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Backbone-Am I doing it right or is this mean of me
Hi. I just need to make sure I'm doing the right thing here. I've had several interviews lately, and one looks like it may turn into a client, and another client is pregnant, is paying a small retaining fee, but won't need me ft til January, so I have to keep this current client, as they're my only one right now & we need the $.
A bit of background on the family: kind of a nightmare, son has obvious delays which mom won't address, even when I gave her all the contact info, passive aggressive young single mom working in kind of a dead end job, so $ is tight. Also a major procrastinator. Her son has been coughing for weeks-hasn't gotten him checked for allergies. I've mentioned food stamps, medicaid, or state paid childcare. She said, "well yeah, we qualify, but he's not vaxed so they won't do it." tell her that yes, they will; he needs an exemption sheet. She responds that yeah, she knew that. She just has to go get it from the dr.
She's been with me for 7 months and has yet to do anything to help herself. She got a different car at tax time as her last one died, but she's still got it. Sell it & get some cash! She is habitually short/ late with payment. At one point I let it get to over $1k, which she swore she'd pay in full at tax time. She did pay me off, but then she started to fall behind again after I drew up a new contract & adopted a handbook & put it into play Apr 1. It spells out late fees, etc. I let it go a couple times, but told her a couple weeks ago if she was late again, I was going to charge a late fee, especially because I have bills to pay and I didn't want it to get like last time. The next 2 weeks were great-full pay, on time.
Then Friday comes this last week, and as she picked her son up, she shuffles out the door, and hands $ at me, saying, " Don't be mad, I only have xxx for you." (a third of the total shorted) I tell her flat out & firmly," 'm charging you a late fee." She asks how much & I can't remember what's in our contract so I tell her I'll look it up and see. She says she'll do the same thing. I text her Sunday and tell her it's $10/day in case she hadn't looked it up and that I'll see her Monday. She texts me back' Fantastic. I'll owe you $300 then next week!' (About $70 over what it would be for fees and weekly rates..)
Anyway, she did a quick drop off today-yay! because she gets her son riled up and I've been trying to quell it. I know she's broke, but that's not my fault & I've helped a lot, not just feeding local/organic foods & caring for her kid for up to 10 hrs a day for $2-$3 an hour. I've waived fees left & right. Am I being mean charging her when she can't even pay the small amount she owes me/ I don't think so as she'd be pissed if her boss told her she wasn't getting a third of her check because they needed gas in their car or to get groceries etc, while attempting to lay guilt trips about having to return their kid's birthday presents or summer clothes so they could afford to pay her. ( Yes, that happened. I almost termed her right there. If I'd had another family, I would've. Especially since I decorated a bit for his birthday & we had special stuff like pizza & ice cream that day for snack. I have bills too!!!)
Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. My husband says I'm in the right because she's just taking advantage of me, or trying to, but is worried she'll quit because she can't afford us anymore. I have a payment plan set up in case she needs it. WWYD/
A bit of background on the family: kind of a nightmare, son has obvious delays which mom won't address, even when I gave her all the contact info, passive aggressive young single mom working in kind of a dead end job, so $ is tight. Also a major procrastinator. Her son has been coughing for weeks-hasn't gotten him checked for allergies. I've mentioned food stamps, medicaid, or state paid childcare. She said, "well yeah, we qualify, but he's not vaxed so they won't do it." tell her that yes, they will; he needs an exemption sheet. She responds that yeah, she knew that. She just has to go get it from the dr.
She's been with me for 7 months and has yet to do anything to help herself. She got a different car at tax time as her last one died, but she's still got it. Sell it & get some cash! She is habitually short/ late with payment. At one point I let it get to over $1k, which she swore she'd pay in full at tax time. She did pay me off, but then she started to fall behind again after I drew up a new contract & adopted a handbook & put it into play Apr 1. It spells out late fees, etc. I let it go a couple times, but told her a couple weeks ago if she was late again, I was going to charge a late fee, especially because I have bills to pay and I didn't want it to get like last time. The next 2 weeks were great-full pay, on time.
Then Friday comes this last week, and as she picked her son up, she shuffles out the door, and hands $ at me, saying, " Don't be mad, I only have xxx for you." (a third of the total shorted) I tell her flat out & firmly," 'm charging you a late fee." She asks how much & I can't remember what's in our contract so I tell her I'll look it up and see. She says she'll do the same thing. I text her Sunday and tell her it's $10/day in case she hadn't looked it up and that I'll see her Monday. She texts me back' Fantastic. I'll owe you $300 then next week!' (About $70 over what it would be for fees and weekly rates..)
Anyway, she did a quick drop off today-yay! because she gets her son riled up and I've been trying to quell it. I know she's broke, but that's not my fault & I've helped a lot, not just feeding local/organic foods & caring for her kid for up to 10 hrs a day for $2-$3 an hour. I've waived fees left & right. Am I being mean charging her when she can't even pay the small amount she owes me/ I don't think so as she'd be pissed if her boss told her she wasn't getting a third of her check because they needed gas in their car or to get groceries etc, while attempting to lay guilt trips about having to return their kid's birthday presents or summer clothes so they could afford to pay her. ( Yes, that happened. I almost termed her right there. If I'd had another family, I would've. Especially since I decorated a bit for his birthday & we had special stuff like pizza & ice cream that day for snack. I have bills too!!!)
Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. My husband says I'm in the right because she's just taking advantage of me, or trying to, but is worried she'll quit because she can't afford us anymore. I have a payment plan set up in case she needs it. WWYD/
And yeah, I'm not into her personal life. I know some details and offer advice, but if she refuses to take it, not my problem. I've come to the conclusion that it's not my problem what she does or doesn't do at home. I do my job well and provide a great place for her son, have tried helping out, but it's not appreciated or followed up on, in the case of early intervention. I can only do so much and when it's not appreciated, I stop, which is what I've done with her. It's totally business. I'm friendly, but I'm over doing special for her. Thanks-you guys helped me confirm my feelings. 
Good for you!! 
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