What a waste of my time ...

I interviewed a teacher in the beginning of January. I felt really good about her, even though she did most of the talking. After an hour I still hadn't gone thru the handbook and she was ready to leave. The same week friday I had her 1 year old boy for an hour. We had decided this because she did not bring him to the interview and I wanted to see how he was. I didn't get much of an outcome because he was crying and cranky. I found out at pick up that she brought him during his morning nap time. She would let me know soon after what she had decided.

More than two weeks had gone by and I decided to email her since she still had not given me a response. She answered that she was still in the process of deciding. About 4 weeks later she emails me asking if the spot is still available. At that point I told her that I had had some interviews and if any one would be interested, she would loose it. The following morning I get a very early email from her that she wanted the spot and that she would come by to pick up forms and handbook, also requesting a police check. What next?

She emails me once again, all this information about her son; eating habits, sleep patterns, anything you can think of. She also tells me that she would start work in mid-april and she would like to bring her son in march, a few days a week to make the transition simple. I agreed and decided on the dates. Never happened!

Her excuse was she wanted to help her son make the transition from 2 naps to 1 if we could start a few weeks later, than planned. By now I told her to let me know when she was ready and we would take it from there. She still needed to bring all forms and a deposit.

I only hear from her today that she will not be needing my services for now. That mother in law has kindly taken 2 months off to help her during the time she goes back to work !!

WHAT ?? ( to be honest, my gut had a feeling, something was up, but I am still annoyed )

no contract signed, no deposit, I keep interviewing

Yeah trust your gut instinct. I think mom was just waiting for confirmation from Grandma that her time off was a go and that is why she was taking so long "making a decision" on daycares.

I think you dodged a manipulative bullet and if she calls again I would say I was full.

Yep, I've found that if I have a feeling that something is off, it usually is. My hubby calls me paranoid, lol, but I know my instincts are almost always right.
In those cases, I tell them that whoever brings me back the signed paperwork and deposit gets the spot. I have been nice, keeping spots for people (without deposit or signing) for too long and it always backfires.

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Originally Posted by madmom

no contract signed, no deposit, I keep interviewing

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This exactly.

Yup...the gut is usually right. In my experience, people who really want a spot with you will bend over backwards to make it happen quickly. These people don't have something else in the works and know that good spaces are hard to find. Never let someone waffle around like that. Either they want it or they don't. None of this fiddling around nonsense. Madmom is absolutely right....

No contract + no deposit = continue interviewing.

Sad thing is when Grandma is done helping for 2 months the kid will likely end up in sub-quality care because the mom didn't go about the process in the right manner, which would be finding quality care for the child. Which would be either skipping 2 free months and starting when you find the best care...or interviewing for the actual start date. Now it seems she'll start the process all over again for after grandma time.

Hope you find a family that is more respectful of your time and energy!

It's totally bizarre that she is interviewing daycares and supposedly isn't sure about your daycare but then brings her son to you for an hour. I have never heard of that before.

I have had people come without their child but never drop him off solo at a later as a meet and greet.

Strange. Definitely don't worry about losing this one.

Yup, you've dodged a bullet there. But it is frustrating when people waste your time like that!!:mad:

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Originally Posted by Spixie33

It's totally bizarre that she is interviewing daycares and supposedly isn't sure about your daycare but then brings her son to you for an hour. I have never heard of that before.

I have had people come without their child but never drop him off solo at a later as a meet and greet.

Strange. Definitely don't worry about losing this one.

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I've never heard of that before either. I have the parents come with child but never dropped off. Sounds like she needed a sitter or something. Unless this is something you normally do.

I've also had a mom that just can't make up her mind and always asking me to send her updates since I only have one spot left. After a bunch of updates, she tells me she's not sure about going back to work after all and is looking into extending her leave. I finally told her to just contact me when she's ready and if I have a spot I have a spot ! If I don’t I don't! It can be so frustrating.

This is exactly why you do not take a child, or consider a spot taken, until you get the deposit and all the paperwork back. I keep interviewing until I get all that stuff back. if they don't give it to me then the spot is still considered open for the next family that might come along.