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'AITA demanding extra money up front for babysitting extra kids?'

'AITA demanding extra money up front for babysitting extra kids?'

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"AITA for leaving immediately when I showed up at a babysitting job and there where a bunch of kids and they wouldn't pay me up front?"

I (17F) babysit as a job to save up for college. I've been doing this since I was 14 and I have a very good reputation with lots of repeat clients that trust me. Every once in a while I will get a referral for someone new.

Last night I was going to be babysitting for a new family. We had agreed that I would be watching their two children from five pm until midnight. The kids were seven and nine so it was going to be easy.

When I showed up there were six children. I guess it was a group date night for this family and their friends and they decided, without asking me, that I would be babysitting all their kids. My mom was still in the driveway so I turned around and went to the car. The people I had agreed to babysit for freaked out and came running to the car.

I asked them if they had arranged sitters for the other four kids and they said that I should be able to handle it. I said f**k that and asked my mom to take me home. They said they would pay me what they agreed for the evening and pay for the other kids at the end of the night. I said no. I said I wasn't going to be responsible for six kids.

I said six is three times as many kids so I wanted three times as much money because I would have to get my sister or one of my friends to help. I said that if they thought that wasn't fair I had no problem leaving and they could find someone else. They agreed and I said I wanted to be paid up front. The husband pulled out his wallet and paid me.

My mom stayed with me until my dad brought my little sister to help me wrangle the kids. They were home by 11:45 and my mom picked us up. But now they are complaining on the neighborhood group that I am an a$$hole for holding them hostage for more money. I think a deal is a deal and I wasn't the one who tried to change it to begin with.

INFO. I paid my sister $125 because I did all the hard work. She played with the kids and watched Nimona.

People jumped on the thread to share all their piping hot takes.

PinballFlip wrote:

NTA. They knew what they were doing. You don’t pay a babysitter by the hour at a flat rate for unlimited kids. Good on you for standing up for yourself and setting up the boundaries and terms. These people were huge @$$holes for trying to triple the amount of children last minute. I have few doubts they were hoping you wouldn’t say anything and they had no plans on paying you triple.

krazy4001 wrote:

NTA. I would post this side of the story in those same community groups. That’s a messed up thing to do and they deserve to have it aired out.

kenzkie98 wrote:

NTA. Respond to her neighborhood group post with the facts of the situation: the agreement was for two kids. You were ambushed with four additional kids.

Cigars-N-Cuddles wrote:

NTA. They lied about how many kids were going to be there and then wanted to act like it was no big deal and then got made at you for pointing out that they broke the agreement. How dare you have enough self respect to not be a pushover and work harder for less. 🤦🏻‍♂️

You did the right thing and I’d let all those people she’s b#$%hing to that she ambushed you with more kids without warning and then tried to get you to do it for the same rate.

throwawaymafs wrote:

NTA. Have you replied? I'd say something like this: 'Dear (clients),

My focus is keeping the children safe, fed, warm, entertained and happy. The arrangement was that I would be babysitting Child 1 & Child 2 for an agreed sum. When I arrived for the job, there were 6 children - that's 3 times the amount of children you advised me I would be looking after.

To ensure the safety of the children and for your evening to go ahead, I reached out to my network of sitters on short notice. This cost me money. It was necessary to keep all 6 children safe.

I offered you solutions, such as to cancel the job and have you look after the children, or to draw upon my network to ensure your night out on the condition that my time and expenses were fairly reimbursed. I strive to keep everyone safe and happy as it's my priority and it simply would have been an unsafe to proceed without backup. Let me know if you'd like me to clarify anything further. Thanks, OP.'

Clearly, OP is NTA, and the internet has her back one hundred percent.

Sources: Reddit
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