Advice Needed: My mom and I do not agree on how and when I should be working for her.

Advice needed: My mom and I do not agree on how and when I should be working for her.

Hello fellow Redditors I am in need of advice on this disagreement as it has culminated into a large argument between my mom and I.

I (22F) have been assisting my mom (60F) with some bookkeeping responsibilities since she taught me how to work in quickbooks around 8 years ago. I started out with basic data entry at the age of 14 as a favor to my mom since inputting can be time consuming and she asked if I would be willing to help. I have been completing the same data entry for the past 8 years and wanted to become more involved in the business as at this point I am an associate at an accounting firm finishing my CPA.

My mom paid me around $15 per statement inputted which isn’t a lot of money but it is an easy $200 when I have the time to help. This year my mom brought another woman into her business who I’ll call Lisa (60F). The way that our software works only one person can work at a time. This was not an issue initially as only my mom and I were working, but now I am working around Lisa as well.

My mom had been asking for me to catch up on a few clients the past month but almost every time I had a minute to go work Lisa would be in the software. My mom said that I should just be texting Lisa each time to see when she is done working but I don’t think that is fair to me. Even when working at an accounting firm if someone is working in papers you need to see they tell you when they are done as a courtesy.

I explained this sentiment to my mom as I have been either having to work in the software late in the day when Lisa decides she is done or not work at all. I told my mom I would catch up so she could finish things for the client but actually getting into the software has been challenging because of this.

I asked my mom if she would tell Lisa to text me when she is done so I could begin working but my mom said the onus should be on me to reach out. This culminated into a blow up argument last night where my mom told me I was an unreliable worker and would never succeed in the real world. She said she never wants my help again and that she can’t trust me to do anything.

I have never been called unreliable in the workplace and the work I complete at the accounting firm is much harder than any data entry I complete for her. I feel bad that I made my mom more stressed as she needs my entries to finish work but I haven’t had my time respected when it comes to using the shared software making it an inconvenience to even do work for my mom.

I don’t necessarily want to stop helping my mom as I know she needs it but I feel like if she doesn’t ask Lisa to share better there is not much I can do.

(Note: my mom works as a full time accountant which is separate from this bookkeeping work. She only works on Sunday in the software. Lisa is a retired friend of my mom’s and she keeps taking on clients and even letting her son use the software making it not a 50/50 split between her and my mom with time. Lisa and my mom split the software cost 50/50.)

Reddit: Am I being unreasonable in wanting Lisa to text when she is done? Please let me know any advice I am open to criticism.