thought wrong.

Jeffrey (3:27)

I know she will take every opportunity to pay less money than she probably should with coupons, rewards cards.

Brooke (3:35)

Yes, whatever app. App and loyalty program I need to sign up for, I'm doing it.

Missy (3:39)

A lot of email accounts. Oh, my God.

Brooke (3:41)

I have three just dedicated to that.

Jeffrey (3:43)

Brooke will even tip the wait staff and then once they turn around, secretly exchange that $20 note with a $1 bill and sneak out the back door. That's when she runs out of her counterfeits.

Brooke (3:54)

You saw that.

Jeffrey (3:55)

Everybody saw it.

Joel (3:56)

Brooke.

Jeffrey (3:56)

And I know Brooke will agree with me on this. Okay, but the price of child care, not just daycare, but babysitting, is higher now than ever before. Even I've heard about this.

Brooke (4:06)

I'm gonna tell you that's why find someone between the age of 13 and 15 to watch your kids. Oh, sure, they may not be super responsible, but they're not that into boys yet.

Jeffrey (4:16)

And you don't pay them as much and they don't know how to sue you when you underpay them. That's kind of nice. The thing is, Brooke, we do have a babysitter on the phone right now. Needs our help. Missy, welcome to the show. First of all, how long have you been babysitting for? Like, are you a professional nanny or is this more of a side gig thing?

Missy (4:35)

So I am actually a nursing student.

Jeffrey (4:38)

Oh, so this isn't your professional job, you're just doing it on the side to pay for your bills and books and stuff?

Missy (4:45)

That's correct.

Jeffrey (4:45)

Okay.

Brooke (4:46)

Are you with the same family? Is it always just the one family?

Missy (4:50)

So I babysit for like four to five families here and there.

Jeffrey (4:53)

Okay.

Missy (4:54)

And there's one, like, I don't know if I should even say their name.

Jeffrey (4:58)

The Fox house. Yes, that's fine.

Brooke (5:02)

Like, if you're gonna find a good babysitter, it's worth the money. But is that the problem? The money?

Missy (5:07)

Yes, it is sort of the money. So, yeah.

Jeffrey (5:09)

What's going on?

Missy (5:11)

So this family that I watch, I watch their seven and their five year old. They're really great kids. The dad is super nice, but the mom is really hit or miss. She's just a very strange woman.

Jeffrey (5:23)

How so?

Missy (5:24)

So this time the parents go out, everything's fine. They're out for like four hours. And usually the mom Venmo's me after. But I waited a few days and I got nothing.

Brooke (5:34)

Okay, did you hit her up? Because, like, sometimes what happens, especially with Venmo, is like, all of a sudden the kid needs you, and then you get sidetracked and then you just transferred. You just space it.

Joel (5:45)

Right.

Missy (5:45)

So I did text her. I usually Venmo request her, but I followed up and I said, hey, if you don't mind, can you please Venmo me the $80 when you can?

Brooke (5:54)

Cool.

Jeffrey (5:54)

Okay.

Missy (5:56)

So she texts me back and she goes, every. I'm literally going to read it to you. So it says missy every time you're here. I noticed you enjoy our food. So if we're counting the ice cream you ate and the deli sandwich you made with the chips, we're pretty even.

Jeffrey (6:11)

Oh, my gosh. Deducting from your pay.

Brooke (6:15)

Wild.

Missy (6:16)

Also, like, I'm pretty sure when I first started, both her and the dad were like, whenever the kids eat, like, you're welcome to make for yourself.

Brooke (6:25)

I'm sorry.

Jeffrey (6:25)

Well, hold on. How much of the ice cream did you go through? The entire pint of Ben and Jerry's. And was it a gourmet sandwich that you made?

Missy (6:33)

That's the thing. Even if I did, it's not $80 worth of ice cream.

Jeffrey (6:37)

Well, that's the amount that you owed.

Brooke (6:39)

And that's so weird. Like, I'm sorry. When you invite someone into your house, you give them your food. It's just what it is.

Jeffrey (6:46)

Even if they're not working for you.

Brooke (6:48)

Yours used to text you that you babysitted?

Missy (6:49)

Yeah, she asked me to Eat before.

Brooke (6:51)

I come over, Because I'd always go.

Missy (6:52)

After practice and, like, eat all their food.

Brooke (6:53)

And then she's like, can you please.

Missy (6:54)

Eat before you come over?

Jeffrey (6:55)

Yeah, food like that.

Missy (6:58)

She shamed you for how much you ate, but she told me she didn't.

Brooke (7:01)

Deduct it out of my pay, so.

Jeffrey (7:02)

But. But Alexa's left with two grocery bags filled with items, so she did shop at Whole Foods.

Missy (7:08)

She had that good stuff.

Jeffrey (7:09)

I see. All right, that's. That's. How did you respond to that text? That's a pretty aggressive text. Yeah.

Missy (7:15)

Yeah. So furthermore, she offers me $20.

Brooke (7:19)

What? She's like, you ate $60 worth of ice cream. She must be tallying, like, all the other times you eat things. Is that what you're thinking?

Missy (7:28)

I. Maybe. But even if that's true, that's kind of crazy to be keeping tabs on me like that and counting every item of food in your refrigerator. Like, you can afford to have a babysitter. Like you can afford to give me a sandwich.

Jeffrey (7:41)

That's kind of how I feel. It's like a restaurant. Like, if you can't tip, then don't go out.

Brooke (7:45)

And if you're gonna invite someone to come over to your house, especially at a meal time to take care of your children, you feed them.

Joel (7:51)

Okay.

Brooke (7:52)

Okay.

Jeffrey (7:53)

You clearly feel slighted by this mother who's refusing to pay you the full amount that you're owed. What do you. What do you looking to get out of doing this phone call with us?

Missy (8:02)

I'm confused as to what to do, basically, because furthermore, she blocks me so that I can't ask her a third time for it. Oh, yeah. And so I don't know if I'm out of a job.

Brooke (8:17)

Oh, yeah, you're for sure out of a job.

Missy (8:18)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeffrey (8:20)

You don't want a job anymore anyway.

Missy (8:21)

Yeah, agreed. But, like, I'm owed $80.

Jeffrey (8:24)

Yeah, you need your money. So you want our advice on how to call this mom and get the full $80 that you're owed, Right?

Missy (8:32)

I just want what's owed to me. I don't care what happens after that. I just. I need my money.

Joel (8:38)

Wow.

Brooke (8:38)

Okay. That's gonna be hard. I mean, I'm sure Alexis will give great advice. She is so good at demanding money.

Missy (8:44)

I would get paid $10 an hour.

Brooke (8:46)

For two kids for four years.

Missy (8:47)

Yeah, maybe Alexis should give advice.

Brooke (8:49)

She's got the expertise and not allowed to eat. Maybe I should hire Alexis as my next babysitter. That's the real answer.

Jeffrey (8:55)

And half of Your pantry is going to be rated afterwards.

Missy (8:57)

But I'm fin first.

Brooke (8:59)

10 bucks an hour?

Missy (9:00)

That's so cheap.

Jeffrey (9:01)

Okay, so we're gonna think of our best advice for what to give you and what you should say to this mother before you make your awkward Tuesday phone call and you get sweet, sweet financial justice.

Brooke (9:13)

There it is. As sweet as that ice cream.

Jeffrey (9:17)

We'll have our advice for you when we do your awkward Tuesday right after this.

Joel (9:21)

Hold on.

Jeffrey (9:22)

It's awkward?

Missy (9:23)

It's Tuesday.

Jeffrey (9:24)

It's awkward Tuesday phone call. If you're just joining us, we've got quite the down on our hands. You've heard of Rumble in the Jungle? Well, this is the tussle in the toy room. Babysitter versus the mom who refuses to pay her the rate that they had agreed upon. Cause after four hours of child care, our listener Missy was owed $80 for her babysitting work. And the mom texted her back saying, well, you ate a bunch of our ice cream and made yourself a sandwich while you were there, so we're probably equal. And it is important to note that the mom blocked her on text and on Venmo after that. Never paid her. That's why we're here, to help Missy get her hard earned money before she never has to work for this lady ever again. Yeah, and all we need to do is give her a little bit of advice for how to accomplish that. So, Brooke, what are your thoughts? What do you think Missy should do here?

Brooke (10:21)

Well, first, I think you should start reasonable and nice.

Missy (10:24)

Okay.

Brooke (10:25)

You say, listen, this is a pain. Let's just make it all go away for the 80 bucks.

Joel (10:29)

Okay?

Brooke (10:30)

If she doesn't agree with you, Missy, you let her know that word is going to get around to all the other babysitters in the area. And if she ever wants to hire a babysitter again, she better pay up.

Missy (10:44)

So play the blackmail card.

Brooke (10:45)

Absolutely.

Missy (10:46)

Yeah.

Brooke (10:46)

I think a mother's greatest fear is not being able to get away from her children.

Jeffrey (10:52)

Missy, do you feel like you're strong enough to blackmail a mother of two?

Missy (10:57)

Honestly, I'm pretty confident in myself. Yes. I think. I think we can do that.

Brooke (11:01)

You gotta do it for the other sitters. Yeah.

Jeffrey (11:04)

All right. It's not very often we tell people.

Brooke (11:06)

To blackmail mothers, but listen, sometimes justice is dirty.

Dr. Jesse Mills (11:10)

Okay.

Jeffrey (11:11)

All right. That's one piece of advice for you, Jose. What do you think? Well, this lady's already been mean to you and blocked you. And if she ends up hanging up, just call the school where her kids go liquidate their lunch Funds and then go pick up the money from the front desk after school.

Brooke (11:26)

Oh, yes, yes, Jose. You could tell that. You obviously know how that works.

Jeffrey (11:29)

Yeah, I'm Amanda's dad. I'd like to cash out all her money. I'll be there in 10 minutes. Well, yes, but the babysitter, I don't know if they would be able to get the school to agree to that.

Brooke (11:39)

A parent could agree to that. I put 30 bucks into my kids lunch funds and I don't think I'm ever going to see it again.

Jeffrey (11:45)

Don't feed my children for a month. What do you think about that, missy?

Missy (11:50)

So at their school, actually, they have like a designated pickup and it's me.

Jeffrey (11:55)

Oh, so you may be on a list.

Missy (11:56)

Yeah, so I may be on some sort of list authorization. You don't want to involve the kids. I don't lunch away, Brooke. You got that bad.

Jeffrey (12:04)

So far the advice we've given is to blackmail mothers and not feed children.

Brooke (12:10)

The mothers sound like, oh, you can sleep with her husband.

Jeffrey (12:12)

Hey, we need a third one. Is that what you did, Alexis?

Missy (12:16)

No, it's just an option, okay?

Jeffrey (12:17)

We're just brainstorming. Always on the table. All right, what's your idea? I don't know if we've helped at all. I think we may have actually hurt you, Ms.

Missy (12:24)

Evil. I think there's some stuff I could use in there. Definitely.

Brooke (12:26)

Okay, and listen, we're gonna be on the phone in the background. I'm ready to jump in and tell this mother what's up. All right?

Missy (12:32)

Yeah.

Jeffrey (12:32)

Got some mama mom action.

Brooke (12:33)

That's right.

Jeffrey (12:34)

Here we go. Hopefully all goes smoothly. She just agrees to pay the money. It was all a big misunderstanding. Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for, but here we go. I'm dialing it right now.

Missy (12:47)

Hello? Hello? Hi, Alice. Hello? Yeah, who is this? Hi, it's Missy. How are you, Missy? How are you calling me? Why are you calling me? I blocked you. Yes, I'm aware you blocked me. That's why I am calling you, because you owe me money. I don't owe you any money, sweetheart. Please don't call me sweetheart. You owe me $80 for babysitting your children. That was the agreed upon rate and I would just like it so we can end this whole thing. Yes, sure, no problem. As soon as you pay me back for all the ice cream you ate. You know, I have a camera in the house. And I seen the food you put on your sandwich. I saw how you took my son's half a sandwich. And you ate it instead of saving it for him. But what's the matter with you? You know, and the last time you babysat for me, it was for four hours. But the kids were next door for two and a half of those hours. You just had to be sitting in the house. Meanwhile, you ate everything I put out for smoothies. When they came back in, what did you do? Nothing. You didn't do anything. You know, $80? Give me a break. If you could just stop yelling at me for a second, I can straighten that out for you. The kids actually ate next door, which is why they didn't need to have those smoothies at that point in time. Also, your son didn't want to finish his sandwich, so I finished it because I hadn't had lunch that day. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Also, you and your husband were very clear from the beginning that whatever the kids ate and whatever I had prepared for them, I was welcome to some, too. I am not glutton. I am not eating you out of house and home, and I sure as hell I'm not robbing you. So I don't know what the problem is or why my female products, AKA tampons, they're not cheap. Excuse me. Okay, I know everything that's in my house, and I know what's missing when it's missing. Okay, Missy. Okay, first of all, it's very strange that you count your tampons, but second of all, next time I'll call you and ask if I can have one. And if st. Oh, I'll just bleed all over your couch. Is that fine? You know, your generation A, you know, they're so spoiled that they don't. $20 an hour. This isn't only fans, okay? This is babysitting. This is. That was an agreed upon rate. $2 an hour in my day. What are you doing? You're sitting on your booty butt. And you're. And you're on your phone talking to your little buddies and eating my. Okay, Alex, Alex, I am entitled to the $80 that I earned by watching your children. I will never watch them again if that makes you happy. But that was the agreed upon rate. God, you know, Missy, you don't have a contract. What are you gonna do, take me to small claims court or something? That takes forever and you're not gonna get it dime from me. Okay, Okay. I don't think you can find a babysitter, to be honest with you. Because I'm gonna tell every babysitter in the Area of every kid in your kid's class that I know not to work for you.

Jeffrey (15:46)

Yes.

Missy (15:47)

Awkward. Oh. Oh, I'm scared. Boo hoo.

Jeffrey (15:54)

Yeah.

Brooke (15:55)

Alice?

Jeffrey (15:56)

Alice, are you there?

Missy (15:57)

Who are you?

Jeffrey (16:00)

We're a radio show.

Brooke (16:01)

Wow.

Missy (16:02)

Oh my God.

Jeffrey (16:03)

Your babysitter, Missy reached out for help with this.

Missy (16:06)

Right, right, right. That generation does that.

Brooke (16:08)

Okay, no.

Jeffrey (16:09)

Radio has been around for a long time.

Brooke (16:11)

You can't be that old. You have a five and seven year old. Stop. Like, what are you doing?

Missy (16:16)

You know what? I don't have the answer to you. I don't know you. I was talking to Missy.

Brooke (16:20)

I thought Missy was doing a great job. You handled yourself so well, advocating for herself.

Missy (16:26)

Thank you.

Jeffrey (16:26)

Alice. This is called an awkward Tuesday phone call. And we're on Missy's side on this because she told us about the situation that you're in. You. It sounds like you're trying to throw Missy in jail just because she ate some food.

Missy (16:38)

I never said she could eat the food, okay? I never.

Jeffrey (16:44)

We heard the phone call. Yeah, we heard you talking to her.

Brooke (16:47)

Yeah, you said specifically you ate the ice cream. I'm not going to pay you the money.

Jeffrey (16:51)

Yeah, and the other half of the same sandwich.

Missy (16:53)

Right? So she ate my food. She doesn't get $80. If you want me to give her the $80 so I could get rid of all of you, okay, I will do that.

Brooke (17:01)

Alice. Alice is the problem. You can't afford it.

Missy (17:04)

Lady, listen to me, lady, I'm talking to you. I make more than you, okay? I don't need. I don't need this. I make more than you.

Brooke (17:12)

Oh, yeah? You want to prove it?

Jeffrey (17:13)

Well, Alice did know about only fans, so maybe there is a little bit of extra income that we don't know about. So I was impressed. Oh, yeah.

Brooke (17:21)

Do you want to use this time to promote your channel, Alice?

Missy (17:23)

Yeah, don't you slander me. I'm not on that filthy site.

Brooke (17:26)

Okay, well, somebody in your house is to know the rates.

Jeffrey (17:30)

Yeah, we're not trying to slander you. We're just asking that you do the humane thing and pay your babysitter the money that you said you would pay.

Missy (17:38)

Shut up. I just said I would pay her.

Jeffrey (17:41)

Okay?

Missy (17:43)

We will pay her just to get rid of you and to get rid of that woman you're talking to there and to get rid of the other guy you're talking to there and get you the hell off the phone. Oh, wow.

Jeffrey (17:55)

You are very, very reasonable, Alice. And I appreciate you. Missy. Do you want to say thank you now to Alice? For agreeing to pay you the money so kindly. She's being so nice about it.

Missy (18:07)

Yes, you are being extremely gracious. Thank you so much, Alice. I really appreciate you paying me what you owe.

Jeffrey (18:14)

Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Brooke (18:16)

I love that we never have sarcasm on this.

Missy (18:19)

So unseensere. But you're gonna get your $80. And don't worry about me. I'll get all the babysitters I need, okay? Oh, I'm not worried about you, Alice.

Brooke (18:29)

Yeah, you sound like a delight.

Jeffrey (18:31)

Definitely. I feel the good vibes happening. And I know this isn't a second date update, but I would like to offer to send the two of you out to grab some ice cream together.

Dr. Jesse Mills (18:39)

Cute.

Missy (18:41)

I may eat all of it and she may get upset. Okay, everybody. Screw you. Okay, I'm done. I am done. I'm done. I will talk to. Go count your tampons or something.

Brooke (18:56)

We didn't bring that up.

Missy (18:57)

That was weird. Brooke and Jeffrey in the morning.

Dr. Jesse Mills (19:03)

Hey there. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, director of the Men's Clinic at UCLA Health and host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, guys everywhere make the same resolutions. Get stronger, work harder, fix what's broken. But what if the real world work isn't physical at all? To kick off the new year, I sat down with Dr. Steve Poulter, a psychologist with over 30 years experience helping men unpack shame, anxiety, and emotional pain they were never taught to name. In a powerful two part conversation, we discuss why men aren't emotionally bulletproof, why shame hides in plain sight, and how real strength comes from listening to yourself and to others.

Jeffrey (19:39)

Guys are toxic. They're immature, or they've got something they just haven't resolved. Once that gets resolved, then there comes empathy, as in compassion.

Dr. Jesse Mills (19:48)

If you want this to be the year, you stop powering through pain and start understanding what's underneath. Listen to the mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

Joel (20:02)

New year, new goals. And in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt. And I'm Joel. We are from the how to Money podcast. And every week we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jeffrey (20:30)

So much we didn't even get to really discuss in that call because the woman hung up on us so quickly.

Brooke (20:35)

Did the damp on thing was wild. Wow.

Jeffrey (20:37)

Yeah, there's a lot of things. The only fans thing was wild and had a note aware accusation that wasn't even true.

Brooke (20:42)

Dude, how could this woman sometimes be okay? Remember he was like she's on the board sometimes she's crazy.

Jeffrey (20:49)

Sounds like she just always is always annoyed by the younger generation like always. I mean I honestly, I don't even blame her for trying to get away because every single sentence that she said was just self incriminating. So I would have wanted to get off the phone with us too. But after the call was over, we did get an update from Missy saying she received the 80 Venmo payment with a certain emoji attached to it. Our producers, our producer said it was just one finger.

Brooke (21:19)

Okay, I guess you're number one. You're the best babysitter.

Jeffrey (21:23)

I'm assuming it's a thumbs up because she got the money and everything's a. Okay, that's it too. And you do two of those at the peace sign. Hey, look at that.

Joel (21:32)

Look.

Jeffrey (21:32)

If you enjoy these calls, we just ask you to take one finger and hit subscribe on our podcast. Not the same one she used. Whichever finger you want to use, you go for it. It's Brooke and Jeffrey in the morning.

Dr. Jesse Mills (21:45)

This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name.

Jeffrey (22:02)

Part of the way through the valley of despair is realizing this has happened and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward.

Dr. Jesse Mills (22:09)

Our two part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

Joel (22:17)

Hey, it's Joel and Matt from how to Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right, yeah. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.