When so many in the workforce have to look out for themselves in the “gig economy,” the small amounts that each gig provides really starts to matter. So if somebody doesn’t come through with the $100 they promised, that makes a much bigger impact than they might realize.
That makes it pretty easy to understand why the babysitter we’re talking about today would feel so frustrated about the response she got when she asked for payment, as described in a Reddit post made by her brother.
When the babysitter sent this first text to her client, this probably wasn’t the response she was expecting.
It’s hard to imagine that too many people would accept “you got a day of fun,” as a substitute for payment, but that goes double if both parties actually agreed on a specific rate.
That’s especially true if they had that agreement in writing.
And much to this mom’s dismay, this babysitter had that agreement saved.
Hmm, how convenient that she happened to delete the message where she promised $16 an hour. How unfortunate that she “forgot” there was a time where she apparently didn’t think a day of fun and free ice cream was its own reward.
However, it didn’t seem to matter what this mom had previously agreed to because she simply refused to pay it.
First, that $16 an hour somehow turned into $20 for eight hours of work.
And when that slick negotiation tactic didn’t seem to pan out, she went with the tried and true method of calling the babysitter an incredibly rude word and blocking her.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that people were less than impressed when the babysitter’s sister posted this exchange on Reddit.
As if the bait-and-switch wasn’t bad enough, it seemed pretty insulting to the babysitter’s intelligence to consider “I delete my messages often” an acceptable excuse for reneging on a deal.
Since the babysitter had pretty clear evidence that the mom breached their contract, many users advised going to court.
But as upset as the babysitter clearly was, it seemed hard to justify paying legal fees for such a small amount of money. After all, what’s the point in spending an outrageous amount of money to get back just over $100? And judging from her mention of “text books”, this babysitter is a student who is definitely in no position to be dolling out any more money than she needs to.
Seeing that this could be an issue, many other users were quick to point out that there’s always small claims court.
And if the babysitter can also get her legal fees back, she’s not out of pocket for anything. And if “a day of fun” for eight hours of work is supposed to be a good reward, then perhaps we have a case where one good turn deserves another.
After all, the mom will end up with a more nuanced understanding of what counts as a written contract. And that’s priceless.
Thankfully, because everyone was so invested in this crazy story, we eventually got an update.
In a follow-up post , the babysitter’s brother revealed that after speaking with his sister about the possibility of taking the mother to small claims court, they decided this would be a “last-case resort.” First, they would call her husband in the hopes that he would be more practical and responsible than his wife.
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As it turns out, he was “quite sheepish about the whole thing,” and promised to talk to his wife.
Despite seemingly being on the right track with the husband, the babysitter and her brother found themselves left on “read” repeatedly after following up with more texts to him. Eventually, they decided to hit him with one text he would definitely feel inclined to respond to:
“We are aware you are reading our messages. We have consistently tried to reason and work with you, and it is honestly quite laughable that you are refusing to pay. After constitution with friends we have decided we will be using a Small Claims Court if you do not return us the $128 in cash that you rightfully owe.”
They added, “as soon as you and your wife stop acting like children and face the people you owe money to in person, we may be able to have a reasonable discussion.”
Within 30 minutes of sending the text, the babysitter was unblocked from the wife’s phone and was paid her promised wage.
“I really thought we were going to have to get in a legal process here,” her brother wrote. “It was surprising how scared she was as soon as my sister even brought up court. I guess people realize that actions have consequences.”
