Would I be wrong to sent out a letter to all my families I work for on steady days.....

[Anonymous]

I charge $10 an hour which to me is a more than fair amount for the experience I have...To me it's a slap in the face to wake up to get ready to come to work or babysit and I receive a text two hours before saying they want to cancel. The one family on Saturdays canceled at least 15 times last year and already 5 this year. its too much. The reason I want to write a letter is because I have trouble sitting down having conversations like this without being talked into a solution I don't really agree with. Like with my nanny job i got talked into making p my hours when i feel like she should just pay for them like she would have at a daycare. Also I feel like if I try to set up time to talk face to face they will never have time to actually do it. To me it would be easier, quicker and I can actually say what needs to be said. My other job has started complaining because they say I call or too much. I really don't care because they don't give me enough hours anyways but when I take off for these families and then I'm left with no work for the whole day when I could have went to work....

[Anonymous]

Ok...so you don't want to take the advice of PPs that you need to handle this in person. So, write them a letter since that is what you want to do but I still don't think it is professional and I don't think you're going to get a warm response from the parents because I think it shows immaturity.

So in your letter, write what you said clearly and with correct grammar that you rely on the money to pay bills, and they have canceled a lot in the past at the last minute leaving you scrambling to try to find another job. From now on, you will be charging $30 for any time that they don't give you 24 hours notice.

Honestly if you charge more than that or ask for more notice, I think they'll probably just find another babysitter.

I still urge you to reconsider doing it in person. At some point you are going to want to be more of a professional and this stuff does arise in anyone's job. You need to learn how to handle these situations face to face.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I'd forget the fees and just talk to them about how hard the cancelations are on you. What are the odds they'd actually pay a fee? You have no recourse in collecting it if they don't voluntarily pay. Really, all you can accomplish is alienating the family. If they are willing to not cancel (or cancel with better notice) they will make the effort. Since thats the desired result, is try to accomplish it in a way thst preserved good will. If not, you should just drop them as clients.

As a general aside, I'd encourge all the folks who are pro late fees and cancellation fees to google the Israeli daycare studies on the subject. When late fees were in place at the daycares, lateness actually went up. When people were prompt purely as a matter of consideration, they actually tried harder than if they felt it was simply a contractural matter where more money made being late ok. Lesson being: do you want the fee or the business?

[Anonymous]

Another option (if you'don't want to set a cancellation fee) is to have guaranteed # of Saturdays that you work/get paid for - so you know you'll work or be guaranteed work 7 saturdays every 2 months (giving them 1 saturday every 2 months to cancel on you).

Or, raise your rates on them by $2. If you work 8 hours on Saturday, that's $16 extra each saturday and for every 2 saturdays you've made up your "cancellation fee." bank that extra money for when you miss getting paid because of last minute cancellations.

[Anonymous]

First of all, I completely understood what you were asking in your OP. Ignore the nasty comments, clearly these are from people who just come on here to get some kicks by putting others down as opposed to actually being helpful and giving advice.

I'm an MB and I'm also someone like you who is really not good at doing these things in person so I understand where you are coming from. I do think though that you at least need to try to tell them in person. The next time you see them tell them there is something you need to talk to them about and ask when they would have some time to sit down with you in the next week. If they can't make the time THEN you can give them a letter but I do think you need to try in person first. It will go over better with the parents. Before you talk to them decide for yourself what you are willing to compromise about and what you are not. Then practice some things you can say so you don't end up giving in to things you don't really want to. If they press you just repeat the same sentances. You should explain to them that you really like working for them and love watching their children and you understand that things CAN come up at the last minute but as much as you love them it's causing a lot of problems for you when they cancel at the last minute. Let them know that you are accepting jobs from them over others because you really do enjoy it but that when they cancel you are losing out on other jobs and money that you can't afford to lose. I think it's perfectly acceptable for you to charge a cancellation fee if you want to but I do agree with the PP that they are actually more likely to not cancel out of consideration for you than if they think there is a cancellation fee.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here..I would tell them when they book the time that they have to pay you a 50% cancellation fee if they cancel..you have set the time aside and maybe turned down other work..start by saying you love the kids and enjoy your time but that you rely on the income and it's messing up your finances. Moving forward establish this with new families. Don't listen to the people telling you 24 hours. That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP, sorry you're getting alot of judgmental responses, just weed them out and pay no mind.

Now, I think sitting them down and explaining (or a letter if you're the type who absolutely HATE confrontation).

Maybe asking for half your rate for cancelling. I only say this because it's not a in-home daycare with a contract, but instead it's a babysitting gig. Unless you're available 24.7 for these families I don't think a full late fee would be appropriate.

If you ARE available every time they ask then maybe that's definitely different.

But yes, you definitely deserve some consideration and they prob don't realize the inconvenience they're causing so I'd most definitely bring it up.

[Anonymous]

OP, the reality is you're a babysitter, not a nanny. When you have a steady Saturday night gig, you're a babysitter. Babysitters don't have cancellation policies. If you did that to me I would just find someone else. My toddler is cute and as well-behaved as a toddler can be - tons of neighborhood teens would love to babysit her.

[Anonymous]

They're booking you even when they know they may not need you. They're doing this so they're all set and I think that's disrespectful. I 100% believe you should bring up a late fee. This will have them think twice about cancelling on you.

If they look unamused then explain to them how cancelling affects you and why you have decided to do this.

You have every right to feel annoyed and I would definitely bring it up. Who cares if it's in a letter, ignore the ones saying you're unprofessional. If anything, the parents are unprofessional for cancelling on you and then trying to force you to make up hours. Heck no.

[Anonymous]

Stop answering their calls. Find a family that respects your time.

[Anonymous]

Ask for guaranteed hours instead of a cancelation fee.

[Anonymous]

next time they try to schedule you for a big chunk of time, ask them "are you sure you will need me? I'd be happy to book you for these days but that means I need to cancel my daycare job for this week which is fine but I would just like your confirmation before I go ahead and arrange this. I'm sorry, I'm being extra cautious due to your prior cancelations on same circumstances where I lost all the period income. I hope you understand..


but SPEAK to mb. all your problems start right there on your statement "I'm so afraid of confrontations"

[Anonymous]

Maybe you want to start seeing if another family can fill their slot in your calendar instead and in the meantime, try to work it out with this flaky one. Tell them that you take your career seriously and that reserve your time for them; this is your job. Then ask for 24 hours notice for cancelation and 2 weeks notice for vacations. If they don't improve, find a different family.

If they want to treat you like the girl next door who can pop by at any moment, or not, then that's who they should hire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I charge $10 an hour which to me is a more than fair amount for the experience I have...To me it's a slap in the face to wake up to get ready to come to work or babysit and I receive a text two hours before saying they want to cancel. The one family on Saturdays canceled at least 15 times last year and already 5 this year. its too much. The reason I want to write a letter is because I have trouble sitting down having conversations like this without being talked into a solution I don't really agree with. Like with my nanny job i got talked into making p my hours when i feel like she should just pay for them like she would have at a daycare. Also I feel like if I try to set up time to talk face to face they will never have time to actually do it. To me it would be easier, quicker and I can actually say what needs to be said. My other job has started complaining because they say I call or too much. I really don't care because they don't give me enough hours anyways but when I take off for these families and then I'm left with no work for the whole day when I could have went to work....

The job that wants to give you more hours is getting annoyed with you because of the instability caused as you try to accomodate this other family? Drop them and do what you need to do to impress your stable employer. And does this say you're calling too much? Don't take personal calls on work unless you're on an official break in the break room.

[Anonymous]

OP- don't call off from your daycare job!

Work the three days you do, tell the families you babysit for that you are only available on the days you are not working the daycare days (say daycare is mwf so babysitting tues, thr, sat, sun) plus nights after you get off from daycare.

You are controlling this because you are not setting hours.
If I was your daycare employer I would be giving you less hours because you keep calling off. I probably would fire you for not being dependable.

If you want to keep babysitting and not the daycare setting than you need to set up regular hours anyway so you can plan all your babysitting families times. You can just book one and cancel when someone better comes along.
OP how old are you? Not to be rude but you sound young. I was like this in,my young twenties - always wanting to please, not saying no etc.
You are the only one who can clean this up and make it better for yourself (or not keep going like you are it's your life).

Hope it works out