I had my first tense exchange with our much-appreciated nanny today, over the rate she's charging to look after our son for an extra day this week.
She had already told me she is looking after another child that day, a regular babysitting she does. I asked her today what we should pay, and she said her usual net rate per hour.
I queried this, since she'll have another child too. She works for us in a nanny share, so we pay only half of that usual net on a normal day. I wasn't aggressive, but implied I didn't think that was totally fair.
On reflection, I now accept that I should have just agreed to her asked-for rate, because she's basically doing us a favour, and, as I said, we very much appreciate and treasure her.
Unfortunately, she took the tense moment to mention that she's discovered the going rate for nanny shares is actually £2 more net per hour than she's getting now.
Now I'm in a bit of a pickle and don't know what to do. Apologise? Forget about it and move on?
(She hasn't asked for a pay rise, her contract doesn't renew until September, but now that info is out there.)