08/31/2026
AITA for refusing to hand over my phone to a stranger?
I (17F) was babysitting for a neighbour (Jane) tonight. She had heard of me through a friend of hers (Kate) who is someone I babysit for regularly - so when Kate asked me to babysit for Jane and gave glowing recommendations of how lovely Jane was to me (I'm quite shy) and how good I was to Jane - I thought "sure. I enjoy babysitting, love kids, etc - why not?" My mother took me over to Jane's house, introduced herself, gave Jane her number and left once she saw that there were actually kids there, that Jane and her husband Peter were getting ready to leave, that it was legit basically.
Jane and Peter left and I babysit the kids who were cool kids. I watch a movie, clean up the mess we had made in the kitchen (spaghetti with toddlers is a nightmare!) and chill on my phone. Nothing I do on my phone while I am at Jane's is anything near 'inappropriate'. I do have a lockable folder with some inappropriate things on there (aka anime and manga that are definitely NOT G rated) but don't touch that folder at all while I'm there.
Jane comes home at 10pm, checks on the kids, checks out the house and as I'm waiting to be paid, she turns to me and says "before I pay you - I need to look at your phone. I want to make sure that you didn't take photos of my house or my kids or look at anything rude". I ask her whether she means she wants to look...