I need to write things down and have a chat with my ap. I'd like some help from other MNers so that I'm sure that I'm being entirely reasonable, please!
Breakages: On the whole, only relatively inexpensive things have been damaged and broken so far. I get the distinct impression that if I've agreed something with her that'll means that she will have to pay something if she damages or breaks more things then she'll take more care. What should I say? Should I have tiered limits i.e. if under £10 in value she should pay; if over £10 then she should pay half; if we have to claim on the insurance then she pays the excess or something? Genuine accidents I don't mind at all but it's almost always carelessness or being unwilling to follow the item's or my instructions.
Hours: She rarely does her full hours and doesn't intend to. One of her first questions was how much our first ap got paid and for how many hours and did she really have to do her full hours each week, which I found odd. I explained to her that with her I had the additional cost of the agency which she hadn't realised but it didn't change her thinking. I said that if everything was done (ironing, childcare, etc) then no, she didn't have to do every single hour but it tends to be about 3 to 5 hours less than the 25 most weeks. Plus we rarely ask her to do any evening child minding. Maybe an hour once a week and my children are teenagers anyway so she just has to be in the house with them, not actually caring for them as such. She even asked the first time if she had to do anything with them whilst I was out or if it was ok for her to read, Skype etc which I found odd also. I do want her to have a social life, honestly I do, but between needing 12 hours or so sleep/rest a night (and I can't have the w/m or t/d or landing light on as it disturbs her sleep!) and her social life, I think she finds it hard to fit in work time. She also doesn't make up time lost when she has said she will. Unless I check back on her record of hours and tell her, she won't as I think she either forgets or she hopes I will have. I realise that I must do that in future though I feel very uncomfortable about it. I think I need to re-state how many hours she is expected to do and that days off mid week need to be made up. I'd rather agree to 23 each week and pay the full rate than forever feel short changed.
Sick pay: She really wants to receive her full pocket money even though she takes to her bed with a mere cold and does then much less than her full hours. She says she'll make up the hours in the following weeks but she doesn't. How can I stop this happening in future? I wouldn't mind if she was ill but I think it's a bit much for just a cold (and this confirmed by a gp) and she has other minor problems from time to time which affect her ability to do her hours too, like a sore foot or knee (from the sport she plays). I think I'd like to tell her that the next time, I'll only pay her pro rata for the hours she has done and then for any hours she makes up as and when she does them as she is otherwise swinging the lead at my expense.
I'm sorry this is so long. Any advise is welcomed. I want to speak to her tomorrow if possible. TIA. Oh and I should mention that she seems very happy here and will be here for another 3 months but 3 weeks of that is (unpaid) Christmas holiday. I know I don't have long to go but I don't want to feel taken advantage of for the next 3 months and I need to give her the chance to improve and then get a good reference when she leaves. She can change when she is told repeatedly that she has to i.e. she kept swearing and I kept reminding her that we don't say 4 letter swear words in my house and she was expected not to either. It took a long time to sink in but it has now. Thanks again for reading.