Many parents are in the workforce, yet most of them somehow manage to not miss 10 days in their first 59 workdays. Missing a day because your son hid your car keys? Do you not have a second set of keys, or taxis, buses, a friend with a car, or anything? Boyfriend in the ICU? It’s touching that you want to be there, but you still have to go to work to get a paycheck so YOU can feed YOUR SON. The doctors and nurses in the ICU provide 24/7 care. Unless you are a registered nurse there or a surgeon, you aren’t “caring” for him, you are holding a bedside vigil. That’s nice, but it’s not conducive to maintaining employment.

You made a series of bad decisions. You chose to accept a job paying far less than you feel you need to survive and you chose to rent an apartment without a roommate that cost 25% more than your paycheck. You used your family to help pay your rent, knowing what you were going to make and what you were going to pay. I’m sorry, but Yelp isn’t responsible for supporting whatever lifestyle you want just because you do a basic job for them.

Being a single mother isn’t a card you can play to get sympathy or special treatment. It’s a big responsibility that you chose to take on. You have to make sacrifices because of that. Nobody else has to. I choose not to be a parent for my own reasons. If I’m your coworker, I shouldn’t have to constantly cover for you because you can’t keep your personal affairs in order. I shouldn’t have to do extra calls and pitches, or not be able to take a day off for ME, because you miss a day nearly every week on average. Yelp has other employees besides you that they have to look out for and they have to run a business. Yelp is a business, not a daycare.

If you want to make it “as a single mother” with a boyfriend, in San Francisco of all places, you are going to have to grow up. I’ve lived on the street for a bit, I’ve been homeless, I’ve slept outside on a sidewalk overnight during a cold Utah winter. I traveled and worked hard and reached out to people that I had helped before and people that owed me favors. I got a job making not very much money, worked my ass off, and saved up to get a car. I used the car to look for better work WHILE STILL DOING MY JOB. I got a better job, continued to save up and work hard, and eventually started my own business online.

I make good money now, I have a credit score in the 700s, and I earned it without badmouthing my former employers because I think I’m a special snowflake and everyone should have to make their lives revolve around me.

To paraphrase a well-known saying, “Life is hard, but it’s a lot harder when you make poor decisions.”