Adventures in Babysitting....

During yesterday's bar exam session the cleaning ladies were scheduled to visit the homestead while Mom was watching Miss Baby. When we left the house I really didn't even think about the fact that the alarm was on. At our lunch break we called and checked in with the Mom and all was well. When we finished our exam session in the afternoon, the Husband's cell phone had a voicemessage from a random 800 number. We called home to check in and the Mom didn't report that anything was amiss. We checked the voicemessage and heard that it was our alarm company telling us that there had been an alarm call and that the person at our house couldn't verify any of the secret code information and as such, the police were being called.

As we were getting ready to call the Mom back to alert her to the police visit, I noticed that the call from the alarm company had been placed over two hours before. When we got home, we got the whole story.

Before the cleaning ladies arrived, Mom realized that she'd need to disarm our burglar alarm in order to let in the cleaning ladies. The Mom checked in with Dad for the code. Unfortunately, the code, as remembered, was incorrect. When the cleaning ladies arrived, Mom opened the door and the alarm went off. Punched in code? Doesn't disarm. Alarm goes off. AlarmCo calls, Mom can't verify. AlarmCo asks whether perhaps the cleaning ladies would have the code? Mom, rightfully asserts that if she doesn't have the code, why would the cleaning ladies have it?? Alarm eventually stops going off, but now the doors are closed and Mom realizes she can't open the door to let the cleaning ladies out without setting the alarm again. Next thing you know? The police show up. They pound on the door and demand to be let in. Mom opens the window near the door to let them know that she can't open the door-- the alarm will go off and she doesn't have the code. The police say that they have to come inside to make sure that everything is okay. Next thing, they're asking Mom whether someone inside the house is making her say that everything is okay.

Then, the police ask whose car is in the drive way, and is that person forcing Mom to keep the door shut? Now Mom, with Miss B has to go and get Gloria (chief cleaning lady) to confirm that everything is okay! Next, the police want to see Mom's license, which (because the door can't be opened) she has to shove underneath the window screen!

Then, Mom tells the cleaning ladies that they have to stay at our house until I call back from the bar exam to give her the code (what a great fact pattern to test False Imprisonment!), Mom calls Dad on this one and Dad reminds Mom that she can't hold the cleaning women hostage. Luckily, after a bit of back and forth, the Mom and Dad recovered the code. Cleaning ladies can go free and, as the SBPD said, "that was the strangest alarm call I've ever been on."

Something's telling me we'll be getting a bill in the mail.