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Upstate NY Babies
Just a vent - some people are so ungrateful
Sorry if this gets long - I just need to get this off my chest...
We have come to depend on the money that I make from babysitting this little girl...it goes straight toward credit card payments that we're trying to pay off. DH and I have gone back and forth about if I should keep watching her, and for now, with the new baby coming and lots of new medical bills, I am going to continue. But I so want to quit right now. I swear they are so ungrateful sometimes. First of all, they pay me every other weekend, which is fine. With this being a holiday weekend and her family in town, I didn't think much of it when they didn't come by to pay me. Well they just dropped her off, with no payment. I brought it up and they stumbled over their words for a second and then the dad said he would bring it by when he picked her up today. I got nothing from them as a holiday gift, and they never once said thank you for the gifts I bought for the little girl or the gifts we made together for her to give to them. It's so frustrating! This spring is going to be a good time for us - on top of our tax return, DH will get a raise, but two different bonuses (one for this job and a small portion of the bonus he would have received from the NY position). Plus in April our rent here is decreased by $100. I'm hoping with all those things, I can stop watching her by April. It is so hard to do so much for a family and feel like they don't even appreciate it.
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Re: Just a vent - some people are so ungrateful
m/c 1/2/08 and 3/12/08
Eve Amelia- Born 2/24/09. 6lb 9.9oz
Natalie Ruth - Born 6/13/11 7lb 6.6oz
Aw, that stinks! I am sorry you are dealing with that crap. I think you really need to enforce some rules on them, if they pay late once they will get in the habit of it.
Do you have a contract with them (I forget)? I think maybe you need to have one signed if you don't for the new year. I would be happy to share mine if you would like.
The gift thing stinks, I know it isn't a must but it is still nice to get a thank you. My new baby had only been here 3 weeks and they gave me a GC to Applebees and a cool handmade deer ornament (made out of wine corks). They also said thank you for providing the baby with great care. It honestly meant more to me than the wad of cash my previous employer used to hand me for Christmas. This family is great so far, I am really lucky. I require them to pay 1 week in advance. Their payment is due Fri for the next week.
The pay thing should be addressed, but the other stuff you will just have to let go. Know that you are taking good care of her and doing fun/educational things, and hope she doesn't turn out like her ungrateful parents!
Yeah, I know that the gift thing isn't a must, but like you said it's still nice to know they appreciate. I would have been happy with a Christmas card with a word of thanks in it.
I do have a contract with them that they signed. They've picked her up late twice now and I've made sure they paid for that. (One time they owed $30 for being 30 minutes late!) When she first started, they asked about paying every other week instead of weekly, and I was flexible and made it work with their situation. It's slowly getting worse. I'm going to address it with them this afternoon.
I don't blame you one bit for feeling frustrated. I really make it a point to tell my sitter (often) how much we appreciate her and what she does. After all, my boys probably spend more time with her than anyone else since my dh and I work full-time. She takes great care of them and that means so much to me.
I would definitely tell the parents that they need to pay you on time or else this could become a habit. It would be like their employer not paying them on time. What makes them think paying you is flexible? Your job is just as important as theirs!!!
That totally stinks! I would, though, try to focus on the fact that they obviously don't have the money to pay you right now...not that they are just being jerks. You shouldn't have to suffer b/c of it, though. But if they don't have the $ - they don't have the $ and there's nothing that can really be done about it.
I would have a chat with them and maybe go over the contract again. I'd tell them that you don't want to start bad habits and maybe next year around the holidays they should budget their money a little better.
As for not getting an Xmas gift - that is pretty lame. But again, they obv don't have the extra money and maybe they don't know that they "should". I'd be treating this whole thing with a "hope for the best, but expect the worst" type of attitude. I learned a long time ago not to put expectations on people because they usually don't meet them...it's a lot less stressful.
Did you get the little girl a gift?