Situation involving $$, what should I do?
 

I am so ticked off right now and I feel like I am stuck btwn a rock and hard place, so to speak.

The situation is:

I was planning to work at the daycare center that I usually work for this summer. 3 hrs a day.. making minimum wage so around $75 per wk. The family that I babysit for was in a bind. The kids are going to camp, but it gets out at 2pm everyday. The kids could go to extended care at the camp, but neither parent reallly wanted them there. The mom asked that if she paid me the same amount that she was going to be paying for them to go to extended care (which she thought was $75 at the time), would I keep them. I would only be keeping them from 2pm-4pm everyday. So I agreed since I would be making the same amount weekly but working less hours.

I quit my job and started this wk picking up the kids from camp everyday. Well today the mom dropped by my house when she got off work (the dad got home first today, but the mom is the one who takes care of paying me). Anyway, she gave me my money for the week and its only $60!!! :mad:

Earlier during the week I was looking at the brochure for the cammp and saw that extended care was only $30/child and they have two kids... so I had a feeling this was going to happen.

I just don't know what to do. I feel like if I say something that I will sound like a whiny complainer. I have babysat for this same family since I was 16 and I am the only sitter that they will use. They generally take pretty good care of me and pay about $10/hr which is really good for this area. So I feel silly complaining over $15/wk. BUT I was counting on making $75 every wk this summer and not just $60. I would quit, but there are no other jobs around here. I'm also afraid if I say something that it will strain my relationship with the family. grrr, i just don't know what to do. any ideas?

i'm don't remember if you have a degree or not, but regardless, you shouldn't be working for minimum wage at your age! There's a lot of other jobs you can get. Don't let yourself get taken advantage of.

WOW, a Great Post. Da, she is a sitting semi Nanny! (Baby Sitter).

An agreement is an agreement. It might not be a legal contract. Da.


She is getting hosed. DA!

Bring up to them what the original agreement is. See what they say. They may be having Financial problems at the moment that you do not know about!

Only You can find out this situation, not some want to be law student on GC.

I dont care if you have a degree, what the heck does that have to do with anything?

Dumbest question is the one you dont ask. Just say hey, what is the deal? Thought We agreed on a set price.

So, as You said, if a set price was set and you cannot afford to do it for this much, then look else where.

lol, who's a 'want to be law student' here? If you're referencing me, in about 17 hours my JD will be in my hand, so who knows what you're talking about.

People LOVE to take advantage of other people and try to screw them with money. I've refused several jobs b/c of how ridiculously low they wanted to pay me. Outside of high school, you really shouldn't be working for minimum wage, hold yourself to a higher standard. Those same people would scream bloody murder if you tried to screw them on something.

If the agreement was $75, say hey, we agreed on $75. But you should've said that when they gave you the $60. You have to stand up for yourself, or who else will?

ETA: and by JD I mean juris doctorate, my law degree, NOT Jack Daniels

Wow, dont even drink that Rot Gut! Da.

Just because you will maybe be a juris doctorate, dont mean one can be a good Legal person does it? It just means you passed the tests, then comes the Bar Exam.

Try riding in a Police Car and see what legal is.

I hope you pass the Bar when you become a Student Law Graduate. Then start learning about Life on the Streets.

Oh, I am sorry, you will do something simple in Law. Say Maybe Contracts, or Divorces?

WTF are you talking about? stop hijacking her thread to try to insult me

Tell them "We had agreed upon $75 per week, but last week you accidentally underpaid me." If they are honorable, they will give you the difference. And yeah people love to screw people about money.

Congratulations, Danielle. :)

i would probably say "sweet, i won't be taxed on this money and i get cold card cash"

but in all seriousness - she did agree to match the $75, so you speak to her and gently remind her of that fact.

At this point, I would go on to another job. Granted you would have been right around $60 with taxes and everything else deducted from the daycare, but they shouldn't have gone back on the original agreement. I say move on, you should be able to find something better than minimum wage.

Also...I didn't know any area of law was "simple." That's news to me.

Everything is simple when you're drunk off TEH MOONSHINE.

I would bet that it was an honest oversight on her part and you should speak with her about the money she owes you.

It sounds like she really values having you as a babysitter and, as a mom, I can tell you that means that you definitely have the upper hand in this situation. It is so hard to find a babysitter you like and trust that once you find one, you do whatever you can to keep her happy!

Good luck! :)

Well, if you are going to work for minimum wage, consider what Peaches suggested saying.

If she says she only wants to pay $60, then you have to decide if it is worth it. But, you will be making $60 tax free working 2 hours/day versus $75 with taxes being taken out working 3 hours.

If it were me and she says she'll only give $60, I'd suck it up and take the $60 tax free with an extra hour a day to do something else. Not only are you being paid $6 per hour versus $5 per hour, but you get to keep every cent of it. JMO.

Not only is it under the table and therefore tax free, but it's only 2 hours a day and you could actually get another job in the mornings and make even more money this way. I pay $5 an hour for latch key care for two kids. I'd say the agreement has some to do with just how she worded it though. If she said "I'll pay you what we would pay if they were extended care, which I think is $75", but that didn't end up being the amount, then it's partially your fault for not firming that up before quitting your other job. If she said "I will definitely pay you $75", then it's different! But, talk to her. Chances are the $15 will be worth it to her to keep you. Learning to negotiate with a boss is an important skill!

Dee

PS. If I were you, I'd work both jobs, 5 hours a day and make twice the cash!

I agree with KR here.

As for working for minimum wage -- it's somewhat better than not working at all.

Why are you only working 2 hours a day? That's ridiculous. With that setup you're managing to BOTH (a) have almost no money and (b) still be tied down to a job all summer.

Unless you're going to school (?) all summer, I say get a full time job and explain to the mom, "I'm sorry, but I did the math and realized I can't afford to work for $60/week this summer."

Offer to set her up with a high school senior you know, or someone else who's desperate/unskilled enough to take that kind of pay -- I mean really. You're around 20 years old, right? Go waitress for like $80/night and still have your mornings free to sleep in and your afternoons free to work on your tan or watch Oprah.

You're worth more than $5/hr, even if it's tax free. And being a wet noodle -- wtf were you thinking, not saying anything when she handed you the $60 check?! -- is going to get you precisely nowhere.

What's your major? It is good to start looking for things in your area of study so you are that much more ahead, and actually have good stuff on your resume that actually has to do with your degree when you graduate. I say keep the two hours a day in the meantime. You may even be able to find something that you can keep p/t when school starts again that is still relevant to your degree.

I would think someone your age would be working more than 2 hours a day at minimum wage. :confused:

A few questions/concerns I'd like to address....

First off, this is a relatively small town. It is extremely hard to find a job and most of the jobs around here don't pay much above minimum wage. I have two friends who are currently working on there grad degrees that are both highly employable that can't even find work. There just are not many jobs open around here.

In addition to this two hours a day, I also work btwn 10 and 15 hrs a week at my church nursery (which pays $6.50/hr). Because I am a student and would get all my tax money back anyway, the church and the daycare don't take out fed. or state taxes on me (if they do its only like a couple cent) althought I do have social security, medicaid, and all that crap that they have to take out. I am also going to school this summer which is why I am only working a few hours a day.

As to why I didn't say anything about the $$$ at first is b/c she paid me for two wks (which should have been $150) I saw the $100 bill and thought the other bill was a $50, when in reality it was only a twenty.

They are on vacation this week, so I still have the entire week to decide what to do about it.

I don't think I am going to say anything about the lesser amount of money, because they are friends and have always been good to me and helped me out when I have needed. When I babysit for them on normal occasions she pays me at least $10/hr and buys me lunch. I probably get at least $100 a month from babysitting one or two nights a month, sometimes more. However, there are a few places planning to open up within the next month (a new bookstore and a Walgreens). I am going to apply and if I get the job, then I will help her find a new sitter.

I understand your situation pretty well. I grew up in an area where not much exists in terms of jobs, and hence, has more or less turned into a "bedroom community" because most people commute to NYC to work. With that said, I'd still try to keep this babysitting job. I used to work in retail and restaurants when I lived where I lived before and on the schedule at the beginning of the week, I would be down for a ton of hours, but places like this easily cut your hours too if business is slow. It's good to have something like this babysitting job to fall back on. It seems pretty flexible, you can probably get some studying done there and the hours are pretty decent. That's the other thing, in retail you often get stuck working crappy hours and if you need to take a lot of time off for school, they often end up giving you even less hours because they see you as someone not committed to the dead-end job. Good luck! It will be great when you can finally put this stuff behind you.

Learning to stand up for ourselves in the workforce is an important lesson, one which can be very difficult (and sometimes a long time coming), especially for women. ESPECIALLY when it comes to asking for MONEY!!
It is understandable to want to not cause waves, yet it obviously bothered you enough to post it here. Also, if the conversation about the misunderstanding would keep you sitting for her kids (you = someone they know & trust) then I'm sure they would welcome the opportunity to explain their understanding of your initial conversation and to make it right. Taking another job without addressing the issue with this job, IMO, is doing yourself and your friends a great disservice.