12 Hours of work + 0 dollars = Angry Cath (Longish)

[Mr. Rager!]

I've baby-sat a few times. I had fairly good experiences with it too...

I baby-sat for this doctor's kids a few times. Two little girls and they were monsters when it came time for bed. I'd have to chase them around the house, capture them and carry them upstairs to their room. One of them would have bad dreams frequently... so she usually ended up sleeping on my lap on the couch until her folks got home.

The parents loved me and would pay me very well for the little work that I had to do. It was funny too, because one time they came home, and they had been drinking and I was getting ready to leave, they stopped me and were like, "let's watch a movie"... I had nothing better to do. So I was like "sure!"

If it was going to be an all day thing, they would leave a car for me to drive. Usually their Jetta because it already had the car seats in it. Plus, I can handle a small car better than I can handle a full-sized van.

The best part though, during the NBA season, they had sattelite and I could get EVERY Laker game on. It was phenomenal!

[Primer]

WOW! I'm sure glad I was never allowed to babysit when I was young! That might be part of why I chose never to have any of my own--I have no idea what the do with them.

[agirlfromnowhere]

Eek, some of these sound bad

I never really baby sat when I was younger. I babysat one kid when I was about 17 on the weekends and he was really good and I got paid a fairly decent amount. I babysit for some kids now and they're seriously some of the best kids I've ever seen. Their dad pays me when he drops them off, so I know I'm not gonna get ripped of lol.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I used to babysit when I was a teen, mostly cuz the four families that I sat for had fairly well behaved kids and all I had to do was sit downstairs and watch TV, with full fridge privilege til the parents arrived home. I charged £5 an hour before midnight, with £1 added for every hour after that; was a bit more than some kids charged, but I was better than those kids were so well worth the money. Plus, unlike them, I didn't leave their videos out of the boxes, run up huge phone bills or leave a mess in the kitchen or bathroom... yes, these were actual things my rival sitters did. XD I eventually gave it up when I got a real job.

The one bad story comes from when I was sitting for a new family. At the time, I just had 2 regulars, and this new family arranged for me to sit their 2 kids aged 4 and 6 one Friday night. I came over around 7pm, after I'd had my dinner. They gave me the number of the restaurant they were going to, said they'd be about 4 hours at the very latest, and left. Now, the kids were fairly good; I let them stay up a little later than their parents did and they went off to bed fine. It's not the kids who this story concerns, but the parents.

11pm came and went; no parents. So I did as any good babysitter would do and called up the restaurant and asked to speak to Mr and Mrs Jones (not their real name); the people there told me that the Joneses had left their establishment over an hour ago. I was a little worried by this time, but I decided to wait it out just in case they were stuck in traffic or something and that's why they were late.

Midnight. I'm very worried now, I don't have a clue where the Joneses are, and have no numbers to call to find out where they are. I do however have my mum, who always told me that if anything untoward happens, to call her. I call Mum, and tell her in a trembly voice what's happening, she says that she'll come over and wait with me. So I settle down and wait for Mum. Mum duly arrives in about 10 minutes in the car and settles down to wait with me. Kids are upstairs asleep and remain upstairs and asleep.

Just after 2:30am, the parents finally roll in, completely wasted and approx 3.5 hours late. My mum then proceeds to give them the blasting of the century for what they did. They seem to be sorry, but they don't seem to understand why it was such a problem to leave a 14 year old girl in charge of their kids with no emergancy numbers for nearly 8 hours. Mum makes them not only pay me my agreed rate, but also an extra £10. She takes me home... and no, I do not ever sit for them again. I also warned off all my friends from ever sitting for these people.

Even now, I still can't believe those people did that to me. There could have been a house fire, or one of their kids could have gotten sick and I wouldn't have been able to contact them. It still makes me shiver.

[Kiwi]

I only babysitted a few times in my life, im not good with strange children... I feel akward, I dont know what to say to them.

Howvever as a teenager our next door neighbour asked me to babysit, pretty easy, 8pm start, kids were ready for bed, had to read them a story turn out lights, watch tv... mum would be home before midnight.

3am she falls through the door with a strange man drunk off her ass. Doesnt pay me, sends me home. Next day gives my mum $10 for the entire night I was PISSED and asked my mum if I was free the following weekend. Mum said I was (without asking me) and said Id be there same time as "usual"

doesnt bother to mention it to be until 2 days before hand, and I flat out refuse despite the raging argument and silent treatment that followed ( my mother tended to randomly volunteer me for anything/everything with out my knowledge and concent and it was a real sticking point in our relationship) one of my friends was having a birthday party and I wasnt missing that for a lousy ten bucks when I handnt even agreed or been asked/told at all!!!

my mum ended up babysitting for her, and she never asked me again, they both blamed me for it, saying I should have just "acted like a grown up" and babysat anyway...um no, you dont ask me, you dont get me.

[MadMike]

My ex was asked to babysit for the former neighbors who used to live upstairs from us. She never really had any trouble with the kids, but there was never any food in the house so she could feed them. She ended up having to spend the little money they paid her on food. Fortunately, that job didn't last very long.

[Tigress]

Um, do you mean Ed Gein or John Wayne Gacy? Just wondering. Cause I never heard of Ed Gacey.

I thought Gacy's first name was Ed for some reason. I'm getting my serial killers mixed up!

[Jester]

they both blamed me for it, saying I should have just "acted like a grown up" and babysat anyway.

They wanted you to act like a grown up? Interesting, considering they did not treat you or pay you like one.

As for babysitting, I did a turn or two for some neighbors here or there. I am great with kids, but don't deal with infants. I know my strengths and weaknesses. Once the kids can talk and related to me (say 2 or more), I am fine. Before that time? Forget it.

That being said, nowadays, the only babysitting you will catch me doing is for my "nieces" (good friends' kids) or other friends' kids. 3 of my four nieces are teenagers, so "babysitting" them is more akin to hanging out with them and keeping them from burning the building down, etc. And I enjoy their company, so all is well. Have not yet been called on to babysit the 4th, as since her birth I have lived 2600 miles away from her. I am sure all that will change once I move back to the desert (where she lives).

As for payment, I really don't get paid to babysit my nieces. They are my nieces, even if not by blood, so I don't mind helping the parents out. That being said, if it does conflict with my plans or whatever, usually the parents only have to pay me in food or beer to make me happy. I am a cheap babysitter...but only for these few people.

When I did magic on a regular basis at the one restaurant, people would often ask me if I babysat, as they saw how good I was with their kids. My response was always the same: "Yes, yes I do babysit. But I am very expensive!"

I thought Gacy's first name was Ed for some reason. I'm getting my serial killers mixed up!

Hey, any questions about serial killers, I am the dude to ask!

[Lehk]

I found out that a woman who watched my oldest as a baby once let her husband throw him on the floor.

that man should be burned alive

[RecoveringKinkoid]

So should the woman. She let him do it.

[wagegoth]

I never really liked babysitting. Maybe the Asperger's, but I related better to adults than children.

Once, ONCE, I sat for this couple who were friends of my parents. They had three little girls and a baby boy. The baby boy was practically physically attached to his mother. He was always being held by her. Being the only boy, he was pretty spoiled. He even rode on his mother's lap when she was driving the car. (This was before seatbelt and carseat laws.)

I'm left to baby sit from about 5 until 11.

Now the house was this big-deal, specially-designed, architectural magazine design. It was two stories, floor to ceiling windows on the side facing the road (I'm more of an Eichler fan), and they didn't have draperies for the windows as that would ruin the appearance. Which leaves me, 14 years old, out in the country, in a house that anyone can see into from the road at night, trying to keep track of three annoyed little girls and their spoiled baby brother.

The middle daughter (absolutely adorable, sweetest of the bunch) kept bugging me for a dill pickle. Okay, it's not candy, so why not? But I did tell her she had to eat all of it. About half an hour later she's running around without the pickle. Curious, I asked her about it. She says she ate it. I have my doubts. Finally, I check the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. Sure enough, she decided to try to flush half the pickle away. This was an extremely large dill pickle. LARGE. I'm panicking. That toilet is going to be completely plugged up and they're going to blame me. I plunged that toilet until I thought I'd collapse in a puddle of sweat. My prayers of "Oh, God, please, no, don't let this happen, oh, please, God, no," were heard. The pickle flushed away.

Then the girls were all on their best behavior after they saw how upset I was. However, the baby (not quite a year old) was missing mommy. He was not happy. He was especially not happy being touched by anyone other than his mommy. This included his father. This meant I had to endure continuous screaming every time I changed his diaper, carried him up the stairs, put him in his high chair, etc. Finally, I had had it. I picked him up and put him on my lap. He screamed. I held him. He screamed louder. I held him. Irresistable force had met immoveable object. Irresistable force lost. He gave up on the crying.

That night, after the girls had gone to bed, I was upstairs with the baby, watching TV in the master bedroom. His crib was in there and he wasn't sleeping, and I didn't want to leave him alone. That was when it finally got through to me that I might as well have been on display in a department store window. Also, I was living less than two hours from San Francisco and this was about the time of the Zodiac killings. I ended up turning off all the lights in the bedroom and the hallway. The baby finally slept, but I couldn't rest. I just could not stand the idea of no curtains and those huge windows.

Finally, the parents got home (almost two hours late) and the husband drove me home and paid me decently. But I never, ever went back. No way.

A little note: When I babysat at home, I'd pay my kid sister twenty-five cents to change the diapers. She loved babies, but was too young to babysit. She would have spent the entire time playing with them, so I felt guilty unless I paid her some of the money.

[wagegoth]

My children really haven't been babysat, since I found out that a woman who watched my oldest as a baby once let her husband throw him on the floor.

When my oldest was about a year old, my husband and I had shifts that overlapped and I felt lucky to find a caregiver (in her own home) who was willing to take him part-time. Until I found out her resentful, four-year-old son was hitting him. We pulled him out immediately, and I was able to change my shift so that I could be home until my husband got there. We've done it that way ever since. I just feel so much better.

I felt sorry for the four-year-old. His mother had worked when he was small, and didn't decide to stay home until after her second baby. So his mom was finally home with him, but he was having to share her with four other children. We told the sitter, of course, why we were leaving, but I don't think she really understood her son's issue. She was one of those people who built life on a scheduled plan, and she stuck with it, and anything (or anyone) that didn't cooperate was simply being difficult. Which was another reason I'm glad my kids have not had daycare since.

[kurisu7885]

What is up with well to do people and them tryign to stiff the working class!!!! GAH!!!!

[Anakah]

I was thirteen and my sister was fourteen. My mom made us watch her friends horribly HIDEOUS kids from hell. The two girls one five, the other like seven "looked" like Angel's.

Well the littlest girl (let's call her A) A LOVED throwing tantrums on the floor. Especially in public. She'd throw herself down on the floor and literally kick her legs on the floor and scream at the top of her lungs. My sister and I were horrified and had no idea what to do. Since it was my mom's friend we received no compensation.

But after knowing how crazy their parents were I guess it seemed okay for them to be totally nuts. The seven year old liked to hit her sister and egg her on to cry. Also a big fan of running off in stores.

My mom finally got the hint that we sucked with children and didn't make us baby sit for her friends anymore.

[BiscuitMunroe]

When I was like 12 I had a sitting job for some family friends. It was my first job, four kids, 6 months to 8. At the end the mom asked me how much she owed me. I had no idea, so i did some quick math in my head and said $15. It was a three hour job, so $5 an hour. Within a week it was all over town that I charged $5 an hour and wasn't that just rediculous and blah blah blah. I was a kid. I had no idea how much to charge. And it was four freaking kids. They're still really good friends of the family but GAH.