After reading my post about Inept Babysitter No. 1, you might be thinking judge-y thoughts about me. For example, "What the hell was she thinking? Leaving her kids with an insane person?"
Well, let me assure you, I do love my kids and was not in some postpartum hormonal psychosis and trying to kill them. Hiring someone can be very difficult, as many of you may have discovered in other arenas in life. People who seem normal can turn out to be complete whackos or incompetents. I'm sure you have examples from your own life, right? The assistant you hired, the friend you moved in with, the guy you married.
Also, I didn't need a babysitter for free time. I needed one so I could stop relying on my mom so much. It got to the point that every time she visited, she just watched the babies while I went to doctor appointments or worked on the newsletter. I wanted her to be able to enjoy my kids and stop being my slave laborer.
After I hired the Martha the Insane Babysitter, I moved on to Kristen the Unreliable Babysitter.
Kristen had just graduated from high school and was entering the local community college to study early childhood education. According to her resume and references, which I checked of course, she had been babysitting since age 12, up to four kids at a time. She babysat her neighbor's children from infancy. I liked her so much in the interview. I remember at one point exclaiming, "You have more experience with kids than I do!!" She responded, appropriately, by looking at me like I was a complete weirdo.
Kristen's schedule was 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Tuesday and Thursday. The first week, everything seemed ok, except she lacked energy. I expected this 18-year-old professional babysitter to get down on the floor and play with my kids, playing games, chasing them, etc. Instead, she sat on my couch a lot and complained about her allergies.
The next week I left the house for a PT appointment, and returned to the boys watching a video and her laying, yes, on the couch. I had told her no TV. Her excuse, as usual, was her allergies.
The next thing I knew, she was calling in sick and showing up late. One day I had an appointment with my shrink at 9 a.m., and Kristen didn't show up. I called her and left a pissed off message. She called back a little while later, obviously right after she woke up, with an inventive and unique story about her allergies and missing medicine.
"Do you want me to come in now?"
"Don't bother."
The next time she came to work, I called her into the kitchen.
"Do you want this job?"
"Um...."
"Because you're not acting like someone who wants this job. I need someone I can rely on."
"I'm not a morning person ..."
"OK."
"I'm not used to getting up so early."
"So, you quit?"
"Um...."
I told her we could both think about it. I wanted to fire her, but my older brother had counseled me the night before to give her a chance, that maybe she needed to be "molded."
She went back to the kids, finished her shift and left. I never saw or heard from her again. In total I think she worked for me for about three weeks. I should have just fired her, but whatever.
Stay tuned for two more inept babysitters! I know I said three, but I remembered a fourth. Woohoo!
6 comments:
I agree- you should have just fired her. Babysitters usually don't get better over time. When they start out lazy and unreliable, it can only get worse. Move on.
Have you tried placing an ad in the local paper? Sometimes it’s best to have a large pool of interviewees to draw from. It can be a lot of work, but it can really pay off in the end.
I was a nanny all through college and I remember the agency I was placed through had many different kinds of schedules. I know some of the girls were just interested in a regularly scheduled babysitting job. It might cost a little more, but they are pre-screened for you and usually know first aid and cpr.
Stacy: This story is from a few years ago, if you read the first post it gives a little background. And yes, I did place an ad in the paper and interviewed at least 10 or 15 women (and phone screened more.)
Jenni: The services around here are so expensive, they were out of my league. Plus, I was only offering 8 hours a week, so that made it a little tougher. But it is a good way to go, for sure. And the first aid/cpr thing is very important.
Now if we just lived closer,I'd watch your kids for you! I may be a weirdo but I admit that freely. I don't try to hide it.
I can't wait til my sister has a baby because SHE is not a morning person and I am.
Your babysitter reminded me of teenage co-workers that I used to know. They came in "whenever", left early and complained during the whole shift how sick they were from (insert illness of the day here.)
As a teenager,I was never sick at work. I got to work early,stayed late and did whatever I could to help others. Where the heck did that work ethic go???
Anxiously awaiting your next babysitter story!!
Very entertaining stories! Just sorry they're at your expense...looking forward to the next one.
That sounds almost exactly like the first sitter I hired. Are you sure her name wasn't Melissa?
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