Rainy
27-01-2010, 09:52 PM
I have been caring for a little boy who's 6 since September before and after school, term time only.
His parents are nice enough people but i do feel slightly uncomfortable with them, especially the Dad. I would say they are more upper class where as i am working class and i do feel as if the Dad looks down on me and sometimes as if i am something he has just wiped of his shoe (if you catch my drift). They both wear the best clothes and shoes, (named stuff) new cars, big posh house etc.
Anyway I live on a hill that is privately owned (not by me) so has no drainage, paths etc. It is never gritted in the winter and only has access from one end. At the top of it is a big field and we constantly have water running down the hill off the field so in the winter this freezes often making the road quite dangerous. I did explain this to parents at the beginning and said if it was too dangerous i would not drive to school
During the recent snow, my road was a nightmare, we first had a couple of inches on a sunday which then turned my whole road into 2" thick ice all the way down by the following day. I called the parents of 6 year old and said it was too dangerous to take him to school that day. (they probably wouldn't have got up it either)
The thick ice didn't thaw and then we had a further 8" of snow on top of it a few days later.
I kept the parents informed, ringing them every morning to let them know if i could do the school run or not.
On the Thursday morning, i called and said i couldn't do school run. Dad then said "it's ok as we arn't going into work either so we will take him. they obviously waited for me to call them first as then i wouldn't charge. If they had cancelled me i would have charged them.
On the friday, i heard that the school was closed so i wouldn't have been needed anyway but i still phoned them. At the beginning of the next week i gave them a refund for the 4 days i had cancelled. I did not refund the Friday as they had no intention of using me anyway. I decided to refund the thurs although they would not have used me but i had phoned them first so my decision.
Forward 3 weeks. Dad turns up tonight and quite rudely says, "you haven't refunded the friday. I said "no but the school was closed and i was still open if you needed me to have him for the contracted hours and i couldn't take him to school if it was closed". He argued the toss and basically spoke to me like i was one of his pupils (he's a teacher)
When he left i just burst into trears, i'm glad i stood my ground with him but i felt like he was bullying me. It didn't help that i am trying to give up smoking and only on day 3.
Anyway did i do the right thing or would you have refunded the money. We are only talking £15 here and to be honest it would have just been easier to have given it to him but he made me so angry and i didn't appreciate being spoken to like that
His parents are nice enough people but i do feel slightly uncomfortable with them, especially the Dad. I would say they are more upper class where as i am working class and i do feel as if the Dad looks down on me and sometimes as if i am something he has just wiped of his shoe (if you catch my drift). They both wear the best clothes and shoes, (named stuff) new cars, big posh house etc.
Anyway I live on a hill that is privately owned (not by me) so has no drainage, paths etc. It is never gritted in the winter and only has access from one end. At the top of it is a big field and we constantly have water running down the hill off the field so in the winter this freezes often making the road quite dangerous. I did explain this to parents at the beginning and said if it was too dangerous i would not drive to school
During the recent snow, my road was a nightmare, we first had a couple of inches on a sunday which then turned my whole road into 2" thick ice all the way down by the following day. I called the parents of 6 year old and said it was too dangerous to take him to school that day. (they probably wouldn't have got up it either)
The thick ice didn't thaw and then we had a further 8" of snow on top of it a few days later.
I kept the parents informed, ringing them every morning to let them know if i could do the school run or not.
On the Thursday morning, i called and said i couldn't do school run. Dad then said "it's ok as we arn't going into work either so we will take him. they obviously waited for me to call them first as then i wouldn't charge. If they had cancelled me i would have charged them.
On the friday, i heard that the school was closed so i wouldn't have been needed anyway but i still phoned them. At the beginning of the next week i gave them a refund for the 4 days i had cancelled. I did not refund the Friday as they had no intention of using me anyway. I decided to refund the thurs although they would not have used me but i had phoned them first so my decision.
Forward 3 weeks. Dad turns up tonight and quite rudely says, "you haven't refunded the friday. I said "no but the school was closed and i was still open if you needed me to have him for the contracted hours and i couldn't take him to school if it was closed". He argued the toss and basically spoke to me like i was one of his pupils (he's a teacher)
When he left i just burst into trears, i'm glad i stood my ground with him but i felt like he was bullying me. It didn't help that i am trying to give up smoking and only on day 3.
Anyway did i do the right thing or would you have refunded the money. We are only talking £15 here and to be honest it would have just been easier to have given it to him but he made me so angry and i didn't appreciate being spoken to like that