Three Kids, Fifteen Bucks, And Two Weeks

I’m nineteen and I work for my neighbors as a full-time nanny for their baby girl who’s about a year old. They have two other daughters who are eight and eleven, but I have been specifically instructed by their parents that I am only there for the baby, not them.

One Friday, I am getting up for work and I receive a text from my boss.

Boss: “[Husband] and I will be gone until noon. You are to skip your 11:00 am break in order to make sure the older girls will be supervised.”

I have just woken up, so I say okay and go to make my coffee. I have a hard time saying no on the spot and it takes me a minute to think through some things.

When the baby goes down for her nap, I text both bosses.

Me: “I completely understand that there will be appointments or things you need to do, but I would like to be asked if taking on three children and skipping my break is something I’m willing to do, rather than told. My hourly rate for all three girls is $20 and that I would like to be paid as such.”

I’m usually paid $15 an hour for watching the baby alone.

I receive a long text from the girls’ mom around fifteen minutes later that basically says they feel as though they have made several exceptions where my pay is concerned, and that she is perturbed by my message. She then goes on to detail three different instances in which they have shown me kindness and feel as though I should’ve made an exception. To top it off, she asks me to reevaluate over the next two-week period whether or not I want to keep my job.

I am really taken aback by this message, so I call my mom and ask her what she thinks. My mom is pissed. She tells me that she used to drive the two older girls to school in the morning along with my sister and would pick them up in the afternoon. I guess there were plenty of times my bosses assumed my mom would babysit after school with minimal heads-up and leave. My mom had to tell them to stop or pay her for her time. I have also kind of felt like they were dumping all their kids on me, especially because I serve as unpaid supervision for the two eldest girls as both parents work in isolated parts of the home.

I construct my own message back and detailed my own five-point list of kindnesses that I have shown the family, including last summer when I worked the same job I work now for $5 an hour to help out when the mom had to take on a summer job. I have also recently agreed to take on an extra ten hours weekly with no increase in pay to show my appreciation for this job. I also tell her:

Me: “I don’t understand what any of what you said has to do with the fact that I need to be asked in advance to take care of all three girls. I’m unsure how what I had said is deserving of a response asking me to reconsider if I want to keep my job. Consider this my two weeks’ notice. I do not appreciate my job stability being threatened over something so minimal. You should use this time to find alternative childcare, and we’ll part as friendly neighbors.”

They pretty much freak out. I don’t think [Boss] was actually expecting me to quit. They try to talk to me when they get home.

Boss: “You stressed me out by texting me in the first place, and I was just trying to make sure you were being properly paid because you made it sound like we were short-changing you!”

Me: “You were. And you shouldn’t have threatened me.”

She looked at the floor and her poor husband tried to do so much damage control. It was pretty awkward.

I do love the little one I babysit, but this has been such a mentally and physically taxing job as it is. I guess this was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I’m going to miss the baby, but not how tired I am, and I definitely won’t miss being taken advantage of.