Where do I stand?!

[crazycrazycrazy]

Hey, so basically its nearly christmas and working in a shop the times of trade changes, Unfortunately my circumstances have changed since I started working there and I am struggling now to find sitters for the DC let alone working until 8pm.
My Ex does all he can but he has lots of bad things going on at the moment which means he can't be around all the time. So I have spoke to my work and the response was not great, said that they can't just take me off them because of the other members of staff (which is fair enough) and she really not sure what she can do to help me.. Have no idea what to do if they say there no way out of it.. can't just have any random putting my kids to bed..

Any help would be great, thankyou in advance

Well, a "random" won't be a random for long. Can you use other family members? It's a relatively short period to put up with. Depends how much you want the work.

My mum and sister both work full time have friends but none really local and most have their own children, Yeah I know its not long its just hard when struggling already to find people and I only get home after 7 let alone after 8:30/9..

We used people for the 28 years i have been working full time. What you call an random can become an adored additional person who hugely enhances the lives of the children and could be much better at reading them lovely bed time stories than you ever can be. Just fix the childcare - there are heaps of people looking for work these days. Even if you work at more of a loss of a bit at least you preserve your job for going into next year too. Jobs are hard to get. If necessary sleep on the sofa and let your room to a cheap live in au pair for a few months.

Sorry crazy, I'm not sure what your question is?

My question is that my availability was never to work later then 6:30pm so now that I am a single mum with 2 children and finding it extremely hard to find childcare where do they stand in putting me down on rota to work until 8 when I have made it clear this is not possible.

I live in a small flat and do not have any spare rooms and only work part time so would not be able to afford to pay anyone.

I understand that people are looking for jobs and times are hard etc, I am just saying there should be something I can do... Don't get me wrong I have asked my friends to look after kids when I am working etc but its very hard when they have own children.

What does your contract say about hours and rotas?

Is it your circumstances that have changed and you want them to accommodate that, or is it that your hours were always no later than 6.30 and they now want to change that?

when I was in 6th form I had a babysitting job that was 6.30-9pm three nights a week. I wasn't paid a lot. I was a 'random' at first - the mum just asked a teacher she knew to recommend someone from the school.

I assume that either you haven't been there more than a year, or that you did these hours last xmas. Either way you don't seem to have an option but to find childcare. Sorry.

I suspect the problem here is that if the childcare costs more than the job pays then even if this preserves the job until next year when the hours get better and at least she keeps the job they may be starving by then as she needs to make a profit on the working in the meantime.

In law if the contract says your hours are to 6.30 and never later then that cannot be changed. If it says we may require you to work outside these hours (read every line of it with a magnifying glass 5 times and then report back here) then she may have to work at a loss and perhaps ask her husband to cover the evening babysitter fees as his own problems seem to be the reason for a lot of these issues. May be he can find someone those nights - if he isn't wokring and cannot afford to pay much then surely he can find babysitters. Childcare in non sexist families is not a women's issue ever.