Aibu to let my friend go

[dogfrienddilema]

My friend is a dog walker.
When she started her business I didn't need a dog walker as I was working from home and walked my two dogs myself. Despite this my friend struggled to get clients initially so I paid her to walk my dogs a couple of times a week. It was nice for my dogs and it did give me a break from walking them occasionally. I actually do enjoy walking them but it gave me some free time so I didn't mind.

It has been about a year and a half since then and my friend has been very unreliable. It has been annoying as I would often organise my day thinking the dogs would be taken out and I'd have to juggle stuff around instead. Again no big deal as I was home and happy to walk my dogs. My friend now has a large group of clients so that's no longer a factor for me.

More recently one of my dc has become unwell. We are often in and out of hospital and appointments and when I'm not working I want to be with her as much as possible. I no longer work from home but I can be flexible and dogs are never left alone as dh will work from home if I'm out. However, even though it's not a complete essential the dog walks have been very useful. If I didn't use my friend I would look for a walker now anyway as it would give me more time with dc, take the burden off dh and I would be happy to know my dogs were having a good time and being cared for well.

My friend is still very unreliable. She is supposed to come two days a week and it's been over a month since her last visit. She keeps cancelling last minute, often an hour before the walk is supposed to take place. I feel for my friend as she is cancelling because she is unwell or her dc is unwell or some kind of emergency such as car trouble so it's not her fault but this has been the case the whole time I have used her. Dh is getting a bit fed up because it means he has to pick up the walking unexpectedly and he wants to employ someone more reliable. I do get that and it would help us massively.

However, I don't want to let my friend go because I know this is her sole source of income as a single parent and I know she has lost a few clients already due to this. I don't want to ruin our friendship and I care about her. It's difficult because she has never done the two days consistently and cancels at least once a week often twice. It would be nice to have a more reliable walker giving us that extra time but as it's not essential I feel awful letting my friend go and employing someone else.

What would you do?
Just to add I pay full rate.

Let it go. If she wasn't a friend you wouldn't have put up with it for so long.

I have kids who are sick a lot. I definitely would not miss a month of work - that’s just ridiculous.

Have a frank conversation with her.

I have spoken to her and she just apologies and tells me it will be better next month but then the next month comes and it's the same. She asked me not to let her go last time

Think that you need to let her go. It's not really a business for her, just a side hustle and you need some reliability.

Do you pay her regardless of whether she turns up, or do you pay her as and when? If you're paying her and she's not turning up definitely sack her off.

Otherwise just tell her you'll be switching to another walker, bu will perhaps use her ad hoc.

You might care about her. But she doesn’t seem to care about you much.

If she had proper paid employment she would be facing disciplinary action if she couldn’t go a week without calling in sick. I’d let her go. Surprised she’s got any clients tbh. She needs to suck it up and get to work regardless of her illnesses. I’ve got kids who are sometimes sick but I’d never call in sick to work this often. I suspect she’s having you on

Let her go. She is not taking the job seriously and it is fine for you to just say you don't need her to do it anymore.

Unfortunately some people are flakey and never manage to honour commitments - there's always a reason . Usually lack of planning and organisation.
I would say to her you value her friendship and want it to continue but that you are going to have to look for a more reliable dog walker given your current circumstances.

I would let her go OP. She is likely feeling more comfortably cancelling on your because you’re her friend and she thinks you will understand more than other clients. You can sugarcoat it a bit about why you are cancelling but I would cancel all the same and find yourself someone else.

I would let her go.

Tell her you value her friendship and it’s not personal, but the last minute cancellations are too disruptive.

Then try to block out some time with her to have coffee/dinner just as friends.

Do you know if she cancels all her clients regularly? Or just you as she thinks she can get away with it as you’re friends? Let her know that you really need a reliable dog walker now with all your extra commitments and if she doesn’t step up you’ll have to find someone else.