office grandparenting
 

Howdy, Mrs Zippyt to ya,

What's an employee to do? My boss, close to retirement, has a grand daughter, about 8, who comes every holiday. The child is smart and busy. My co-workers and myself have to live with bosslady which could be very unpleasant in many aspects. Bosslady brings in "girly" and WE entertain her while Bosslady does boss stuff on her day off. This means "re-setting" an ancient typewriter that no-one is trained to reset; unconstructing a mile-long paper-clip necklace; etc, busy child stuff. THIS year, Bosslady left girly for babysitting service with no TAB!! (meaning left her at work and got in the car and went somewhere else without girly) KEEPING IN MIND we have to live with her........how can repayment be a bitch without obvious recourse???

Zippy says tank her up on sugar and let her loose in bosslady's office with a hand full of markers.

Sounds like a winner of a plan to me.

Well, you could always terrorize the child in unprovable ways . . .

But parking her at bosslady's desk for the duration might be enough to rattle the cage . . .

Otherwise, the most diplomatic of the office could concernedly point out the CONCERNS you all have about keeping track of the child and how the child was SO insecure without granny and how WORRIED you all were when she almost pulled the file cabinet down on top of herself and how you would NEVER forgive yourself if something happened to her while you were all busy attending to your JOBS.

Got a good actor lying around?

wait a minute.

no free advice until you register your own screen name. Jinx suggests 'Missezzippi'

oh, and there will be a barrage of questions about how you put up with ZippyT shortly thereafter.

oh, and welcome

Guess that I musta been working.. (SOMEBODY'S GOTTA ANSWER THE FREAKIN PHONE)...#2 in charge did show girly the sweet stash, set her up in bosslady's office, and leave for lunch. I feel better! Santa DOES get around to everyone. (I have not been in bosslady's office.)

no free advice until you register your own screen name. Jinx suggests 'Missezzippi'

'Missezzippi' WAAAAY to obvious !!!!
She is called Lorac !!!!

oh, and there will be a barrage of questions about how you put up with ZippyT shortly thereafter.


Her words "Bring it on !!!! Byotches !!!!!"

Welcome Mrs. Zippy!

Welcome, Carol...I mean, Lorac.

I think you need to draw up a disclaimer listing all the possible bad things that can happen to an eight year old child in an office without direct grandparental supervision, and then have Boss Lady sign it as a waiver of responsibility for you and your cow orkers.

Give her coffee.

I see your coffee and raise you a Red Bull (or any "energy" drink containing caffeine, sugar, taurine etc)

I was just thinking to put her on overload, not burn her out.

Oops. I forgot that it's not actually the little girl's fault.....

Two words - coffee slave.

It's a place of employment, so put her to work. No need to make your own coffee when you've got a coffee slave in the office. Make sure she knows everyone's preferences (Bob = white with 2, Betty, decaf with 2, etc). :)

But seriously folks -

I would have a word to the appropriate workplace health and safety body in your jurisdiction. Having an unsupervised 8yo child in the office could be an occupational hazard, and may also breach regulations that govern worksite childcare.

The duties of the staff in the office also need clarification, as it is not likely that adhoc childcare comes under the aegis of "other duties as directed". It is unlikely that the staff would have been advised that childcare would have been included in their duties when they commenced employment, so such clarification would be necessary. This is especially important if childcare is regulated in your jurisdiction - such as a designated place for childcare, appropriate supervision by staff with appropriate qualifications, etc. While this is not as important for 8yo children - who can be reasonably self-sufficient - this does set a precedent in the office, and soon it could be extended to other younger children.

I like the idea of having the boss sign a waiver that indemnifies the staff in the event of accident to the child. Make sure it is drafted by a lawyer, who would know the appropriate language to put in the waiver. The waiver should assign to the boss all responsibility for accidents to the child. It should also indemnify the staff for such accidents. Make sure the boss signs it before allowing the child onto the premises again.

Howdy! Good to get my feet wet. In response to,
SG - the cute, smart, cherub child is not only not at fault, she is a good reader and could well be a good future doctor or such, she is very busy, although not destructive. It just fired me up that #2 was imposed upon.
It is spooky, though. In retrospect, Girly did get tanked on sweets. She did take control of NANA's office. Although I did not even look in her office, #2 said it was pretty bad. She did not come in at all today. YEAHHH!!
Oh,and KW........do you have a camera on my office? Are you psychic, child welfare, state police? Was that you that took my pen? Should I not wear my cellar shirt to the office?
TGIF and maybe it will not include a boss.
Even if the governor says we can leave early, It is my turn to stay.

Later.

You could always just mention to the little girl, in passing, how much you liked
it when she and her twin sister used to be brought to the office when they were babies and then ask her why SHE never comes to the office anymore. When the girl looks at you, not understanding, just tell her that you forgot her Grandma had told you a long time ago to never mention the other sister again. :D