Believe it or not, moms have a lot going on throughout their days. And the amount of stuff to do triples with every kid they have to take care of, whether their own or those they’re chaperoning.

So, PSA, be mindful of other moms if you’re leaving your kid in their care, or else they might end up missing their morning carpool to school. Or kicked out of carpooling in general. Or a number of other things might happen, but let’s not get carried away with possible outcomes.

But speaking of the former, a mother recently visited the Am I The A-Hole community for some perspective on who’s in the wrong after she came over to pick up this one kid for school and he didn’t show up. So she left with the rest of the carpooling kids, only to be called names for leaving that one kid behind.

More Info: Reddit

They say you don’t mess with a carpooling group or else you get the headlights horns

Image credits: Peter Fazekas (not the actual photo)

So, Reddit user u/FiveStarFrontDesk, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for an interview, is a mother of 4. Because her family lives too close to school—just 1.5 miles away—they’re not eligible for a school bus. What the kids are eligible for are bike rides and OP sometimes drives them to school.

It wasn’t long until she was invited to join a carpooling group. She’d be responsible for getting 2 of her own and 3 other kids to and from school on some days, while the other 2 parents would fill in the gaps on others.

Unbeknownst to her, though, one of the kids came with a little asterisk and fine print in their carpooling package. But it became beknownst to her right when she had already arrived at said kid’s house. And when I say house, just the house. The kid was nowhere to be found.

A mom tried to mess with a carpooling group and got served humble pie when the group outed her for expecting the carpooler to wake up her kid

Image credts: FiveStarFrontDesk

Now, the mom did make sure that the kid was informed beforehand about the time to be ready, and her daughter also went down to the house and knocked on the door—twice—but without a response. So, the mom decided to take the kids she had to school and just move on.

Well, dung hit the fan when she arrived at work. It was then that she noticed 3 missed calls and a couple of very angry voice messages from the mother of the kid she didn’t pick up. It was at this point that she got called an a-hole, but she was also called other names that your kids should never use after calling the mom back.

In fact, OP told Bored Panda that the angry mom’s visceral reaction was what urged her to share the story. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have given it a second though.

The kid failed to show, so OP drove the kids she had to school, only to find an angry mom at the other end of a phone call soon after

Image credts: FiveStarFrontDesk

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Image credits: mel0808johnson (not the actual photo)

Apparently, OP was supposed to call the kid, waking him up in the process, and then wait for him to get ready. OP was having none of it and told her that it’s not her responsibility to do that, nor does she have the time to wait around for a kid that’s supposed to be ready upon arrival. One slur by the angry mom later, the call ended.

And it seems it was enough for OP to decide to bolt from the carpooling group as soon as she had started carpooling, but the other parent in the group had a better idea. You see, that parent too has problems with this kid’s mom. So, they effectively joined forces and excluded the abusive mom, and by proxy her sleeping kid, from the circle.

We asked OP if she had any idea as to why the angry mother expected her to wake up the kid herself, but she was as stumped as anyone else. “Honestly, I don’t think I can [wrap my head around it]. I don’t understand how or why she would expect that of someone.”

But, in any case, problem solved? Yes, absolutely, as folks in the AITA community proclaimed time and time again. Folks couldn’t figure out why OP would be the jerk here to begin with. The entitled mom had it coming with that attitude, and she can only blame herself for getting her kid kicked out of the carpool, and that’s that.

But neither OP, nor the AITA community thought she was wrong to do what she did

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In general, folks online emphasized the lack of respect shown by the angry mom, her lack of understanding of what carpooling really is, lack of understanding that one does not simply mess with a carpooling group or else they get the horns, lack of being a parent, apparently, and a lack of understanding that certain behaviors lead to very specific consequences. And they are glad OP showed the mom her place.

OP noted that there had not been any developments in the story: “Carpool has been going well since the incident. I haven’t spoken to the mother, and my kids are not good friends with the child.” But if the other family that OP’s carpooling with would like to bring them back—if they apologized, for example—OP could consider, but as of this moment, it’s a hard no.

We asked OP to reflect on her situation and to share some advice with anyone dealing with similarly nasty mothers. And she had this to say: “Do what’s right for yourself and your kiddos. If someone is delusional or toxic, they don’t need to be around your kids!”

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