Crappy Endings
Well, I guess that's that. My opportunity for paid opportunities has just opened back up. We were not able to reach agreement on a babysitting contract. Beyond not reaching agreement, it turned ugly.
They had the power on their side, they drafted the contract. We agreed that I should look it over and we would all talk about any points of discussion and disagreement I had with the contract for us to revise it.
As soon as I started talking, they had issues. Not one of my points could they see my side of it. It really appeared in her mind that what she drafted up was a done deal. I couldn't even get to all of my points because discussion turned argumentative and confrontational. I could not even get out full sentences, the husband kept interrupting and the wife too.
Here's the tone of the entire scenario. Picture this. I just arrive at the door and it was open, but rather than walk in, because I am polite, I say, "Knock Knock." No one responds, even tho the husband is sitting right there, with no shirt on to boot. I say it again, no response. I say "Hi, are you ready?" And finally the wife says to come in. They both were right there.
I ask the wife, "How is your day going?" Again, just being neighborly and it's an obligatory respectful way to approach any situational conversation. We had a situation to get to the bottom of, and I wanted to start it off on the right foot, break the ice and be cordial. The wife, not looking at me at all, and the husband sitting there with his shirt off, I consider disrespectful and rude.
She motions for me to sit in the living room, so I sat down and got my copy of the contract out with my notes on both pages. She walks up and just takes it away from in front of me, reads it over with her brow furrowed then hands it to her husband. I said, "Well, that was my copy with my notes on it for discussion, it wasn't intended to be passed around, but then again, it's no secret. We'll discuss everything." At that, we started discussions when the husband handed me back my notes.
I wanted to open with how the first week went and how that experience led me to my decisions and the notes I made. I let them know that obviously we would not agree on everything, but that we have to reach a point where you decide what you can live with.
I let them know that what I can't live with is being distrusted. You hire me for a job, you have to live with an element of trust. Already, on the phone, just when I say we should talk and wrap this up before Monday, I got jumped on on the phone and accused of planning on not showing up Monday. That was incredibly unfair to presume the worst about me. I just wanted to talk, as we are, and get this contract signed before we start another week.
Rather than acknowledge my point, they had to both jump in and talk about how they have been burned in the past. But that's not me and this is why we are sitting here trying to talk things out.
Next I let them know that the week's tone and the overall tone of the job was set when I first read the contract because a couple things really caught me off guard. This paragraph containing sentences such as, ". . . other than throwing up, I expect you to come to work" and " . . . call the night before by 7pm", ". . . any variance is grounds for immediate termination." All strikes me as unreasonable and unrealistic. But I acknowledge I can see their side, but it is unfortunate the way it is worded. Unprofessional. I backed up all of my points (at least when I was allowed to speak) with clearly stating that I see their side as concerned parents. But they did not afford me the same courtesy.
First of all, the part about any variance . . . I wasn't given any notice that you needed me for a full day instead of a 1/2 day Friday. It was just sprung on me, no warning and I had to deal with it, for no extra pay. Fair? No. And it is unrealistic to presume that someone always knows "by 7" the night before if they are going to wake up sick. That is a point I wanted to make and talk about, but wasn't given the chance because they jumped all over me as soon as I was trying to talk about the 'sick' paragraph.
Next I brought up the paragraph about signing away my rights. There is a paragraph stating, "All babysitting and cleaning is at your own risk, they are not to be held liable for any injury sustained at their residence." First of all, it's a landlord's residence, so anything that is substandard would legally have to be maintained by the landlord anyway, but I didn't even get that far to bring that up. My point I brought up was simply to state, "Anything can happen and I am not willing to sign away my rights. Let's say, worst case scenario, if the kids throw something and hit me in the eye, or I get scratched in the eye when (the daughter) is throwing a fit."
That's when all hell broke loose. The wife got up and stomped out of the room and jumped on the phone to call someone. And I immediately said, "Look, there are things in this contract that you had a chance to draft up, trying to cover your side for worst case scenario, and I am not even given the chance to speak about my side, you get up and walk away?"
Then the husband said he would listen to my side, but they both said I was being ridiculous. The wife said to my points, "Things should not go in the contract that are unrealistic." To that, I said, "Don't you think it's unrealistic to expect someone to sign where a paragraph says baby sitting is at your own risk and you are not to be held liable for anything? Anything can happen, I am just trying to cover my rights too, and you are unwilling to see my side at all."
It all just got lame, disrespectful, and unfortunate. With them being so stubborn and not willing to negotiate on a contract that I was lead to believe there was wiggle room for negotiation. They told me, look it over, make notes of anything you think is unfair and we'll talk. Well, that didn't happen. Clearly, they had their minds set and really believed that contract was good as gold.
The last straw was when I pointed out that the pay rate on the second kid coming home after school even went down $0.25/hr. (she had a new contract ready when I walked in the door)
I told her that I was going to discuss that the rate as it was is too low and I can't agree to $1.25/hr to watch a second child. The rate is already below standard. She said she realized she typed up the first one wrong and she had no intention of paying even $1.25/hr for the second child.
I agreed to watch the daughter at $2.00/hr. They wanted me to watch the son, after school, for about 1hr/day at another $1.25/hr. Since I already am making a sacrifice too, to be there and help, I made notes on my end to charge for the second kid $2.00/hr. That would roughly be an extra $40/month.
So, on that note, the wife ended it. So, for an extra few bucks, they opted to not have someone in their home, which they wanted, and to have me their cleaning house while babysitting. I think they really shot themselves in the foot. At the rates they wanted, and even what I wanted to negotiate up to, they were getting an incredible deal.
It all works out in the end, because obviously this would have blown up into a worse headache down the road. Now I am not tied down at a ridiculously low rate of pay and I don't have to scrub someone else's crappy toilet. Yay Me!
(by the way, the photo, I googled 'arguing ladies' and a pic of the hills came up. With nasty spencer pratt, to boot. So, picture the husband sitting there with his shirt off. Nice :-( gross, Heidi is pouting about the money she is losing paying a babysitter, coming out of her pocket and Lauren is saying, "shoot yourself in the foot.")
