oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Apr 5, 2021 11:24:13 GMT -5
Wendy wasn't a bad sitter. So she was late if she had called it wouldn't have been a big deal. I liked her better than Kristy (I like anyone better than Kristy) and was also rooting for her. Same. I usually roll my eyes at Kristy but the older I get, the less patience I have for her authoritarianism. I usually root for whoever Kristy doesn't like (Ashley Wyeth, Cary Retlin, Alan Gray, etc.) even though I have varying degrees of fondness for those characters. And when she clashes with BSC members I usually feel like she's the wrong in the wrong.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Apr 5, 2021 13:40:56 GMT -5
Wendy wasn't a bad sitter. So she was late if she had called it wouldn't have been a big deal. I liked her better than Kristy (I like anyone better than Kristy) and was also rooting for her. Same. I usually roll my eyes at Kristy but the older I get, the less patience I have for her authoritarianism. I usually root for whoever Kristy doesn't like (Ashley Wyeth, Cary Retlin, Alan Gray, etc.) even though I have varying degrees of fondness for those characters. And when she clashes with BSC members I usually feel like she's the wrong in the wrong. I feel like Wendy had no chance from the start. Kristy was rude to her at the first meeting Jessi brought her to, while the others were willing to give her a chance. It's like she didn't want an outsider joining the BSC.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Apr 5, 2021 21:26:46 GMT -5
Wendy wasn't a bad sitter. So she was late if she had called it wouldn't have been a big deal. I liked her better than Kristy (I like anyone better than Kristy) and was also rooting for her. Same. I usually roll my eyes at Kristy but the older I get, the less patience I have for her authoritarianism. I usually root for whoever Kristy doesn't like (Ashley Wyeth, Cary Retlin, Alan Gray, etc.) even though I have varying degrees of fondness for those characters. And when she clashes with BSC members I usually feel like she's the wrong in the wrong. I don't think Kristy was "authoritarian," despite being bossy at times. I take it that you don't like Kristy, Oldhickory.At least she's not like the Fantastic Foursome's Laura McCall from Betsy Haynes' Fabulous Five. Laura was always threatening to "expel" anyone from her clique who were "disloyal" or who didn't do what she wanted. 😁😁😁 Alan Gray was often obnoxious and I had little patience with him.
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Apr 5, 2021 21:30:16 GMT -5
Same. I usually roll my eyes at Kristy but the older I get, the less patience I have for her authoritarianism. I usually root for whoever Kristy doesn't like (Ashley Wyeth, Cary Retlin, Alan Gray, etc.) even though I have varying degrees of fondness for those characters. And when she clashes with BSC members I usually feel like she's the wrong in the wrong. I don't think Kristy was "authoritarian," despite being bossy at times. I take it that you don't like Kristy. At least she's not like the Fantastic Foursome's Laura McCall from Betsy Haynes Fabulous Five. 😁😁😁 Alan Gray was often obnoxious and I had little patience with him. Kristy's pretty authoritarian when she's being flanderized. Not necessarily as much earlier in the books.
Aww, I love Alan Gray
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Apr 5, 2021 21:32:59 GMT -5
I don't think Kristy was "authoritarian," despite being bossy at times. I take it that you don't like Kristy. At least she's not like the Fantastic Foursome's Laura McCall from Betsy Haynes Fabulous Five. 😁😁😁 Alan Gray was often obnoxious and I had little patience with him. Kristy's pretty authoritarian when she's being flanderized. Not necessarily as much earlier in the books.
Aww, I love Alan Gray
Yeah, they shouldn't flanderize characters. I say the real, UNflanderized Kristy was not overly authoritarian. She, like the rest of the BSC, was a good friend. Why do you like Alan Gray?
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Apr 6, 2021 12:17:08 GMT -5
Same. I usually roll my eyes at Kristy but the older I get, the less patience I have for her authoritarianism. I usually root for whoever Kristy doesn't like (Ashley Wyeth, Cary Retlin, Alan Gray, etc.) even though I have varying degrees of fondness for those characters. And when she clashes with BSC members I usually feel like she's the wrong in the wrong. I don't think Kristy was "authoritarian," despite being bossy at times. I take it that you don't like Kristy, Oldhickory.At least she's not like the Fantastic Foursome's Laura McCall from Betsy Haynes' Fabulous Five. Laura was always threatening to "expel" anyone from her clique who were "disloyal" or who didn't do what she wanted. 😁😁😁 Alan Gray was often obnoxious and I had little patience with him. If anything, Kristy in this book and the one before it, she was just at her most extreme. In Dawn's Big Move, she practically guilts Dawn into staying in Connecticut solely because of her job with the BSC when Dawn was really homesick for California. Then in this one, she's yelling at Mallory for being sick and ordering her to see a doctor, orders Dawn to come back to Connecticut and says she isn't joking, she was rude to Wendy even before she showed up to a meeting and a sitting job late. Like we know Kristy's bossy and has a big mouth. She herself says this. But this was just too much. And yes, Kristy isn't one of my favorite sitters (despite her being one of my favorites as a kid) but I still like her. Kristy's Big Day is one of my favorite books and she's great in that one. Her devotion to the BSC was just exaggerated here or we can even say she was somewhat OOC. I do find it kind of sad that the sitters are so terrified of upsetting her. Like Jessi says she's nervous about being half a second late to a meeting. What's Kristy going to do, fire her?
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Apr 8, 2022 13:46:20 GMT -5
I actually liked Wendy. It's Kristy I had a problem with in this book. Generally I like her but I can't take her bossiness and ordering people around. She even demanded that Wendy give up her own clients to the BSC! As if they can afford more clients! That's what they were having problems with in the first place-too many clients. And Kristy wanted more?
I wouldn't have put up with Kristys crap either.
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Post by oldmeanie on Nov 3, 2022 23:36:20 GMT -5
I really like this one for some reason. I wasn't feeling too great today so I just read it all (not that the BSC is difficult reading, I just "ration" the books a little more). Kristy is insufferable in this one, though. She was rude to Mallory (saying "What is WRONG with you?!" and things like that. Although Jessi wasn't much better), rude to Dawn, and even rude to Wendy. Then she gets all antsy about people being late when it's only 5:27, and everyone was at sitting jobs (also, in this book, parents ARE rushing to make it home in time so they won't miss their meeting. This is just so odd to me). Speaking of Mallory, I feel so bad for her here. It's very hard to feel horrible but not be visibly sick, if that makes sense. It's not the same thing, but sometimes I get migraines and absolutely cannot do ANYTHING, and people are not always that understanding about this. Fatigue also sucks; I experienced that a bit when I had covid. Ugh. Then to have people practically guilt trip you for not being able to do things (and she's a KID!). The most ridiculous example of this is the shopping trip. I think Mary Anne and Jessi were going with six or seven kids and were considering just canceling the whole trip because Mal couldn't help them watch the kids. What?! Mr. Pike drove them, why couldn't he help? Why did they need an extra person (they only need 2 sitters for the seven Pike kids)? I just... don't really get the issue here at all. I do think Wendy should've been on time, especially to the sitting job. I don't understand the issue with her "sharing" her sitting jobs though. Her neighbor asked her that morning if she could sit in the afternoon and the BSC really expected her to... consult them first? What the heck? That's completely ridiculous and unreasonable. And she's right, they didn't explain the rules at all to her. She definitely should've called to let them know she'd be late, but to be honest, being this unreliable kind of feels like a realistic flaw for someone her age. I could see how a kid would be unprepared for the time commitment. I liked the idea for Snow White and the Zorbs video. Kind of funny and cute. Not my favorite thing to read, but the crossover was actually pretty clever. The Margo shoplifting thing was a more interesting subplot, but barely took up any time. So I guess Shannon will be an alternate officer and attend meetings? To be honest, aside from the treasury (4 whole dollars a month!), I'm not really sure how much this helps the BSC. They still have the same amount of members (and soon will be down one more). Am I missing something lol. I am re-reading and wondering what Mr. Ramsey thought of having to RUSH Jessi to Claudia's house every Friday evening? We were never told (were we)? what time her dance class was held? I'm guessing Jessi gets home from school shortly after 3. If she has a quick snack and gets ready to go to ballet by 3:30, it's supposedly a 30 minute drive to Stamford (who drove her btw--Aunt Cecelia)? So the actual ballet class, at the earliest started at 4 and ended at 5. If that's true, it sounded like Mme Noelle was a stickler for the clock, there's no way, Jessi could have even washed up (let alone maybe showered) after ballet, changed her clothes, and made it back to Stoneybrook before or right at 5:30. My head is spinning now from all this! My point in the above was why wouldn't Jessi's Dad, especially, or any of the elder Ramseys have simply told Jessi to either give the BSC her weekend-early following week schedule either at the Wed BSC meeting or even Thurs or Fri at school. At the Fri meeting, someone could have always *gasp* called Jessi at home before 6pm to make sure whatever job she was scheduled for was okay. Wouldn't that have made more sense? Unrelated to the above, this is the book where Kristy (has the nerve, imo) to tell Mrs. Wilder that she (K) "can't talk" then because the meeting (it was 5:25) had not yet begun. If I were Ginger Wilder, I'd have at least been taken aback by such a remark! That was way different than supposedly Mrs. Barrett calling "whenever." Finally, total and complete and to Mr. and Mrs. Pike for not taking Mal to see the doctor sooner! Surely, Dr. Dellenkamp has hours for "emergencies or as needed?" If not, I remember in one book Vanessa said Dr. D. was part of a 3 doctor practice. Dr. J might have even been available. Someone, something, other than letting Mal's obvious (and sudden) constant exhaustion go on aimlessly. I know this is an old, OLD comment, but now my head hurts just thinking of Jessi's schedule. Lol. I looked it up, and apparently ballet classes tend to run about 90 minutes, so I'm guessing Jessi's class is from about 3:30-5. Aunt Cecelia probably picks her up at school and drives her directly to Stamford, then her dad picks her up after work and drives straight to Claudia's. In Chapter 5 of this book, she's running late on a Friday, picks Wendy (who's taking forever) up, then arrives JUST on time, which seems unlikely. I better not think about the logistics of this series too much! It's also odd that her class only meets twice a week. According to Google, 4 days a week is about appropriate for someone Jessi's age. She basically couldn't be in the club at that point.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Nov 4, 2022 11:17:09 GMT -5
Wendy was definitely unreliable and should have called Jessi to let her know she'd be late to the Pikes (or told her in school that morning wtf) but at the same time, the odds were stacked against her. Kristy said Wendy knew the rules when she joined but she didn't! All Kristy did was explain how jobs are assigned, then yelled at Mallory for turning down a job because she didn't feel well.
Obviously, being on time is a given, especially for a babysitting job. But making Wendy turn over her own clients to the BSC was ridiculous. Jessi says "If we all had private jobs, we wouldn't have a club" but I'd like to think the BSC would make an exception for a family that's familiar with and trusts Wendy.
If Wendy hadn't told off Kristy and stormed out of the meeting, I think she could have stayed on as an associate member because Jessi kept saying how good she was with kids. But it would only be after the BSC stressed to her that she MUST be on time to sitting jobs and to call if she was going to be late.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Nov 7, 2022 9:55:57 GMT -5
Jessi's schedule is a mess. Let's say the drive is only 30 minutes due to 5:00 traffic. Maybe at 3 it only takes 20 minutes or whatever. The part that bothers me more is who is driving all these students during business hours? Is Madame Noelle's class so prestigious that all families have someone home during the day? It makes no sense. The classes should have been in the evenings and the writers just didn't do that because they needed Jessi free to babysit.
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Post by sparklymouse on Nov 7, 2022 19:10:10 GMT -5
Speaking as someone who lived across the street from a school for two decades, you would be amazed at the amount of parents just hanging out from 2-3pm waiting for their kids to be done with school. I get out of work the same time as the schools release, and traffic is INSANE at that time. I don't get it.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,257
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Post by oldhickory on Nov 8, 2022 9:00:03 GMT -5
That makes sense for elementary schools. Stay-at-home parents aren't unexpected for little kids, especially if there are younger siblings too. Both my parents worked so that's what I'm used to.
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Post by oldmeanie on Nov 8, 2022 11:55:02 GMT -5
Jessi's schedule is a mess. Let's say the drive is only 30 minutes due to 5:00 traffic. Maybe at 3 it only takes 20 minutes or whatever. The part that bothers me more is who is driving all these students during business hours? Is Madame Noelle's class so prestigious that all families have someone home during the day? It makes no sense. The classes should have been in the evenings and the writers just didn't do that because they needed Jessi free to babysit. I do think the classes should've been in the evenings. For some reason, I never really thought about it. A lot of people work earlier and are done by around 3, but I know it's not typical. I'm guessing there was an evening class after Jessi's for people who work later, and the Ramseys initially chose afternoon classes for her so she could be home for dinner, then decided to keep the class since Aunt Cecelia could drive her. I still think it's weird that the class only meets twice a week aside from rehearsals.
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Post by m0drnmoonlight on Nov 17, 2022 12:14:43 GMT -5
Now that you mention it, I never really thought of it either. My friends took dance classes when we were growing up and it was always in the evening. I took piano lessons growing up and my classes were at 4 p.m. at the very earliest.
I did like the subplot here. I tend to find a lot of the Projects du Jour boring but this one was fun. And the kids thought of it, it wasn't the BSC coming up with it and recruiting the kids. I believe the kids even wrote the script!
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Post by fernmariposa919 on Jun 12, 2023 11:57:42 GMT -5
I felt so bad for Mallory in this book! As someone who's had mono before, I know how much it sucks. It really made me angry when Kristy was being so rude to her, asking what was wrong with her and making a comment about how they're gonna be two sitters short if she can't take any sitting jobs. It also made me mad when Jessi was baby-sitting with Mal and internally complaining about how she wasn't helping her. We all know Mal is not going to slack on a baby-sitting job, so I feel like if they notice Mal is tired and lethargic and telling people she doesn't feel good, they should know she's not lying and trying to get out of work.
Also, it had been a long time since I last read this book and was trying to remember what made Wendy a "bad" baby-sitter. Was she ignoring the kids or smoking or talking on the phone while she sat the kids in front of the TV? I was shocked when she was actually really quite good with kids and was wondering what made her a so-called "bad" baby-sitter. The only thing she does wrong is show up late at the Pikes. She should have called Jessi and told her what was going on. Also, the fact that she has to "share" her clients with the BSC is ridiculous. This is her neighbor who knows her and has never met the BSC. Why the hell would they want some new person baby-sit for their baby when they like/trust Wendy and have an established relationship with her. I don't blame Wendy one bit for not wanting to be part of the club, though it is too bad she couldn't be an associate member. Do we ever see her again in the series?
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