What Is The Worst Interview Anyone Has Had

[Starburst]

Mom told me at pick up that I was the girls 5th daycare and that she (DCG) had violent and aggressive tendancies toward other kids but she didn't tell me because she said if she did, she knew I wouldn't enroll her daughter. SHe was right.

That was early on in my career. I've learned now to interview VERY well now so that this kind of thing NEVER happens again.

If she would have said something before hand at least you would have had a heads up and known to shadow her more closely to avoid that type of situation and possibly tried to help work on daycare girl's behavior (maybe she purposely tried to get kicked out of daycares so she can stay home with mom). But since she lied (by omission) I would have termed her on the spot too.

[Play Care]

I haven't had to interview in a while, but when I was starting out I had a woman tell me that my contract bothered her and she was going to change the terms to suit her needs. I was so intimidated that I wound up accepting her downpayment even though I had serious misgivings. After a couple of days of me hemming and hawing I called her and cancelled and sent her deposit back. I saw her a few years later at the store and she gave me a dirty look - WORTH IT!!!!

[Kimskiddos]

I've also had an interviewing/enrolling client go through my contract and handbook and make changes! When she showed up with it like that I was shocked and angry. Told her that wasn't going to work, she may not make changes to MY contract. Then asked her if she would like another copy of my contract to sign as is. She apologized, signed my contract and I had that family for 6 years. Good thing I liked her initially or she would have likely not got another chance.

[SilverSabre25]

One of the weirdest was the lady who quizzed me on how to perform CPR.

Another weird one was a recent phone call from a guy who found me on YellowPages.com and was asking allll kinds of questions, and came to "and of course you're certified and stuff, right?" Well, no....I'm not....we don't have to be in my state. He was astonished. "So you like....just decided to just...take care of kids? I thought since you were in the Yellow Pages you would be all certified and legal and stuff." I tried to explain but he was stuck on "If I'm in the Yellow Pages I should be certified." I wasn't going to take him anyway, but it was still weird.

[melskids]

IDK weather to laugh or to cry... it's odd and can come off as funny to some people (maybe the mom thought this was funny and didn't see anything wrong with it for some reason); but at the same time it sexually abusive to the horse (and even to the child) and inappropriate behavior for a 3 year old, honestly if a parent told me that I would be afraid of letting her near any DCBs. I know she's probably just curious but still... I feel bad for the horse.... and the little girl when one day she realizes what she was doing to the horse and may feel guilty or even ashamed about it.

I actually turned it in. I don't know what ever came of it though.

[Leanna]

I don't really have a "worst" interview...but a weird one.

A DCM had called and said she had 2 children, ages 2 and 4, and was looking to switch them to a new day care as she wasn't 100% happy with where they were. She sounded nice and down to Earth & we scheduled a time to meet.

Well, she came in and sat right down and I introduced myself and started my little spiel about our daily routine. This mom stared at me with her huge doe eyes and blink blink blink....said nothing.

Okaaayy, I thought. So I continued on about a few important policies (pick-up time, no outside food/toys, fees, etc.)...and blink blink blink...nothing.

I asked her if she had a any questions...blink blink blink. Arrrrrggghhh...alright. "Most people ask about....." I said and talked about some common questions.

Tell me about your little ones...blink blink blink. Ok! Well, just let me know then. Bye! Never heard from her again.

I never could figure that one out. She was not a brand new mom or brand new to daycare. She spoke clearly on the phone so I assumed she could hear me and understood me. ???? Who knows?

[Cat Herder]

Single Dad. Stayed 2 hours, said I was too expensive, then asked me out. :confused:

I showed him out, instead..... still think he was trying to find a fast route to FREE childcare.

[renodeb]

I had an interview a ways back for a drop in. Mom and child walked in, I said hi to the child and all he did was cry at the top of his lungs the whole time. Needless to say out they went and never heard from again.

[Candy]

I had a mother tell me that her 3 year old daughters favorite thing to do was play with her horses testicles.



Never mind how gross that is, but the safety issue of a small child standing behind a large animal like that is scary.

Ok I'm not sure if that lady was joking but I have a horse, they usually don't like stuff behind them so I'm wondering how this was happening. Also I would have been on the fence as to if I would need to call cps or not. What would playing with horse testicles fall under?

[tehck_1013]

I had a mother tell me that her 3 year old daughters favorite thing to do was play with her horses testicles.



Never mind how gross that is, but the safety issue of a small child standing behind a large animal like that is scary.

MY MOUTH WAS OPEN SO LONG AND WIDE I DROOLED.
HOW IS THAT OK????
omg.

How disgusting. Why on earth would any parent think that is acceptable behavior, condone it, let alone speak of it to others???

[Michael]

We have a tag with more stories called: Interviews - From Hell: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...ew+-+from+hell

[NightOwl]

I had one that wanted me not to use or allow the word "no". As in the other parents and other children couldn't say or use the word no.

I told her NO

Once I had an interview where a DCM asked typical questions and it seemed like everything went well so I gave her my parent packet, handbook and contract to look over. She called and scheduled another appointment to return everything and handed me a contract and handbook with red pen scrawled all over and crossed out entire sections/lines and wrote her own "policies" in the margins . I laughed.

Doh!! HAHAHA!!

[NightOwl]

I had one mom and ds to interview. The mom was white, the ds interracial. Her first question was if i had a problem with him being interracial. Say wha....? Of course not! He's a little boy, no matter what color his skin is! She called a couple of weeks later to accept the position, but it had already filled. So I recommended a friend who owns a nearby center. I spoke to my friend a few weeks later and she said the mom's first question was if she had a problem with him being interracial. Geez lady, this isn't the 1950s!! I got the definite vibe that she was looking for a reason to call someone racist.

[Go play!]

My favorite one was the family that after we explained that my husband's job required a gun so when he is here there is one in the house and explained our safety plan for it said "Oh he's really safe around guns, we take him shooting all the time. You could leave it on the counter and he would never touch it" The child was 2 1/2. He also brought a play gun to the interview. I was afraid that he would show up at some point with a real one. We chose a different family.

[permanentvacation]

Years ago, when I was pregnant (big 'ole belly, obviously pregnant) with my younger daughter, I had an interview with a young school age boy. The mom and I sat on the sofa, the dad stood by the tv, and the boy interacted with the other daycare kids. I couldn't say 3 words to the mother without having to look at the boy and say ' oh no hun, you can't take his toy from him, that's his toy, you can get a toy from the toy box" or " Oh my! We don't hit here. You can't hit her. " etc. This little boy was the meanest thing in the world! And his parents never said a word to him. Then he walked over to me, looked at me for a good few seconds, and then straight out PUNCHED ME in the stomach!!! I told him "OUCH! That hurt! You don't hit me! I have a baby in my belly and you just hit the baby when you hit me!" Then I sat there for a good minute or more not saying a word, WAITING for the parents to apologize to me for their kid hitting me and waiting for them to reprimand their kid for hitting a pregnant woman. But they just sat there, didn't say a word! So I finally looked at the father, and said, "I'm going to need you to get your son and get out of my house!" Then I looked at the mother and told her that I could not believe that her son had been hitting all the kids, taking toys from everyone, and then actually hit me and neither of them (the parents) had said a word to him! I told her to get out of my house, do not ever call me again I will never watch your child, and I do not know anyone who ever would! They all left and I never heard from any of them again.