The Job that Was

Remember a couple weeks ago when I said I got a part time gig watching three girls every day after school?  Well yeah, that was interesting.  I have been wanting to blog about this since the day I started but never found the time but finally decided I need to share...if nothing else but to vent so I'll feel better.

Basically I was offered a job working almost every day after school for these 3 girls aged 7, 9 and 11.  I was hired and told that the first week would be a trial week for all of us but she gave me all the specifics and acted like it was a done deal.

I really wanted to write about my first day when I got home because just about everything imaginable was said to me by these three girls.  Literally the second I walked in the door and I was told that I was there to see if I'd "make the cut" as their babysitter because not all do, and the last one they had left her first day crying.  Awesome, right? I somehow managed to find the humor in this and was thankful that I was only there for three hours.  In those three hours though, I was reminded repeatedly that I was maybe not going to make the cut and then was compared to every other babysitter they had.  Usually it was in a positive way and they would say that I was better then the other ones or I did something more enjoyable than the others but it was still rather rude.  At one point the youngest told me that I looked older than when I had first walked into the house that day.  When I asked her what she meant, she told me I have wrinkles on my face.  Again, awesome.

So I could go on and on about the drama that these three girls were but a little part of me enjoyed the challenge. I figured it would probably take a few weeks to win their approval and they seemed to enjoy my company and kept me engaged in the three hours I was there.  How could any first day with three girls that age go smoothly. Besides, lets be honest, I NEED the money and would love to add this job to my resume as tutoring.  While I realize this was a little selfish...I'm just being honest and as you continue to read you'll see why I am being so honest.

As the night went on though I was really starting to second guess the whole thing.  I kept re-hearing what the girls were saying and the way they were acting replay in my head. ie. Jumping on the counter, then telling me their not allowed on the counter.  Eating tons of goldfish when I had told them I knew they weren't allowed more than one snack after school and them lying and saying they could. Etc. I felt more and more like a fool for how they were taking advantage of me but wanted to stick it out for at least the rest of the week. Again, I'd imagine that any first day with this aged girls wouldn't go perfectly and of course they were going to test me, so stick it out Stephanie!

As I had left I texted the mom to text me the details of where to get the kids the following day. I waited all night for the text, then finally at 10:00. 10:00?!  That's a big red flag to me if she's texting that late about the next day! So the text said something about how she was going to go with some other girl she had been interviewing because she was able to work the entire school year (I have to be done in Decemeber so I can student teach) and she hoped I understood, so please send her my address so she could pay me.  While the reason she gave made complete sense, I was SO mad. I felt like I was being broken up with.  But even worse because I was the one who wanted to break up with them!  I was second guessing everything that had gone down but was willing to give it a shot despite all the abuse I had taken that day...and THEY'RE ending things with me?!  Had I known that, I would have texted her the second I walked out saying I was done and made them pay me before I left!  Rejection stinks.  Plain and simple...I just hated being rejected.

So now it is over 2 weeks later and I still haven't received payment.  That's really the whole point of this post is for me to vent how I went through the hurt and rejection [insert a little dramatic sarcasm here] and she doesn't even feel the need to pay me for what I did do.  Not to mention that I had to have an interview for all this...which obviously you don't get paid for but was s huge chunk of my day to get there, walk through the rain, sit through the interview, walk back through the rain and go home. So yeah, crappy. Rejected and unpaid.  Ugh.

On a lighter note...I will (hopefully) begin tutoring high school girls on Tuesday through a volunteer program. So yay for that! :)