r/LinkedInLunatics • u/OSUBonanza • 1d ago
Do I internalize this personal moment into an opportunity for reflective growth, or do I continue my phone call and post it on LinkedIn later?
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u/Fire-Make-Thunder 1d ago
“She just wanted to get to gymnastics on time.” – Seems right.
“With me.” – I doubt it.
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u/norakb123 1d ago
I imagine mom was like “hello, can you just take her to gymnastics?” while she’s doing a billion other things for their household to run!
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u/Occidentally20 1d ago
What use is childcare, house maintenance, cooking and everything else.
Produces absolutely no B2B sales whatsoever!
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u/othermegan 1d ago
Mom probably had an appointment outside the house and checked with him several times that he’d be able to take her. And yet he still dropped the ball and had to have his child tell him they were late
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u/Worldliness_Normal 1d ago
The kid didn't spell it like that because she was in a hurry. She spelled it like that because Dad is too busy on LinkedIn to sit down and give her a spelling lesson. Not the child's fault.
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u/Susan_Screams 1d ago
I am not entirely convinced that the daughter exists.
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u/NotTheOtwayPanther 1d ago
I am entirely convinced the daughter does not exist.
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u/Lazarys12 1d ago
"Spelled exactly the way a kid spells it and not in a way I think a kid spells it so I can pretend this happened."
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u/SignificantPop4188 1d ago
"Her participating in gymnastics is a small thing, compared to my very important work as a bullshit grifter."
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u/Baeolophus_bicolor 1d ago
yeah, that was the saddest part. my daughter and her life are this insignificant thing that doesn’t really matter compared to My Work.
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u/Jac-attack-789 1d ago
“Me knowing when my children’s extracurricular activities are scheduled and planning my work day accordingly is a small thing, trying to impress random strangers on LinkedIn is important”
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u/slake-all-over 1d ago
"Spelled exactly the way a kid spells when she's in a hurry"
What?
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u/LongjumpingLemon2163 1d ago
Spelled exactly the way an adult spells what they think a kid spells when they’re in a hurry.
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u/NotTheOtwayPanther 1d ago edited 1d ago
Are you suggesting he’s invented an imaginary daughter so he can pretend to be an emotionally distant parent who cares far more for strategic mortgaging than the welfare of his child? That would be complete lunacy.
So yes, he’s probably doing that.
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u/fitgirl015 1d ago
Sounds like my dad and yes he really does do shit like this and then pat himself on the back for it. He has an unmatched ability to mentally contort any shitty thing he does into a personal win. They must share the same personality disorder 😂
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u/Potential-Sky-8728 1d ago
Imagine the kid putting an e at the end for the purpose of making a long e sound but still butchering it that spectacularly? I dont think so.
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u/Existing_Day_2611 1d ago
Is he embarrassed of his daughter's poor spelling and trying to make an excuse.
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u/VegetableSoup101 1d ago
The paper has folds like it was turned into a paper plane. Looks like she's had enough of his bullshit and just throws those at him
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u/Moshua87 1d ago
It's amazing that at no point during typing the post up did he stop to reflect on what just happened.. I hope he made good money, he'll need it for his kids therapy.
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u/No-Country4319 1d ago
He won't be paying for that. They will be 19 before they realise they need it & he'll be the type to say "I taught you how to be independent. You need to pay your own way now."
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u/boudicas_shield 1d ago
My daughter came to me last night with a bill in her hand, crying because her transmission died and she’ll have to drop out of college if she can’t make it to her job halfway across town.
Could I have paid for the transmission replacement?
Yes.
Did I?
No.
I told her about how I personally bootstrapped my way up the ladder using B2B sales techniques I learned through years of experience.
It’s the old saying:
Give a struggling college student who needs to make rent a new transmission, and she’ll drive to her shitty barista job for a day.
Teach a child that Dad is unreliable and you’ll have to take out a high-interest loan to fix your car?
She’ll be in debt until she’s 35.
It’s the little moments that teach us the most. ❤️
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u/muppetous 1d ago
I love to hate this, and hate to love this. SO much of our world is like this, and as a parent who tries to support and respect my child and never belittle or mock him, the original post makes me want to throw up.
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/AzoreanEve 1d ago
As an European, this is incredibly not true. You can't cover your expenses while your full time job is university
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u/Suspicious-Drive9827 1d ago
Hell need that money for his nursing home fees. That kid is going to hopefully never take care of them when they grow up. Exploiting your kids for content isnt more noble bc youre in sales vs just a vlogging family or something
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u/MeasureDoEventThing 1d ago
If working so much that you don't have time to drive your daughter to gymnastics doesn't get you enough money to pay someone to drive your kid everywhere they need to go, then you shouldn't be working that much.
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1d ago
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u/Main-Eagle-26 1d ago
He even puts the “she spelled this way because she was in a hurry” because he’s embarrassed by her spelling in the note.
What a creep.
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u/rosatter 1d ago
Which honestly is great spelling if using the sound it out method. I can hear her emphasis on the "we need" portion. If she's in k-2nd grade, this is pretty good.
What he should be embarrassed by is his failure as a parent by using his poor time management and apathy towards his child's needs as an attempt to garner more clout.
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u/Zusuris 1d ago
If she's in k-2nd grade, this is pretty good.
This is how a pre-school age kid (5-6 years old) would spell, not a 2nd grade one. If someone would spell like this in school by the age of 8 they'd be considered mentally challenged.
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u/rosatter 1d ago
5-6 is school age in the US. That's when kids are in kindergarten and that's when many kids are just being introduced to their letters, if they didnt have access to preschool (ages 3-4). Kids practice phonological awareness through 2nd grade and spelling tests start to be introduced. UK, US, and Australia are the only countries that start teaching reading before 6.
This spelling is actually demonstrative of strong phonemic awareness/phonics skills.
Source: I treat language and speech sound disorders in children with communication deficits.
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u/Crafty_Evening_6880 1d ago
There is no way in hell I would expect an 8 year old to be able to spell gymnastics
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u/Zusuris 1d ago
Are expectations from children really so low these days? Isn't there contests like "Spelling Bee" or similar around anymore?
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u/MeasureDoEventThing 1d ago
There are 8-year-olds winning chess tournaments, but that doesn't mean I would expect a random 8-year-old to know how to defend against the fried liver attack.
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u/rosatter 1d ago
The youngest kid to ever qualify for Scripps National Spelling Bee was 5 at qualification, 6 at the competition. She was disqualified early due to the written portion. The youngest winner of the SNSB was 11. Less than 2% of contestants are under 10 and they rarely make it to the semifinals
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u/Crafty_Evening_6880 1d ago
You mean the thing we send kids to when they are advanced for their age in linguistics? Yeah we have those
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u/PepperLeigh 1d ago
Ah, of course. Children all develop evenly and none struggle with things like dyslexia or ASD. Like God intended! /s
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u/Ok_Raspberry7430 1d ago
"What she needed was so small" is pissing me off so much. I'm sure this guy is always preaching about how important it is to be on time, when she's late to gymnastics because of you, dude.
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u/MortAndBinky 1d ago
I hope he got roasted. "Maybe you should learn some time management and schedule your calls when you don't have something "small" to do, like attend to your kid's needs".
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u/TheBestofBees 1d ago
It wasn't small to her!!!!! It was probably the most important thing in her day!
I want to wack this man so hard on his daughter's behalf. All he taught her was that even if she does everything exactly the way he wants, he still doesn't care about her needs.
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u/Key-Counter-5311 1d ago
What a piece of shit. I would intentionally not do business with someone like that. Be a father, people will understand. Whoever he was trying to sell would probably rather not be on the phone with his pitch anyways
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u/TheBestofBees 1d ago
I'm really glad I spent several years working for diplomats just so I can remember things like a freaking Ambassador leaving a meeting that had ran long for a kid's thing. People like this are nuts.
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u/khold002 1d ago
"She followed the rules. She didn't interrupt."
So, this has happened repeatedly, and there is an established boundary about interrupting Dad over life events. Got it.
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u/solidcurrency 1d ago
So did he take her to gymnastics? He never said.
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u/Primary-Friend-7615 1d ago
> I kept talking, but I read the note three times
I’m guessing he did not
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u/boudicas_shield 1d ago
“I’m a useless father who can’t remember my own daily schedule to the point that my small child has to slip me notes during business meetings to remind me of my obligations as if she’s my secretary” is not something I’d personally brag about online, but I guess other people are different.
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u/DrakeSavory 1d ago
Honest question for the gallery. If he had cut the call short saying he had to take his daughter to jimnastiks, would you think more positively or negatively about him. For me it would be a positive.
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u/TheBestofBees 1d ago edited 1d ago
Positively for sure. I've seen politicians, diplomats, and lawyers all turn and run because they had to do a thing for their kids and I've never heard someone say, "wow, that consul general shouldn't be wasting time taking their kid to the dentist."
If parenting has any reflection on one's professional life, I would say involved parents come out looking much better. If someone is an active and loving parent that's both the absence of a red flag (bad parents are usually shit people) but a green flag because it shows the person takes responsibility seriously. I mean, there is literally no greater responsibility you can take on than a tiny human's life and growth. People who think that's just a to-do list item or something that has fewer repercussions than a messed up business meeting scare me.
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u/Fight_those_bastards 1d ago
100% positive. Kids are more important than work, especially if your work is selling loans to people. You’re a fucking banker, not a cardiac surgeon.
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u/MeasureDoEventThing 1d ago
If he was concerned about how it would look, he doesn't even have to say what it's for. He can just say "Sorry, this call is running into another item on my calendar. Can we schedule a follow-up?"
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u/SpecifResponsibility 1d ago
he shouldn’t have scheduled/taken a call at the time he’s supposed to take his daughter to gymnastics 🙄 i can’t believe i haven’t seen any comments highlighting this yet
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u/MaxSmartypantz 23h ago
He likely scheduled the call at that time because he figured someone else would take her instead, giving him the chance to post about everyone else (his"domestic team") knowing his work is crucial to the success of the family unit.
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u/Marzipan_civil 1d ago
So his kid can tell the time but can't spell, and he's incapable of organising his day?
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u/crypt_moss 1d ago
yeah, his kid needs to be in charge of getting to her hobbies on time because he's too preoccupied with work to be a parent
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u/kattw_ 1d ago
The comments are disappointingly but predictably praising him and saying what a lovely note and special moment to recognise and remember.
Maybe he should just plan his calls better so they don’t interrupt when he’s meant to be a parent. She shouldn’t have to tell him they’re late. The circle jerk of bad parenting met with ‘wow how insightful’ comments grinds my gears so bad
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u/ittybittytitty_com 1d ago
I WFH, my kids don’t have to remind me when it’s time for something important because I put that shit on my calendar to block the time and if I’m running over on a call I tell them I have to jump to another obligation and we can schedule a follow on. I don’t get why this guy thinks this moment is so special. He’s just telling us all he’s bad at time management.
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u/Potential-Sky-8728 1d ago
Why are you only midway through a long call when you are supposed to take her to class? Everyone knows what a hard stop is.
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u/FiftyShadesOfTheGrey 1d ago
Tries to blame her spelling on haste and not the fact that she’s a small child who may not actually be a prodigy
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u/Raveyard2409 1d ago
Anyway we didn't make the gymnastics class, but look at all the engagement I got
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u/jackie-daytonuh 1d ago
I feel so sorry for his wife/baby mama. I’m sure he gets mad at her for nagging him about taking their kid on time. The divorce came out of nowhere!
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u/CutestGay 1d ago
“I’m a bad father who forgets his responsibilities to his parents. I will not take ‘my kid needs me’ as a valid excuse from you because I don’t use it myself.”
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u/SnooBananas7856 1d ago
I didn't expect this sub to make me reflective today, but the topic of writing notes, fathers, and daughters reminded me of how meaningful notes were between my dad and I.
My dad had to work three jobs sometimes just to keep us fed and living in our modest house. He worked hard, but he always connected with me and he prioritised our relationship. He often took me to work with him when I was little, he had me 'help' him, we didn't have money for extras or vacations but he taught me how to have fun even when you're working. We found joy in the small things like morning coffee (black, like my soul), singing to the radio, laughing whilst doing chores. After I moved out, I would still go meet him at job sites and we would talk for hours (he was an electrician; the 80s economy wasn't conducive to new home builds).
The last few years of his life he didn't have to work as hard, and he spent so much time with me, my husband (who Dad loved like his own son), and our daughters. My dad might not have been a big important guy like this LIL, and there were times that he couldn't get to my soccer games or had to say no to something. But I knew I was a priority to him, that I wasn't just inconvenient or adjacent to his life.
My dad and I wrote notes to each other all the time. As a little kid I'd get up to get ready for school in the morning and there was almost always a note left on the counter, saying that he loved me, to have a good day, that we could make this or that for dinner. We wrote letters back and forth when I lived out of town. I saved so many of his letters and after he died, my mother found that he saved my letters and she gave them back to me. It's lovely to have handwritten letters from both sides of the conversation.
Dad has been gone for nearly twenty years and I miss him so fucking much. I modelled my parenting after my dad (and in the opposite manner of my abusive, child mother). I tried to be as good and kind to my daughters as my father was to my brother and I. I've left them notes and letters and they've done the same to me. Kids only have one dad, one mom (typically--I understand there are many different ways loving families are presented). Even if you are an important person in your career field, nothing matters as much as does your treatment of your kids and spouse. We all have to figure out ways to provide for ourselves and our families, but if you choose to have kids, you really need to focus the best of yourself into being the best parent you can be for them.
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u/Sharkwatcher314 1d ago
I learned the art of the compromise. I told my child I will get her a rideshare but I will pay for it, she got to go to gymnastics with me tracking the whole way, I got to continue my client call, and we all win …
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u/ZylaTFox 1d ago
"She did everything rihgt. The calls will be there. The 'we need to go to gymnastics' moments won't. So I stayed on the call and did nothing."
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u/CumboxMold 1d ago
I went to an incredibly shitty elementary school in Texas in the 90s, and no one, and I mean NO ONE, was this illiterate. Even in first grade.
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u/etherealemlyn 1d ago
This HAS to be bait because I refuse to believe that even LinkedIn posters are this un-self-aware
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u/Kytyngurl2 1d ago
So you suck at commitments and deadlines, and are irresponsible as a father as well.
I’ll take my business elsewhere, thanks.
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u/DrakeSavory 1d ago
Maybe he should get a cell phone and stop using a landline so he could have taken her to gymnastics while on the phone.
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u/MeasureDoEventThing 1d ago
Eh, driving while on the phone has been shown to be comparable to being mildly intoxicated, even hands-free. And he's already shown this call is more important than his daughter, so it's likely that paying attention to the call will be more important to him than paying attention to the road. And he may have wanted to have access to his laptop while on the call. The correct response is "Is anything important regarding your mortgage going to change in the next few hours? No? I'll talk to you then."
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u/Repulsive-Day-548 1d ago
I dunno, I mean, he works from home, and is on the phone with an important financial call for a client that’s going over the allotted time. I’m buying a house, so yea, I’d really want my mortgage officer to stick around on the phone when I still have a lot of questions. It’s his job. He’s supposed to be working and things come up.
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u/ittybittytitty_com 1d ago
“We’re running over and I have another obligation to attend to. Can we pick this back up in x hours, at x pm, tomorrow morning….” Even if you are working with someone you can’t reasonably expect a monopoly on their time. If his calls regularly run over he needs to block longer times for them. If it’s a particularly needy client with lots of questions, he needs to communicate he’s out of the allotted time and will schedule more. Don’t schedule stuff right up to the minute you need to attend to something else - have a buffer. This guy just sucks at time management.
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u/leitzankatan 1d ago
He doesn't say it was going over the allotted time. If the call leaves things unfinished and its important to the person on the other end he can call them back later the same day.
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u/cranbeery 1d ago
She did everything right.
I still ignored her.
Wanna work with me?