CM Club: hours/days/fees

[mogs0]

Sorry, couldn't think of a better title! I look after mindee1 3 short days. This week I'm having him for a long day and I just got a text from mindee's mum asking if she can swap another day in the week to cover the extra hours that make up the full day. So no extra pay for the long day but a day off later in the week.

I'm not overly happy about this but not sure if IBU or, if I'm not, how to reply to the text.

The extra hours that I agreed to have caused a bit of hassle for me but I always try my best to do any extra because I know it's usually because the mum has to work extra.

It's up to you. You can say she has to pay for her contracted hours and then add the extra hours on as overtime, or you can agree to do a swap. I'm sure you will get a mixed response here.

Having said that ... if you offer a swap, you may have set a precedent for other changes.

Thanks for your reply. I have done it before for her but it's usually for a straight swap rather than tagging hours on to another day/s. I'll be down a couple of hours the way this week is going to work out.

Will you end up working more hours if it's just a swap? Tbh if it was me I'd stick with 'contracted hours' are paid for as standard and anything extra is adhoc 'extra'. If she chooses not to bring her child that's fine but you're available to work. If you actually wanted to swap then that would be different but doesn't sound to me like you do.

Some parents don't think of the whole picture with other families we work with and sometimes just need this sort of stuff politely pointing out. This is probably how I'd word it:

'Hi, thanks for the offer but I prefer to keep my contracted hours separate to extra adhoc hours so let's stick with this being extra hours, thanks and see you on X '

looney - that's brilliant but I don't know if I have the guts to actually say it out loud/in a text!! I suppose it's not really the end of the world it just annoys me when I've known for a week that I'll be doing extra and change plans to accommodate then at the last minute it has to be changed again.

Well, I let the mum know I wasn't happy about swapping hours/pay. She looked less than pleased and there was a brief, awkward conversation. She called later from work and changed everything round again and somehow I have come off worse!! Maybe I should just accept it next time for a simpler life.

No you should stick to your guns, sometimes parents take the mick without realising and are more than happy for you to let them know, other times they know they're taking the mick and then get shirty once you point it out. Either way you're the one doing the work and ultimately you don't have to if you don't want to. How have you come off worse?

Thanks, everything you say is true. All seems back to normal now.

I came off worse because I ended up only doing a couple of extra hours yesterday (not really worth the rearranging I had to do) and not having the after-school sibling but this could well have been the case even if I hadn't said anything.

Actually, I'm glad I did say something because it's made me realise how much I bend over backwards to suit other people but this is not reflected in the way people treat me. I need to learn to be more assertive and get better contracts/T&Cs!!

I know exactly what you mean Mogs, I am always putting myself out to help people and it's rarely riciprocated and it just means that in the end you are thoroughly taken advantage of. I've just put a stop to it with one of my parents and billed her for every extra minute that I've had the kids because it was getting silly, I don't mind doing favours as a one-off but not every bloomin day in some shape or form!

Well done for putting a stop to it! Of course you should be paid for work you've done - contrary to popular belief, this is our job and we're expected to be paid for it!!