Babysitting $$ question

[Aliceacc]

Were they drunk? ."

If so, that's yet another reason NOT to sit for them again.
Who brought the sitter home?

I agree that the best course of action would be to ask.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

Everyone brought up some great points. I think she does need to ask them about it and see what they say. We will see them this morning. She teachers Sunday school and so does the dad, so I know she will see him. I will probably have her wait and call them rather than try to grab him at church.
Most kids around here seem to get around $5 an hour. My girls have usually done $5 for members of our church that need a night out and can not really afford more. They have been paid better, but they have a few parents that they do set for $5.
I never would have thought of shorting a babysitter. Good ones are too hard to come by. That said, just like anything the kids are great, but the parents will make you crazy.

 

[lovedisneyforever]

dd13 was sitting last night. The parents said she was to be home at midnight but did not come home till 2:30. The youngest child was sick and didn't sleep the whole time. DD13 went over at 6pm and usually gets paid $10 an hour. They only gave her $35 and was paid by the mother who is expecting and not drunk.. I was pretty upset and paid her more myself.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

dd13 was sitting last night. The parents said she was to be home at midnight but did not come home till 2:30. The youngest child was sick and didn't sleep the whole time. DD13 went over at 6pm and usually gets paid $10 an hour. They only gave her $35 and was paid by the mother who is expecting and not drunk.. I was pretty upset and paid her more myself.

WOW!! It was a bad night for babysitters. The sick child would not have made me very happy. I hope your daughter stays well. I can not believe that parents can be so insulting.

 

[krystalleigh1]

Yeah, as a home child care provider, I have to say it's not that uncommon for parents to try to short you. I have had it happen to me several times. I've learned to take the following approach when confronting parents about it:

"I noticed you only paid me $x the other day. I'm a little confused with how you came up with that amount. . . ."

In your DD's case they'll probably say,"Oh, we paid you for the time you were here while the kids were awake." or "Yes, we paid you $2.50 per hour since you didn't have to feed the kids and they went to bed at 8:30." or "Oh really? I thought I gave you $30. I'm sorry I'll get you the rest of the money."

To which you DD replies, "When we talked about my rate we agreed to $5/hour. Even though your kids were sleeping I was still responsible for them. I even did dishes and cleaned up after them when they went to bed." or "Thanks. I didn't think you'd intentionally short me especially when I watched them for x hours."

GL. I know that it will be really hard for her to stick up for herself but she'll feel so much better afterward. And worst case scenario they don't ask her to babysit again. Doesn't sound like that would be so bad if they intentionally shorted her.

 

[Danemom]

This happened to me as a teen except they didn't pay me at all. They did take me out to dinner with them on the way home, maybe that was supposed to be my payment? Trust me, I would have rather gotten one dollar than that!
I went with the "Sorry, too busy" routine after that. I do kind of wish I had asked because I never knew if they just forgot. I don't really think they did.

As far as the comments about pricing - I'm always amazed at the wide ranges in different areas. I am a preschool teacher and a co-worker babysits on the side. She is amazing with the kids, 25 yrs old, an early childhood professional with years of experience, fully CPR/First Aid trained and she gets $10/hour. My DD16 gets $5-7/hr.

 

[G's mommy]

dd13 was sitting last night. The parents said she was to be home at midnight but did not come home till 2:30. The youngest child was sick and didn't sleep the whole time. DD13 went over at 6pm and usually gets paid $10 an hour. They only gave her $35 and was paid by the mother who is expecting and not drunk.. I was pretty upset and paid her more myself.

I have a DS13 and cannot imagine having him out until 2:30 in the morning under any circumstances unless I am with him. I think midnight is the absolute limit for a sitter that is still a child themselves. These people were totally irresponsible leaving your DD that long with sick children. I'm sure they knew the younger child was sick, just didn't want their night out ruined. I would not let my child babysit there again, especially when they shorted her the money. I'm sure your daughter's pay was spent at the bar!

 

[blanq]

I have to agree with what some other people have said....she (or you, preferably she) needs to talk to them about it. This is her first job-like experience and it's important that she learns to stand up for herself if she feels she is being treated wrongly. A very polite inquiry along the lines of ..." I was just wondering if I did something wrong or didn't complete all of my responsibilities when I was there the other night, because I noticed that you didn't pay the full amount of $5 per hour that we had previously agreed on. I just wanted to be sure I could figure out what I did wrong so that it won't happen next time." ...

I think this is a brilliant way to approach the situation! I also agree that the OP's daughter should handle this on her own, and I am sure she will get lots of support and tips from the OP to take the steps to do this.

 

[flagdaytwins]

I didn't read all the replies.

I would be embarrassed if I found out my husband underpaid the sitter. I would want to know asap. My husband has done this before -- wadded up some bills (randomly) and handed them to the sitter -- because HE is hoping to get away with paying cheaply!!!!

I would have your daughter call -- not you. Talk to the mother, not the father.

 

[sk!mom]

I understand what you are asking. I ask her what went on. She did the dishes( they ate together as a family before she arrived), put away the food( the parents left it all out when they left), cleaned the kitchen, the living room, put the toys away and straightened up the rest of the downstairs. They had told her that she would feed them so she didnt eat, so she came home without having dinner also. They changed their mind and ate before they left.


He only handed her a $20 bill.

Wow, she deserved a bonus, imo, for doing all that.

This is tough but I would encourage my DD to contact them and let them know that they underpaid. Since a phone call would be very difficult for a young girl, I would let her email if she wanted. I think that once teens start working it's very important for them to handle it themselves.

Just a short email saying, "When I got home, I noticed that you only gave me $20. Can I stop by later for the remaining $15?"

If they didn't respond or responded negatively then I wouldn't let her sit for them again. I realize that they may be embarrased and might not call her again but that would be fine with me as I have a real problem with people who try to take advatage of a kid who they think might be too timid to speak up.

If it was a mistake, then the email gives them the chance to say, "Sorry, I meant to tell you that I was short and would give you the rest today"...or whatever the excuse is.

 

[sk!mom]

Now that I've read the responses...

Please post back and let us know what they say after your DD speaks to them. Also, I agree with the advice to speak to the wife but I disagree with the advice to ask if she did anything wrong. That gives them a way out of paying. Bottom line they owe her the agreed upon amount. If they feel like she didn't deserve it then they shouldn't call her again. For last night though, she sat so they should pay!

 

[pearlieq]

It's likely just an honest mistake. Either he doesn't know what her rate is, or thought he had two 20s in his hand and mistakenly only gave her one.

She needs to speak to them about it, and soon. Not only is it important for her to learn to assert herself, but there is a window of opportunity.

Even on the off chance that it was intentional, if she goes in with the "it was all a mistake" angle, it gives them an opportunity to save face.

It should be a fairly easy conversation: "Hi Mr. X, do you have a minute? We seemed to have had a little mix-up last night. I was at your house for about 7 hours yesterday, which at my usual rate of $5/hour would work out to $35. However, when I got home last night, I realized that I had only been paid $20."

He can either then go "Oops! Sorry about that, let me get you that extra money" or he can some up with whatever his excuse is. Either way, she knows what's going on.

Needless to say, if he does try to intentionally short her, she should never sit for him again, and also let all of her friends know about it so they can proceed with caution if they're asked to babysit by them.

 

[sk!mom]

dd13 was sitting last night. The parents said she was to be home at midnight but did not come home till 2:30. The youngest child was sick and didn't sleep the whole time. DD13 went over at 6pm and usually gets paid $10 an hour. They only gave her $35 and was paid by the mother who is expecting and not drunk.. I was pretty upset and paid her more myself.

Wow--My DD is 13 and I have to say that by 12:15 if they weren't home then Dh or I would have been over there to wait with her. We would have been calling any contact numbers that they left. We would have then been able to make sure that she was paid for the full time.

This reminds me to have a talk with my DD about what to do if sitting for a sick child- call the parents to come home. IMO 13 is too young to have the responsibility for sitting for an ill child.

In the case of a 13 year old, I would be contacting this family today to let them know that my DD needed to be paid the remaining money. She wouldn't be sitting for them again, anyway so I wouldn't care if they were mad.

 

[NeedaVacation03]

OP here. DD has tried to call them on both of their cells and is now waiting on them to call her back. I am on my way out of town with my DD13 jr. high class until Tuesday, so I am hoping that DD16 can resolve it so she doesn't keep calling me for 2 days worrying about it. She really does not want to ask them about it, but she is trying to be grown up. I hope it all works out and no one develops any hard feelings.
Thanks for all the great advice. She just wants a fair wage for an honest job done.

 

[PinballFamily]

Good girl! Tell her that the DIS folks are proud of her for standing up for herself and no matter how it resolves itself, she is doing the right thing. (Fingers crossed for "dumb dad mistake" rather than a deliberate shorting...)

 

[arihillfarm]

Maybe they underestimated their costs for the evening out and didn't have enough for your daughter. Not the adult way to handle it, but I would guess that is what happened.

Even if that were the case, the father should have said something and either offered to write her a check for the difference or give her the rest of the cash the next time she came over.

-Astrid

 

[krystalleigh1]

OP here. DD has tried to call them on both of their cells and is now waiting on them to call her back. I am on my way out of town with my DD13 jr. high class until Tuesday, so I am hoping that DD16 can resolve it so she doesn't keep calling me for 2 days worrying about it. She really does not want to ask them about it, but she is trying to be grown up. I hope it all works out and no one develops any hard feelings.
Thanks for all the great advice. She just wants a fair wage for an honest job done.

Good for her!!

 

[turkeymama]

dd13 was sitting last night. The parents said she was to be home at midnight but did not come home till 2:30. The youngest child was sick and didn't sleep the whole time. DD13 went over at 6pm and usually gets paid $10 an hour. They only gave her $35 and was paid by the mother who is expecting and not drunk.. I was pretty upset and paid her more myself.

That is horrible. I hired a former boss's DD (16) to babysit for me once. My son had a reaction to her perfume (never considered that's what it was until a later visit from her produced same reaction) and was ill within a few hours. Of course I cut my night short so I could go home, but it took me longer to get home than I would have liked (I was not in my own vehicle). I stayed on the phone with her for most of that time to talk her through what to do for him (breathing treatments). I paid her MORE than what we agreed upon because she really did hold it together while she waited on me to come home. I felt so bad for her. On another note, we learned to tell any sitters and relatives to not wear perfume around the kids since it causes allergy and asthma flare-ups.

I can't believe there are adults out there that would short-change a sitter like that. Do they not place any value on what these sitters do for them?

OP, I'm proud that your daughter is trying to handle this on her own, rather than letting it go. In the real world, adults would never "let it go" if their paycheck was cut short. Your daughter performed a service, she deserves to be paid in full for it. If they aren't satisfied with the job she did, they can find a different sitter for next time.

 

[prncess674]

Hopefully in the future your daughter will count her money right then and there. I would never just shove the money in my pocket. It is so much easier to fix the problem right then and there. Cash is a tricky subject. I guess I equate it to walking into a bank and cashing a check and not verifying the amount. Once you leave the bank and you realize that you are short changed it becomes much more difficult to handle.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Even if that were the case, the father should have said something and either offered to write her a check for the difference or give her the rest of the cash the next time she came over.

-Astrid

I agreed, definetely not the correct way to handle it.