World's Biggest Flake, or Serial Killer?

[sleepinghart]

Potential DCM responds to Craigslist ad (I know, I know) with a small amount of info. I respond in kind, with a small amount of info and a request for more info. Eventually I give her my phone number. She calls, says she needs care immediately. I say she needs to come over, see the place, sign a contract. She says, 10:00 Tuesday.

10:00 comes and goes. At 12:30 she calls, says she overslept, can she come by at 2:00. Lots of children screaming in the background. Asks some more questions, says she needs care to start Wednesday.

At 2:45 she calls, says she'll be here by 4:00 if I still want to meet beforehand. I say she definitely needs to come today if she wants care tomorrow.

At 3:50 she calls, more kids yelling in the background, says she's heading out now (from half an hour away). Asks me to text my address because she left it in her email.

So it's 5:15 now, and I want nothing to do with this woman, but my biggest concern is whether this is some kind of Craigslist fraud or murder scam I haven't heard of. :: If so, I can't figure out how it's supposed to work.

I don't get the continual "I swear I'm on my way," though; it's not like I'm leaving a free couch on the curb. :confused: If she shows up tomorrow thinking she can drop her kids off, I'm posting the kids as freebies on Craigslist.

(^^bolding^^ by me)
~I don't think you have anything to worry about...well, at least as far as robberies, murder and such go; I think she's just a flake. I also think she could've been wanting you to eventually say that since she was having so many problems getting to your place that she could just show up with the kids tomorrow(today now) morning and drop them off. That, and she probably also had a couple more providers/places lined up for child care, and since she needed care the next day, was sorta playing it by ear and stringing each one of you along in her attempt to get the best deal while securing a spot at the same time. For example, maybe she had a less expensive than you provider that was her first choice however she wasn't sure that provider was going to give her a space so she was keeping the door open with you.

~I think if it was another provider just trying to get information they would have just done so over the phone...Face to face would be too risky, and what would be the point of exerting so much effort when she could've got the same information over the phone. Plus, even if it was another provider just trying to get info, I don't think there would have been a reason for them to string you along...They would've just shown up at the first appointed time, got the information they wanted and left I think anyway . So, no...I don't think it was another child care provider, but rather just a flaky mom that would have most likely been just as flaky once she signed on with you; and the fact that she needed daycare so soon with practically no notice also suggests that she isn't the most "together" & responsible person. Be glad- It looks like you dodged a bullet herehappyface!

I don't understand people who want care the next day. I understand even less the ones who are willing to leave their kids with a stranger. But I know they are out there, I have talked to them.

~I don't either. I think a lot of it though is just ignorance...them not knowing; they don't understand how the whole process works...interviews & such, and that we as child care providers are interviewing them just as much as they are "interviewing" us, and that we may or may not decide to take on/enroll their child/ren.

[LysesKids]

If she was trying to check me out, she really bungled it--the questions weren't general enough. She wasn't interested in finding out anything about the day care or how much I was charging per child; just if it was less than the $90/day per child the last person quoted her and how fast I could take them, and why I mentioned that she needed immunization records. (The last person must have been smarter than me. I should start quoting $90/day per child when it's someone I want to get rid of!) And she had my address but then called at the end of the day to ask for it again. Very strange.

So I just checked her Facebook page again to see if she was talking about starting a DC, but she was posting pics of her kids at the park at the other end of town yesterday, bragging about how great it's going to be working day shift now (at a major crappy minimum-wage employer here in town). I will never know why she gave me the runaround all day, but I'll take Nilla's advice and only ever reschedule once.

Fuggetabout it, and good luck to whoever ended up with her kids!

This is why I have a "contact me" form on my website... I get certain info upfront including their ph# before they get mine; all my info, policies & rates are on the website & I ask parents read it completely thru before contacting me. I know by that first phone call if they read it or not just from the first few questions .

Nobody gets my address until 3 hrs before scheduled meeting and it's by text so no excuses for not having it... blow me off, I remove your name from the list and go on to the next person. BTW, my CL ads only list my website & FB daycare page... no phone # so they have to click the link to get info on the childcare home

[Ariana]

There are a lot of people living with mental illness and drug addictions so it is possible she might be one of them. The irratic behavior is a major red flag and I feel bad for those kids. Hopefully they at least get with a decent provider.

[Pestle]

This is why I have a "contact me" form on my website... I get certain info upfront including their ph# before they get mine; all my info, policies & rates are on the website & I ask parents read it completely thru before contacting me. I know by that first phone call if they read it or not just from the first few questions .

Nobody gets my address until 3 hrs before scheduled meeting and it's by text so no excuses for not having it... blow me off, I remove your name from the list and go on to the next person. BTW, my CL ads only list my website & FB daycare page... no phone # so they have to click the link to get info on the childcare home

All great tips! I'm still slowly getting my website up and running (although I have an active, complete Facebook business page), and I don't provide my phone number in the Craigslist ad--but the big takeaways for me on this are 1) Always get their COMPLETE contact info before sharing my own, and 2) You get one chance to reschedule, provided you contact me ahead of time.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I had a family that rescheduled three times. I was desperate to enroll kids, so I ended up going along with it and enrolling them. The parent was the worst parent I have ever had. She insisted on attempting (note that I say attempting) to control everything, even things that did not affect her children's actual care.
I will never, ever enroll anyone again that sends off that many red flags. She was a nightmare and he 'rescheduling' indicated a lack of respect for me and my time.

I learned this as well my first year. Don't reschedule families who show an obvious lack of respect from the getgo.

I tried to be nice this past week and rescheduled a family that didn't call or show up to the interview. They also didn't call or show up to the second, but sent an apology e-mail 1.5 hours later. Oh my. I didn't feel compelled to respond.