I close at 5:00pm. This interview is scheduled for 6:15pm next week. I get the following email from this lady today:


Thanks so much ******! I will definitely contact you if we are going to be late or need to change the date etc. My cell phone number is ***-****
Have a great day and we'll see you next week.

********

I'm glad that the lady is willing to give me a call if she can't make it but does she really think it's ok to be late for an interview? Why would you even mention that? Am I just over reacting? I would not even take this lady if she called and said she was going to be 15-30 minutes late. I won't be eating that night until after this interview, nor will I get to see my family that night until after this interview.

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You may be reading a little too much into this Did you send her a note/email or tell her to contact you if they were going to be late or needed to change the day? If so this is probably just her response letting you know that she understands and will be sure to keep in contact with you.


For example - if you sent an email to me stating "I'm looking forward to meeting with your family next week. Please let me know if it turns out this day or time doesn't work" my reponse would be "I'm looking forward to meeting with you as well - I'll be sure to let you know if we're running late or anything changes" basically just a response letting you know I know what you're saying and will do what you're asking even though I have no plan to change the day/time or be late...kwim?

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I would e-mail her back. Thank her for her willingness to communicate if another day would be better. But let her know that being late for an appointment is not an option for you as you have family commitments.

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I've gotten a response like this a couple of times and I just reply back with something like.

"Yes, please let me know if you will be running late before you head over. The tour and interview takes approximately ** minutes so if you happen to run more than ** minutes late let me know and we will have to reschedule for a later date."

At least this way you give them the heads up that you have a life too and the interview is not just based on when it's to their convenience. I HATE having interviews that run past 7pm. That's my family time and then I have to get my kids ready for bed KWIM? I like to take that time to go through the bedtime routines with them like bath time and stories and other people don't realize that and don't take that into consideration.

Only once did I have to reschedule an interview because someone was late but they did call to tell me they were running behind because I sent them a response similar to the one above. I remember that they tried rescheduling the interview for the following day but I already had other interviews lines up for the next two days. I think that when the mom realized that I was interviewing other families it snapped her into realization. She had to wait until the following Monday and by then the other families were already on their 2nd visit to the DC (when they come during DC hours). Often times parents don't realize that there may be other people going for the spot and they think that it's only up to them to choose whether or not they want your DC. They don't think about how in many cases the DC provider is also looking for that great family with the best fit. Sometimes you just have to explain it to them.

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Honestly if I sent this message and got an email back from her stating how important it is to be on time and how it isn't an option to be late and so on I would probably feel a little upset even slightly offended. (Tho I think the above post lines out a good response )
I don't read the email to the provider as 'I'm probably going to be late I'll call when that happens' I'm reading it as 'you asked me to call you if something changes and I want to let you know I understand what you're asking. See you next week!'
Then again, I didn't talk to the mom so I don't know what she's like - I could just see myself typing this message to a provider and thinking nothing of it as I wouldn't plan to be late or reschedule. It's like how when you go to a fast food joint and they repeat your order back to you - sorry, thats the best example I have! haha

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I totally get what you are saying, I suppose for me being more than 10 minutes to an interview means that I'd have to rush through everything and I still won't be able to cover everything that I need to. For me since my last DCK leaves at 6pm I schedule my intervews for 6:10-7pm. If I had scheduled the interview on a weekend and I didn't have plans then it wouldn't be a problem if they were late but I rarely get the opportunity to do that KWIM?

I would rather tell them up front asap that if they can't make it at that time (during the week) to please let me know so we can reschedule because I can't make it later than that rather than them calling me on the way over to tell me that they'll be running late and me having to tell them at that time that it's not going to work for me.

I guess for me I would rather have someone tell me in advance than at the last minute, if they can't meet with me past a certain time. I actually now tell people at the time that I schedule the interview that if they think that they'll run late to let me know and if they are more that 15 minutes late that it only leaves 35 minutes or less for the interview and that's not enough time for me to cover their needs, for them to ask me about the DC and to go over policies. I do explain that homework and bedtime routines start at 7pm and most people that I've talked to don't see a problem with that and understand. It was only when someone called once at 6:00pm to tell me that they were going to be here at 6:30 instead of 6:10 and I told them at that time that we would have to reschedule that they seemed to be put-off so now I let them know as far in advance as I can .

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I think that you are reading in to this way tooooo much.

Maybe she is jumping through hoops to get to your appt on time. Maybe her husband is doing the same. I think that it is very respectful of this person to tell you that they would let you know should they be late, instead of just showing up late without notice. I think it shows that she has respect for your time, by being considerate of at least telling you that should I run late for some reason out of my control, I will call you and let you know.

I have had parents call me 10 minutes before arrival and tell me I am so sorry, but my husband got caught and traffic on his way home from work and it looks like we are going to be late.

Guess what, they were great parents and they were never late. I have had it happen serveral times.

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Personally, I think you are reading too much into it. I ALWAYS use almost this exact wording when I confirm appts with people...regardless if I am meeting them at my house, their home, or some other location. I can tell you that 99% of the time, I will be on time or a bit early, but there have been a handful of times when there has been an emergency, a last minute case worker drop in to visit my house or someone fails to pick up my dd after a school event... that takes priority over other things. I like to have contact info for that person, and for them to have mine....logical and proactive, instead of being flustered & not knowing how to contact someone when something does unexpected comes up.

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One mom came for an interview with her kids and was 10 minutes late. I didnt really have a problem with it because my house is kind of off the beaten path, so 10 minutes isnt that big of a deal for someone who hasn't been here before. But I will admit being late to an interview will throw off a red flag.

She comes to the door and says "I am so sorry I'm a few minutes late, I just had to pull over the car and give my kids the pep talk before we came to your house and remind them to behave themselves"

I thought it was great! And her and her kids were just great! She was one of those no-nonsense kinda moms. So fun and a barrel of laughs but she absolutely was the one that ruled her roost!

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