Babysitting = FAIL (big vent!)

smileychic10986 · June 2010

So babysitting went great last night. The little girl was such a sweetheart. She's 2, and not one of the "terrible" ones either. I could have brought Natalie with me, but DH got home right before I left, so I decided to leave her here with him. He was fine with it, so I figured, why not. Well I ended up babysitting from 6-10 while they went out to dinner and a movie. We hadn't discussed pay b/c in the ad I saw for them it sounded like the pay would be good. And I am too quiet and passive to bring things like that up. So I figured I would just go and try it, and see how much they would pay me. Well when they got home we talked for about 15 minutes, and I told them how great their daughter was, and how I would live to work for them in the future. So right before I left she handed me the money folded up with a note with future dates to babysit written down. When I got out to my car I looked to see how much they paid me - and it was $12! Yes, $3 an hour!!!! WTF! Who pays someone $3 an hour to babysit??! I was so pissed! I got $5 an hour to babysit when I was 12, literally! Would you ever think to pay someone that little?? I would think at a minimum someone might pay $5 an hour, but not 3. So now I have to find a way to tell them I refuse to work hard taking care of their daughter for $3 an hour. And if that's how much they were going to pay me, there is no way they would be able to afford what I would charge.

You know what made it so much worse? I got home, and my MIL's car was in the driveway. Apparently Natalie screamed the entire time I was gone until DH finally called his mom to come over and calm her down. By the time she got there (1/2 hour before I got home) Natalie had cried herself to sleep. I was so sad! I feel so bad for DH. He tried everything he could to calm her down. And she has NEVER done that before. She is such a good baby, and never screams like that. When she woke up a couple hours later, and her eyes were still beat red. I wish he had called me - he could of even driven her to where I was, and I would have calmed her down.

So that was my terrible night last night. I made $12.00, and my daughter screamed the entire time. I had really wanted the nannying job to work so that I could have Natalie come with me. Now it looks like I'll be going back to the job I hate...

Vandy05 · June 2010

Aww that is super crummy about the babysitting gig and more dd crying like that! So sorry you had a rough night!

Babs022 · June 2010

omg, i'm so sorry! seriously, that is ridiculous that they would even think to give you 12 bucks...my cousin is 15 and gets paid 12/hr to babysit! i hope your lo is better today! ((hugs))

smileychic10986 · June 2010

Babs022:
omg, i'm so sorry! seriously, that is ridiculous that they would even think to give you 12 bucks...my cousin is 15 and gets paid 12/hr to babysit! i hope your lo is better today! ((hugs))

I keep on thinking it must have been a mistake, but I don;t think it was...

MrsPatterson · June 2010

I am SO sorry, how disappointing. I can't imagine thinking that $12 was ok to pay someone for 4 hours! It's like they just took the change left over from their date and figured that would be fine. We had a sitter come over when we thought we'd be gone longer, but we were only gone an hour so we just paid her $20 because we felt bad for having her block off her entire afternoon. I would never, ever try to pay anyone - even a 12 year old - $3 an hour!

GTBrideKC · June 2010

Wow, I'm so sorry! $3/hour is just insulting. If they call you again, you really should tell them that. Tell them you were expecting no less that $15/hour (or whatever) and you cannot work for them again unless they agree to something reasonable.