Gov't Drama Affecting My DC Family -- What Would You Do...

[spinnymarie]

I'm so glad it worked out well! happyface

Agreed! Thanks for the update.

[butterfly]

It went very well. Just Mom came. Dad was doing an odd job for a family friend. They're already thinking ahead!

I let her start, and she pretty much indicated that she knew I needed to get paid, and that she didn't want this to trickle down and affect me too badly, but that without his income, they wouldn't have any extra funds. She said that her paycheck is equivalent to the mortgage, and not much more. She said that he makes about 3 times more than she does, so this would be a huge hit to them.

I then picked it up and said that I pretty much knew this would be the case, and took the liberty of coming up with a plan. I described what it would be, and she seemed grateful.

I did wimp out on pulling out the agreement I had typed up though! It just seemed too presumptous of me. I just said that I'd get this all typed up and get it to her. She said that was great, and that she could come by on her lunch hour if that worked for me. It ended up to be a good thing, because I tweaked and clarified some of the points once I got home, and printed out a new version of it.

I want to thank you all SOOOOO much for your help on this. I really think without this forum, I would've just caved and not received ANY payment for their non-attendance. You guys are awesome!!!!!!

Oh!! And I ended up asking for 2 weeks at full pay (deferred payments), the third week at half pay, and any weeks beyond that would be charged a $50 holding fee. And I made it clear that the girls could come any or all hours the first two weeks, half their normal hours the third week, and a combined total of 10 hours (total for both girls) for weeks beyond that.

I'm pretty much thinking that this shutdown won't go past next week (Oct 11).

happyface

[My3cents]

glad it went well, you handled it well, but I would have let her tell me what she had in mind before I mentioned my ideas. she might have been able to pay you more then what you asked- all in all it worked out to the point of you being happy with it, and obviously this client thinks much of you to come to you and work things out. Nice~

[Lucy]

glad it went well, you handled it well, but I would have let her tell me what she had in mind before I mentioned my ideas. she might have been able to pay you more then what you asked- all in all it worked out to the point of you being happy with it, and obviously this client thinks much of you to come to you and work things out. Nice~

Yes, I totally get what you're saying, and the "money" side of my brain wanted them to pay full amount for the entire time. But first off, I don't think this will last more than 2 weeks, and I'm getting full pay for the first 2 weeks, so I won't be losing anything if that's indeed the way it goes. Secondly, I did think about charging full amount beyond 2 weeks, but I just wasn't comfortable with it. As a couple of people commented above, the bottom line is I had to walk away feeling good about the plan for both of us, and I think what I came up with (with everyone's help!!!) is a fair compromise.