My partner had already asked me to work from home all week because of the massive blizzard affecting the Northeast coast. Upper management at my job has already given me significant leeway to work from home since my infant was born 10 months ago, even though it was not part of the job’s benefits.
I do not want to endanger my position or make upper management reluctant to provide this benefit to any future employee who finds themselves in my situation.
To her point, she is looking out for the comfort and well-being of her 60-year-old mother, who will have to travel from Brooklyn to Midtown and babysit our son for many hours.
Am I the asshole for wanting to go to work on Wednesday regardless?
YWBTA. These are not normal weather conditions. This is part of parenthood. Your boss gave you the flexibility to use, and this is absolutely an appropriate time to do so.
During these conditions no one else is even going to be able to see them at the office, because everyone who can work from home usually does. They’re going to look weird, not industrious.
NTA, but I think you should find other childcare arrangements.
INFO: Why would you working from home to care for your infant son endanger your position when management has given you leeway to WFH to care for your infant son? Has anyone said anything about you doing this too often?
YTA
You’re willing to endanger yourself and your MIL, so you can try to look good to your boss (who has voiced no issues with you working from home).
If you do this, you are proving to your partner that you care more about the possible opinion of your boss than you do about your family or their safety.
Given the blizzard, I’m guessing you’re not the only person who will be working from home. YTA for expecting your MIL to travel in dangerous conditions instead of using the least you’ve already been given.
YWBTA…. if your boss has been understanding about you working from home so do it. Your MIL is 60 yo and you are asking her to travel to take care of your child during a massive blizzard. God forbid something happen to you both during that time, lets be realistic here, staying home for both of you is the much safer option.
Yes. Why have MIL make a possible dangerous trip?
Kinda ya. She has to travel in a blizzard because you don’t wanna ruin things for future dads 🙄
Yes. Yes you are
YTA. If you can stay home, there’s absolutely no need to risk MIL going out in bad weather conditions. The entire region is experiencing severe weather; your bosses should understand that there are obvious extenuating circumstances here. It’s very unlikely you’d be the only one asking to work from home.
Don’t put your mom at risk for hypothetical future people. Ywbta if you do that.
I think this is such a non-issue. If the conditions are bad on Wednesday morning, such that it would be dangerous or difficult for your MIL to get to your place, then it will also be totally reasonable for you to stay home, especially since you are able to WFH, and I imagine many others will be doing the same thing. OTOH if it’s not so bad by then, then she can come to your place and you can go to work. It’s a game-time decision, so to speak, and kind of an ESH for both of you for taking rigid stances in advance.
EDIT: To put it another way, I think you should just let MIL make the call on Wednesday morning \[EDIT 2: And isn’t this rightfully her call anyway? why are both of you acting like she has no agency?\] If she feels it’s too difficult to get to you, then you tell work that the blizzard not only made it difficult for you to come in, but also caused your childcare arrangement to fall through. I can’t imagine a workplace that has already shown itself to be pretty generous about WFH would have any problem with that at all.
There is a significant weather warning that I am going to guess will come with warnings not to make unnecessary journeys. Some insurers will void your coverage if driving dangerously.
I get your employers have been accommodating to your needs and you don’t want to feel like you are taking advantage but this is probably a scenario where you take the safer option in regards to your life over your job
YWBTA