Disrepected! :(

How do you deal with being disrespected in your business? I just feel so disrespected in my own home and in this business. Like today a mom comes in and drops off this morning and as she's leaving out the door says that Shes working 30mins away today and ends at 4:30 but will try to make it back with the traffic. I close at 5. And of course it's heavily snowing and what do I get right now....a text saying that she just left 10 minutes ago. So now she's not even going to be here till six or after. she doesn't even ask if I have anything on tonight, sometimes my daughter has classes and I have appointments and doesn't even care to ask if I can watch her child later. I've never had late fees because I've never had problems. I used to have one parent come late sometimes due to traffic 5 to 10 minutes and felt so bad she always paid me extra without me asking but now I'll start implementing late fees because of her. I swear she'll just pay it. If it's like $1000 for five minutes late she'd pay it. Lol.
it's so hard to just terminate her because I've had her son since six months old :(
what would you do because you get so attach to the kids and the parents ruin it by disrespecting you:(:(:( rant done. Just feeling sad and down being taken advantage of not respected you know?

Here, the parents are required to provide alternate people to pick up when necessary. I would NEVER put up with this kind of thing. 5-15 minutes late, you get a fine ($1/minute) but to be an hour late. OMG. I would have all of her kid's stuff packed and her termination paperwork done and hand it all to her when she arrived.

You absolutely do not deserve this behaviour. If you put up with it, it will continue.

If you aren't going to terminate the contract, then please, make it clear to her today how hurt you are that she has taken advantage of you. That you have opened your home to her children and that you don't want to lose them but if her lack of respect continues, you won't be able to keep them.

I know I agree. She has no one here. No family and apparently no friends. Is a single mom. So she doesn't have anyone else to pick up her kid. But that shouldn't b my problem right? :( and of coarse the baby is starving so I got to do dinner. I already did breakfast lunch two snacks. There goes my pay in food today. Sigh!

No, it isn't your problem... but it is good to know. So you definately have to tell her that this won't fly in the future.

you need to tell her today that late fees will be charged the next time she is later then her scheduled pick up time at $1/min for the first 15 mins then it doubles

I've never done late fees so if she arrives at 5:02. She pays 2$? Or 5:01 she pays 1$? After 15mins it's 2$/min?

That's what I have done. Although, the 1-5 minutes, I won't usually ask for that, there's an unwritten grace period for people who don't make a habit of it. I have had a couple walk in the door with the 2$ though. I have had a few parents that work till 4:30, my closing time, so they leave work early and might be 1 minute over. I've had 2 parents who worked at a daycare center. If those parents were late, my dcm would be late. I understood that. It's more about the lack of respect. If they assume it's okay to just show up whenever, that's not respectful.

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Originally Posted by babydom

How do you deal with being disrespected in your business? I just feel so disrespected in my own home and in this business. Like today a mom comes in and drops off this morning and as she's leaving out the door says that Shes working 30mins away today and ends at 4:30 but will try to make it back with the traffic. I close at 5. And of course it's heavily snowing and what do I get right now....a text saying that she just left 10 minutes ago. So now she's not even going to be here till six or after. she doesn't even ask if I have anything on tonight, sometimes my daughter has classes and I have appointments and doesn't even care to ask if I can watch her child later. I've never had late fees because I've never had problems. I used to have one parent come late sometimes due to traffic 5 to 10 minutes and felt so bad she always paid me extra without me asking but now I'll start implementing late fees because of her. I swear she'll just pay it. If it's like $1000 for five minutes late she'd pay it. Lol.
it's so hard to just terminate her because I've had her son since six months old :(
what would you do because you get so attach to the kids and the parents ruin it by disrespecting you:(:(:( rant done. Just feeling sad and down being taken advantage of not respected you know?

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If it was me, I wouldn't have let her leave in the morning thinking it was okay to pick up late. Even though it is a hard conversation, the only way to prevent being disrespected is to let them know (in a face to face conversation) that what is happening is not okay.

Sorry to hear about this. Does she arrive late often? I would definitely mention the late fees and see her reaction. The same thing happened to me a month ago. They just kept arriving later and later. When I mentioned late fees to them, the mom threatened to find alternative care...which they have. For some reason, there are a few clients who just happen to make our lives more stressful than it should be. We are here for the children, to care for them and guide them, but our day ends too...do they not understand that?

I find that only way to stop disrespect is to nip in bud immediately. I would have said at drop off "Keep eye on weather. I close at 5pm and not available after then so you must be here before I close. Lateness not an option."

Tell her you have contract to provide care from start to end of your hours, not later. You also not have agreement for supper. State clearly not be tolerated again.