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This has really been bothering me, so I wanted to see what you all think about it, and if there's anything you think I can do to change the situation.
I work at a home daycare, and pretty much have the same responsibilities a teacher would have at a daycare center. Well, there's this mom, maybe a year older than me, who has began to be down right rude to me (she didn't start out this way. She was nice enough in the beginning). But now, I greet her when she walks in, she barely acknowledges (sp?) it, and sometimes I have to say hi a couple times before she even looks at me. And even when she does say anything, it's a really quick "hi" (said as if it was a real burden to have to say anything) and immediately looks away. When she's leaving, she will not say anything to me until I've said bye a couple times. At first I thought maybe she didn't hear me, because of the noise in the room or something, so I'd repeat it just in case she hadn't heard so she didn't think I was being unfriendly to her. Last week the owner reminded her at drop off that payment was due that day (she's been paying late a lot lately), and when she came to pick up that afternoon she immediately said, "I forgot her payment. I'll have to pay her Monday" (payment is due every Fri). She said it really rudely, like she didn't care at all that she "forgot", and just dared me to say anything. Well, since the owner wasn't there, I'm responsible for following the polices, so I very politely (and professionally, I thought) told her that she needed it today. But let her know it was okay to bring it back by because we'd be open for at least 2 more hours. Her whole expression turned mad, and she very rudely told me, "well I can't help it that she needs it today. I'm busy and can't bring it by. She'll just have to wait until Monday." And then turned around and refused to look or even talk to me after that. So when she was getting ready to leave I was as friendly as ever and told her to have a good weekend. She ignored me, and turned her head and told her son it was time to go. One of the children said bye to her, and she was nice and responded to them. I thought maybe she didn't hear me, so I repeated it. Again I was ignored. Anyway, by the time she was actaully going out the door, I had said it for the 3rd or 4th time. FINALLY she said "bye" really quick and dry, like she didn't want to say it, still not looking at me. This is how she always is, but she just seems to get ruder to me all the time. However, when the owner is around, she turns into the funniest, most friendly person you'd meet. It's SO obvious she's ****ing up to her. She trips all over herself to make over the owner's dog, teases the owner as if they're best friends, compliments her, etc. And gives her a really friendly greeting, and says bye to her and all that. But anytime I mention to the owner how she acts toward me, she's surprised and doesn't see that side of her. She told me "she's so much fun to be around!" (it's not like the owner even sees her that much! Maybe 10 min in the morning, 3 days/week when dropping off; and 10 min in the afternoon 1-2 days/week). The owner doesn't like to enforce policies with her because "she's easily offended, and I wouldn't want to upset her". If she does remind her of a policy, it's in a teasing way, as if it doesn't matter that much to her.
I've tried and tried and tried to think of when I could have offended this mom, and I just cannot think of anything I could have said or done. I'm always professional and friendly to the parents. And her son seems to really like me. He always runs back and gives me a hug before he leaves, and tells me bye. So it's not that her son doesn't like it here, or doesn't take well to me. The other parents are always friendly to me, and only have positive things to say to me. I'm not the personality type that easily offends people. I'm quiet spoken, can get along with just about anyone...I'm not extremely outgoing, just more reserved, but friendly, etc. But I know I must not be doing something right, if this mom seems to dislike me so much. Any ideas what it could be? In all my years of working with children, I've never run across a parent that seems to dislike even the sight of me, and acts like it's such a huge burden to so much as say hi. It's to the point that I dread the days her son comes just because I know I'll see the mom at drop off and pick-up and never know how she's going to act toward me. I'm so mentally exhausted from trying to be friendly to her, only to have her act like she does, that I just want to give up trying. I would just shower my greetings on her son and not bother saying anything to her, but I know that would be rude of me, and unprofessional. By the way, when she drops off her payment (3 days late every time), she comes on a day her son isn't even attending, and it's always during nap time (even though the owner reminded her that it's best to bring payment either before or after nap so it didn't wake up the kids). It's like she wants to make things as hard on me as she can (such as waking the kids up from nap to "get back at me", although I don't know what I did). I do NOT want to talk to her and ask her if I've offended her in any way. There's no telling what kind of smart alec remark I would get. And plus I know she'd act all innocent like she has no idea what I'm talking about. Besides that, there's no good time to talk to her. She brings her son late, after we've already started the day's activities, and I'm really busy with the kids. And when she picks up, it's right after nap, so I'm really busy putting nap stuff up, directing kids to go potty, getting their shoes on, preparing snack, getting schoolage off the bus, etc. Even if there was a calm moment, I'd hate to talk to her in front of the kids. They hear and understand everything that's said.
Sorry this is so long. I'm just so upset and so worn out with it. I wish I knew what I could have done to make her dislike me so much, but yet be SO nice to the owner.
I work at a home daycare, and pretty much have the same responsibilities a teacher would have at a daycare center. Well, there's this mom, maybe a year older than me, who has began to be down right rude to me (she didn't start out this way. She was nice enough in the beginning). But now, I greet her when she walks in, she barely acknowledges (sp?) it, and sometimes I have to say hi a couple times before she even looks at me. And even when she does say anything, it's a really quick "hi" (said as if it was a real burden to have to say anything) and immediately looks away. When she's leaving, she will not say anything to me until I've said bye a couple times. At first I thought maybe she didn't hear me, because of the noise in the room or something, so I'd repeat it just in case she hadn't heard so she didn't think I was being unfriendly to her. Last week the owner reminded her at drop off that payment was due that day (she's been paying late a lot lately), and when she came to pick up that afternoon she immediately said, "I forgot her payment. I'll have to pay her Monday" (payment is due every Fri). She said it really rudely, like she didn't care at all that she "forgot", and just dared me to say anything. Well, since the owner wasn't there, I'm responsible for following the polices, so I very politely (and professionally, I thought) told her that she needed it today. But let her know it was okay to bring it back by because we'd be open for at least 2 more hours. Her whole expression turned mad, and she very rudely told me, "well I can't help it that she needs it today. I'm busy and can't bring it by. She'll just have to wait until Monday." And then turned around and refused to look or even talk to me after that. So when she was getting ready to leave I was as friendly as ever and told her to have a good weekend. She ignored me, and turned her head and told her son it was time to go. One of the children said bye to her, and she was nice and responded to them. I thought maybe she didn't hear me, so I repeated it. Again I was ignored. Anyway, by the time she was actaully going out the door, I had said it for the 3rd or 4th time. FINALLY she said "bye" really quick and dry, like she didn't want to say it, still not looking at me. This is how she always is, but she just seems to get ruder to me all the time. However, when the owner is around, she turns into the funniest, most friendly person you'd meet. It's SO obvious she's ****ing up to her. She trips all over herself to make over the owner's dog, teases the owner as if they're best friends, compliments her, etc. And gives her a really friendly greeting, and says bye to her and all that. But anytime I mention to the owner how she acts toward me, she's surprised and doesn't see that side of her. She told me "she's so much fun to be around!" (it's not like the owner even sees her that much! Maybe 10 min in the morning, 3 days/week when dropping off; and 10 min in the afternoon 1-2 days/week). The owner doesn't like to enforce policies with her because "she's easily offended, and I wouldn't want to upset her". If she does remind her of a policy, it's in a teasing way, as if it doesn't matter that much to her.
I've tried and tried and tried to think of when I could have offended this mom, and I just cannot think of anything I could have said or done. I'm always professional and friendly to the parents. And her son seems to really like me. He always runs back and gives me a hug before he leaves, and tells me bye. So it's not that her son doesn't like it here, or doesn't take well to me. The other parents are always friendly to me, and only have positive things to say to me. I'm not the personality type that easily offends people. I'm quiet spoken, can get along with just about anyone...I'm not extremely outgoing, just more reserved, but friendly, etc. But I know I must not be doing something right, if this mom seems to dislike me so much. Any ideas what it could be? In all my years of working with children, I've never run across a parent that seems to dislike even the sight of me, and acts like it's such a huge burden to so much as say hi. It's to the point that I dread the days her son comes just because I know I'll see the mom at drop off and pick-up and never know how she's going to act toward me. I'm so mentally exhausted from trying to be friendly to her, only to have her act like she does, that I just want to give up trying. I would just shower my greetings on her son and not bother saying anything to her, but I know that would be rude of me, and unprofessional. By the way, when she drops off her payment (3 days late every time), she comes on a day her son isn't even attending, and it's always during nap time (even though the owner reminded her that it's best to bring payment either before or after nap so it didn't wake up the kids). It's like she wants to make things as hard on me as she can (such as waking the kids up from nap to "get back at me", although I don't know what I did). I do NOT want to talk to her and ask her if I've offended her in any way. There's no telling what kind of smart alec remark I would get. And plus I know she'd act all innocent like she has no idea what I'm talking about. Besides that, there's no good time to talk to her. She brings her son late, after we've already started the day's activities, and I'm really busy with the kids. And when she picks up, it's right after nap, so I'm really busy putting nap stuff up, directing kids to go potty, getting their shoes on, preparing snack, getting schoolage off the bus, etc. Even if there was a calm moment, I'd hate to talk to her in front of the kids. They hear and understand everything that's said.
Sorry this is so long. I'm just so upset and so worn out with it. I wish I knew what I could have done to make her dislike me so much, but yet be SO nice to the owner.
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