Originally Posted by LysesKids:
THIS... I run a small business; I offer a service and set the RULES... if the parent doesn't agree to my terms of service they are free to find care elsewhere (and don't let the door hit ya on the way out)
I work long hours and pay taxes just like my clients but I earn much less than all of them... nobody will tell me I MUST do this this or this for pay; not happening. BTW, I do take off 4 weeks every year... unpaid, but still and she's hooting and hollering about not having back-up? Yeah, I never would have signed her in the first place... all my families have a back up plan in place for times I must close even unexpectedly (like illness) and I know what they are before they sign my contract
LysesKids, I DO NOT disagree with you. You are giving full disclosure and insisting that you cannot be the only support in place. They were a facility, probably not like yours; they had many kids and staff.
When I was completely taken aback the by the first closure, they realized no one gave me a calendar. They got me one and I adjusted my schedule. Then came the one occasion when the calendar clearly said they were open, but they were closed. Everyone who also had a school-age child [whose school calendar was accurate], was not surprised. I, however, was SHOCKED. Then came the snow days... there came a point where I felt like I was the little guy against the bureaucracy (or whatever) and I needed to stand up for myself.
If the only outcome was that they learned operate more like you, great--better for the next parent. I absolutely would have appreciated if they had insisted that I have back up care; I would have been prepared. Seriously, no one told me. At 30, I was the first of my friends to have kids. Even my mom had nothing useful to offer when I told her about the mess....maybe because she raised kids in a different time?
Back to my point, that I agree with you that my response was wrong. but I still feel that my reasoning--how I got there--was not. On THOSE occasions, I was merely asking for four 10-hour days since I wasn't getting five 8-hour days--as that was the situation THEY had put ME in. (They were open 6 to 6). Their response about an 8-hour daily max (not found in their policies btw) showed me reason would get me nowhere and responded with the same lack of consideration.
A business can employ fair practices or not, deal with whom they choose, and take no crap [even as they dish it out] as they run their business, because it is THEIR call. I think in somewhere in there, they knew they were wrong. I am still proud of my creative problem solving and of standing up for myself.