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I've had DCB (almost 3 1/2) since he was 9 months old. This family is one of the first I still have left from the very beginning of doing daycare.
These parents were the most fabulous people to work for up until the past few months.
October - DCM and DCD go to Florida for a week. DCB was left in daycare for 10-11 hours a day to which I accommodated because she told me about a month ahead of time that they would need some flexibility since the grandma and aunt were helping out.
November - DCM found out she was pregnant and immediately began wanted to start discussing rates, schedule changes etc. I told her at that point there were just too many variables to take into consideration. She then asked what the cost would be if both boys only came 2 days a week. I told her the rate. (Keep in mind that I never said I would do 2 days a week...which I won't because my minimum is 3 and there is no way I will care for a newborn that isn't full time. The adjustment time is way too long and hard.)
DCD also started a new job and DCM said that they might need an earlier drop off time.
For the first week, DCB came in at 720am. (About 10 minutes before I open and about 20 minutes before my 1st child usually arrives.) Thereafter, the drop off time went back to 730am to 740am.
December - While I've always gotten a nice Christmas bonus from this family, this year I got a big fat NOTHING! They kept telling me they had something for me at home and kept forgetting it. Yeah, right. Mind you, because they were my favorite, I spent almost $30 on their child's gift while I spent about $7 on the others. So I kind of feel like I got ripped off.
I also took off the week from Christmas to New Years. I sent out notice back in August so parents had plenty of time to make arrangements. This family showed up at my home on Tuesday morning at 7am beating down the door like they were the P.D. and blowing up my phone like someone died! Mind you, because I didn't have to work or get up early, I enjoyed a late night so I had every intention of sleeping in. Thanks to them, that didn't happen. DCM said she was a moron (her words) and didn't read the email. She was just under the assumption that the email stated I was closing Christmas Eve and Day and New Years Eve and Day. Needless to say, they got a week behind in pay but paid it when they returned. (Technically it was 4 days late but I didn't charge the fee since I thought it was a genuine mistake.)
January - DCB showed started showing up early again this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I reminded DCM that my hours are 730am to 530pm and that anything before or after that is $1.00 per minute.
She sends me back this email saying she talked to me in November...which she did about earlier drop offs. But when I was getting up earlier and getting ready earlier and they weren't coming earlier for 6 straight weeks, what's a person to think? I stopped getting up early because of the inconsistencies.
So now, she wants to go back to 715am to 530pm when my hours are 730am to 530pm (which she knows I want to change to 515pm). I told her that I will accommodate the earlier drop offs as long as DCB is picked up by 515pm. Mind you this is the 1st child in and the last child to leave each day. All of my other children are gone by 510pm.
I've worked for this family for 3 years but their requests are becoming increasingly difficult when I'm not getting anything out of it. I know she won't pay a higher weekly rate and if DCM is really wanting to drop him down to 2 days per week in June/July, I'm going to have to let them go anyway.
What would you do?
These parents were the most fabulous people to work for up until the past few months.
October - DCM and DCD go to Florida for a week. DCB was left in daycare for 10-11 hours a day to which I accommodated because she told me about a month ahead of time that they would need some flexibility since the grandma and aunt were helping out.
November - DCM found out she was pregnant and immediately began wanted to start discussing rates, schedule changes etc. I told her at that point there were just too many variables to take into consideration. She then asked what the cost would be if both boys only came 2 days a week. I told her the rate. (Keep in mind that I never said I would do 2 days a week...which I won't because my minimum is 3 and there is no way I will care for a newborn that isn't full time. The adjustment time is way too long and hard.)
DCD also started a new job and DCM said that they might need an earlier drop off time.
For the first week, DCB came in at 720am. (About 10 minutes before I open and about 20 minutes before my 1st child usually arrives.) Thereafter, the drop off time went back to 730am to 740am.
December - While I've always gotten a nice Christmas bonus from this family, this year I got a big fat NOTHING! They kept telling me they had something for me at home and kept forgetting it. Yeah, right. Mind you, because they were my favorite, I spent almost $30 on their child's gift while I spent about $7 on the others. So I kind of feel like I got ripped off.
I also took off the week from Christmas to New Years. I sent out notice back in August so parents had plenty of time to make arrangements. This family showed up at my home on Tuesday morning at 7am beating down the door like they were the P.D. and blowing up my phone like someone died! Mind you, because I didn't have to work or get up early, I enjoyed a late night so I had every intention of sleeping in. Thanks to them, that didn't happen. DCM said she was a moron (her words) and didn't read the email. She was just under the assumption that the email stated I was closing Christmas Eve and Day and New Years Eve and Day. Needless to say, they got a week behind in pay but paid it when they returned. (Technically it was 4 days late but I didn't charge the fee since I thought it was a genuine mistake.)
January - DCB showed started showing up early again this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so I reminded DCM that my hours are 730am to 530pm and that anything before or after that is $1.00 per minute.
She sends me back this email saying she talked to me in November...which she did about earlier drop offs. But when I was getting up earlier and getting ready earlier and they weren't coming earlier for 6 straight weeks, what's a person to think? I stopped getting up early because of the inconsistencies.
So now, she wants to go back to 715am to 530pm when my hours are 730am to 530pm (which she knows I want to change to 515pm). I told her that I will accommodate the earlier drop offs as long as DCB is picked up by 515pm. Mind you this is the 1st child in and the last child to leave each day. All of my other children are gone by 510pm.
I've worked for this family for 3 years but their requests are becoming increasingly difficult when I'm not getting anything out of it. I know she won't pay a higher weekly rate and if DCM is really wanting to drop him down to 2 days per week in June/July, I'm going to have to let them go anyway.
What would you do?
!!
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