I am not a mother. However, the other day while at the T Station, I waited patiently for my train to arrive and I over hear a conversation.
“Excuse me? Is this the T to North Station?” asks a sweet college aged girl to anyone that would listen.
A mother with her 6 or so year old daughter responds “Yes, this will bring you to North Station.”
“Oh, thank you! I am running late for work and don’t want to get on going the wrong way.”
There is a silence for a bit and then the mother says “This may sound odd but do you babysit? I need a sitter for tomorrow.”
The young girl pauses for a second “I do baby sit. I have to work tomorrow but it’s a catering job and I usually work 15 hours and only get 100 bucks so I can see about canceling so I can baby sit. I’d rather baby sit.”
The mother is excited “Great! When can you let me know for sure?”
“Tonight!”
The train comes and we all board.
“What’s your number? I’ll call you as soon as I know?” says the young babysitter.
The woman gives the baby sitter her digits and then says “Please let me know tonight. The sooner the better because otherwise I’ll have to make other arrangements.”
The kid is just looking back and forth between mother and new babysitter.
“I am glad we met. I’m a good judge of character and I think you’ll be great.” Says the mother to her new baby sitter as the train arrives at North Station and we get off the train.
So, I know there are good people in this world but I really don’t know that I would find a babysitter in the train station and then “interview” her on the T while riding two stops together and then hiring her for the very next day. I just don’t know… but then again, I’m not a mother.
Picture courtesy of DaftDaddy
That is awful...what is wrong with people?! I would NEVER do that! Now granted we have 5 kiddos, but even still it takes time to choose a qualified individual. In the past when hiring a nanny I received over 20 resumes, weeded down to 5 based on experience, recommendations from others, and schooling. After meeting all 5 we hired....none of them. One told me if she didn't have the latch system for her car (lower anchors and tethers for children's car seats) she would BUNGEE chord the car seat to her car!! Hello, this was after everything I had done already, let alone picking up a babysitter at the train station.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I thought the process for finding a babysitter went down. I am glad I am not the only one that found this strange or appalling. Bungee a car seat to the car... you absolutely made the right decision not hiring that one. Oh boy!
ReplyDeleteWhen a match is unsuccessful, it’s typically the result of personality differences between the au pair and host family, and though AuPairCare encourages all parties to work through these differences, sometimes it’s best to part ways (when this happens with an overseas au pair within the first 6 months, the host family can match with a replacement au pair at no additional cost).
ReplyDeletebabysitter