I had a bit of an advantage as I came from a center background. Over the years I watched centers that were consistent with policies both for staff and parents ran better than ones who didn't. When I was at one we had a situation where DCM thought it was DCD's weekend, DCD thought it was DCM's weekend, and both went out of town.
This was before cell phones were common. It took 2 hours after closing to get ahold of a emergency contact.
In my home my worst was a DCM came it one evening saying she was having emergency surgery in the morning and DCD had to take her in. Could she please bring them at 5 (hour before I opened)? This DCM worked with my wife and I had cut her some slack a few times to make DW's life easier. I agreed thinking it was really a medical emergency. Grandma came and picked up that afternoon and didn't know what DCM had told me. Turns out the "emergency" was a boob job that had been scheduled for months.
Let's just say the next conversation with DCPs was less than pleasant.
