I had an expecting couple come over after hours for an interview. Five minutes in, they were all- This place would be perfect! If only you were open during the summer! This just won't work...

And then they proceeded to not leave my house for the next two hours. They were asking me all these questions as if they were considering coming still and I didn't want to be rude so I kept answering them and then I asked all of my questions but the whole time I was like, I could be doing literally anything else with my time.

I was so blindsided because they read my entire 14 pg handbook, had things they had questions about highlighted and seemed so earnest and interested, yet they basically kept saying with summer closed, this just wouldn't work for them. Why did they even come?

Has anyone been through this kind of interview scenario? What should I say if this looks like it's about to happen again?

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"I am sorry to hear that. Thanks for stopping by, it has been so nice meeting you. If anything changes in the future, don't hesitate to give me a call."

Stand up. Turn body toward the door. Awkward silence until they stand and begin moving toward the door.

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I never even got to meet this individual, she called up for dc and made an appt. to meet; we talked for at least half an hour, saying her ds was being diagnosed for autism. She was a no-show for the appt. I called her the next day to see what happened. Don't ask me why because I never call up a no-show. But I did with her and she said yeh, I forgot, and then continued talking my ear off for another 45 minutes and I finally said I didn't think I'd be a good fit for her ds. She said yeh, I didn't think so. Whatever.

People are strange. And self-centered. I think the moment she said your dc wouldn't work for her I'd have thought of a polite way to get them out the door. Geez, even with a great interview, it usually doesn't take more than an hour.

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I run on a school calendar as well and have had this happen a few times. I think people, here at least, are so desperate for infant and toddler spaces they interview. I explained to both couples some families that are not teachers use a high school or college nanny etc. One has made it work, the other did not.

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OMG I feel your pain!!! When I first started, I did interviews during daycare hours. Then I had the family from hell stay for 5 hours - she basically treated it like a trial day (but she stayed with the child and then her husband showed up). And like you, I didn't know how to get them to leave, even though I knew within 20 minutes I wasn't going to offer them a spot. They finally left when other parents came for pick up.

When I emailed her later that night to say thanks but no thanks (she didn't leave a deposit and I did not offer any enrollment paperwork), she FLIPPED saying I was leaving her in a lurch.

Lesson learned! After that, I did a lot of pre screening via phone and email, only interviewed after business hours and every interview I set a 30 minute timer on my phone and kept it in my pocket. Once the alarm went off I would politely let the family interviewing know that I had to get going to an appointment.

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