My boss is nuts

[miss.colorado]

I told her yesterday that I'm pregnant. She told me that I can bring the baby to work for the first three months because they sleep a lot.

Um... I was hoping to have the first 3 months off. Don't think that's unreasonable, right? DH and I stash cash to compensate for the lost income while I'm off. She saves $$ by not having to pay me.

Bah.

[Bonita]

Yikes! Did you tell her that you had planned to take that time off, or were you too stunned by her response to say otherwise?

[aqualuv]

That's a interesting response. Maybe she was thinking you would want to work and not lose income so she would offer you bringing the baby in.

[luv2rn4fun]

Yikes! I'm hoping she had good intentions like aqualuv mentioned. Hopefully she will be understanding and work with you when you let her know that you want to take a maternity leave.

[bowies]

Oh dear. I think she needs to become acquainted with the FMLA.

[ewall]

So odd. Is she just really out of touch and know nothing about babies?

[miss.colorado]

She's a realtor and I'm her licensed assistant/buyer's agent....she pays me a salary plus bonuses. The brokerage we work for is a large, upscale firm and the agents have to hit a performance threshold each year or get asked to leave. She's become very dependent on me and I know her life is so much easier with me around. She struggles when I take a day off.

I really believe she meant that I would give birth, then bring baby to work for the first 3 months. My response was "uh, I haven't even thought that far ahead..." with a smile.

She and her husband tried for many years unsuccessfully to have kids. They ended up fostering and adopting, so she's often said that pregnancy was something she never got the opportunity to experience.

I am trying not to stress, but I am hoping to leverage the fact she needs me to stay sane with a few months off or I leave her all together. So many other agents in the company would love an "ashley" (me), so maybe if it doesn't work with her, I could team up with another agent....

[bowies]

So are you considered her employee or an employee of the brokerage? (I'm not well-versed in how real estate employment works.)

If you want to go back to working with her after your ML, I'd sit down with her and explain that you want time off to bond with your child and you'll help her vet a temp for those 3 months. That way she still has help and you still have your job. And, who knows, it could be a foot in the door for the temp who gets scooped up by one of the other realtors when you come back.