What the ?@#!$ is it with flakey parents...

So after 3 months of advertising and having 3 No Show interviews...I finally interviewed 2 weeks ago with a woman looking for care for her 2.5yr old. This is the woman whom when I asked as to why she was looking for new daycare told me that a child had died at her current daycare...so therefore felt it was not a "good" fit for her daughter:no:

Well....she failed to mention in our telephone pre-interview that she was looking for part time only until her subsidy comes through. She told me this at the actual interview. I really need the income as i'm down 2 spots. I thought "why not". I gave her a part time quote. She accepted and I thought I'd have some breathing room before having to fill the 2nd (and last) spot. She showed up last Thursday (her first day) for the one day. She paid me right away as I told her that payment is due at the start of care. So she paid me for two days. The little girl was the easiest and sweetest child. shed one tear when mum left, then played right away, fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow at naptime. Ate whatever I put in front of her. Just the perfect daycare child KWIM. The next day (Friday) she called and told me her daughter was not feeling well and would stay home. No worries. I thought, great here is a parent following my contract about illness policy. Wonderful, right?

On Saturday I called to see how her daughter was feeling and get her schedule for the following week (this week). She stammered out really quickly, "yeah, Wed, Thur and Fri (she wanted a 3 day week).

So...today comes and my assistant (who is actually my sister in law and God bless her is helping out once a week at my daycare as she is between jobs at the moment and has done daycare for years in the past) and I are waiting and waiting to take the children to the park and DCM still has not shown up 20 min after her agreed upon time. So I call her 3 times over the next 45 min. and it does not even go into voicemail as DCM has not activated her voicemail. We went to the park anyway, I was not about to waste my time and the DCKs time waiting for her.:mad:

So at this point...I figure she is a complete flake and I will not invest another second trying to figure it out. Huge Red Flag went up once at the interview when she mentioned that a child died at her current daycare providers home but in the phone conversation she told me that she quit. Which is it. And how horrible of a lie (if it is a lie and I suspect that it is) to tell me that a child had died at her current providers home and that is why she is so in need for a daycare ASAP. and when she hemmed and hawed when I asked her on Sat. what days she was coming next week, my gut told me FLAKE!

So here is my dilema. IF she even has the audicity to ring my doorbell tomorrow morning I would love to tell her to HIT THE ROAD. She has already damaged our business relationship on the SECOND DAY of our partnership by failing to call me or return my calls (Im sure she saw that I called her 3 times today . However, what has got me upset is that my husband thinks I should give her a second chance should she come by tomorrow. :no: HELL NO. This isn't my first rodeo. But it's close to Xmas and we were counting on that money. Damn.

Whatever. I don't think she is coming anyway. In fact I would bet the farm that she is not coming. But I really, really want her to come tomorrow morning....So I could tell her to Hit the Road.:yes:

Wow, some people! Seriously!

I hope she comes in the morning so you can do exactly as you said, tell her to hit the road!!! I don't know why some people like to walk all over us!

I would sooner cut back on expenses than put up with a client like that. She's a liar and totally disrespected you. I hope she does show up but like you said I doubt it. These folks are cowards.:no:

This happened yesturday ?!? So did she show up today ? I'm curious to what happened loll

Oh by the way, if that happened to me, I would react the same way, but not have called and just left for the park with a sign in the window ''at the park''. Plus if you I need the money, I would just keep her, let things goes like 'whatever' and let go when you have replaced her. Too bad for her but hey... just make sure she pay you at the very beginning of the week.. in cash !

Just as I suspected. No phone call and did not show up again today. Not that I would have accepted her child into care had she shown up.

Who does that....takes contracts home, signs them, comes for 1 day and then disapears off the face of the earth. Too bad, her daughter really enjoyed herself. Never saw a child that open and at ease on her first day.

I still have her toothbrush and artwork. I tossed it into the trash this morning.

as Judy would say...."NEXT..." :rolleyes:

So what is the story with the child that died at previous daycare? that is so strange, did you look into that at all? or ask her about it! THAT to me would be a red flag, I am always watching for any possibility of liability. Death is a huge liability. Maybe she attempted to return to work but when her daughter started with you, she couldn't handle it? I know if that happened to me I wouldn't be able to return back to work at all. That is something that could haunt a person for the rest of their life, what happened, who was to blame, could I have done anything different, or even blame yourself for working and sending your child somewhere, these are all normal things that you think would go through your head after something like that happens. I would attempt to get ahold of her just to make sure everything is okay! But would not take her child, to be honest would have sympathized for her, but wouldn't have taken her child in the first place. That is just a really strange situation.