{"id":2129,"date":"2026-02-13T02:05:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T02:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/?p=2129"},"modified":"2026-02-13T02:05:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T02:05:45","slug":"i-thought-i-was-there-to-help-with-the-kids-she-thought-i-was-there-to-repaint-her-house-and-pay-her-utility-bills-%f0%9f%92%80-the-last-line-of-the-contract-broke-me-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/?p=2129","title":{"rendered":"I thought I was there to help with the kids. She thought I was there to repaint her house and pay her utility bills. \ud83d\udc80 The last line of the contract broke me."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Two weeks before my best friend\u2019s due date, I took time off work and paid for my flights from Britain to help with her two older kids (bedtime, food, homework, school runs, lunches etc).<\/p>\n

I\u2019d done this before a few weeks prior to her last baby arrived, just to support her in the final stretch of her pregnancy.<\/p>\n

When I arrived at her house, bags in hand and ready to settle into our usual routine, she sat me down and dropped a bombshell. \u2018The baby\u2019s coming early. I have to have a C-section in two days.\u2019<\/p>\n

I told her no worries, I was still here to help however I could. I assumed I\u2019d continue to manage the kids, make a few meals, handle some errands.<\/p>\n

But what she did next made me immediately GO STRAIGHT BACK HOME. HOME.<\/p>\n

She pulled out a three-page laminated contract.<\/p>\n

“Since you’re staying for two weeks,” she said without a hint of irony, “I need you to sign this. It just outlines the expectations so we don’t have any arguments.”<\/p>\n

I took it, thinking she was joking. She wasn’t.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t a list of helpful favors. It was a 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM manual labor roster. It included “Deep clean all carpets,” “Repaint the spare room,” and “Meal prep 30 dinners for the freezer.”<\/p>\n

But the line that made me see red was at the bottom: “Guest Utility Surcharge: \u00a3150 per week to cover extra water and electricity usage.”<\/p>\n

She wanted me to pay her to be her full-time maid.<\/p>\n

I didn’t even argue. I just stood up, grabbed my suitcase, and called a cab to the airport right in front of her. She\u2019s now blasting me on Facebook for “abandoning a pregnant woman,” but I\u2019m already back in Britain sipping tea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks before my best friend\u2019s due date, I took time off work and paid for my flights from Britain to help with her two older kids (bedtime, food, homework, … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2131,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions\/2131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/readupdatemystory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}