Do you pay the sitter if you cancel?

I have a sitter that comes by on a pretty regular basis, 4 hours once a week. A few times she's had to cancel because she's been sick or her schedule changed, and I didn't pay her if she canceled. But last week my kids were coming down with a cold and crying a lot, so I thought it would be better for everyone if I just stayed with them. So I called and canceled; when I spoke with her I asked if there was another day she could come to make up the time, but her schedule is so busy she didn't have another time to reschedule. My question is, when she comes this week, should I pay her the 4 hours from last week? I figure it's not her fault my kids were sick. But I'm wondering what others do.

thanks,
thea
misha and cyan 14 months old

 

No, I wouldn't pay her.

 

I dont think I would, she wasnt there, i think it would be quite reasonable.

and another thing would be, would she accept the money if you did offer it to her.

I've never had a sitter before, it usually mum who looks after the girls on the odd occasion we go out so I wouldnt know. im sorry.

but in the end, i dont think I woujld pay her for the week she didnt come, if you told her in advance, like not on the night she was ment to come i think it should be fine. I dont think she will be expecting it.

 

If she is a regular sitter, I would pay her something. She was probably counting on the money for something, especially if you didn't give her more than a days notice. If they were going to daycare, you would be reponsible to pay whether they were there or not.

 

quote:
Originally posted by sharongl:
If she is a regular sitter, I would pay her something. She was probably counting on the money for something, especially if you didn't give her more than a days notice. If they were going to daycare, you would be reponsible to pay whether they were there or not.


I agree.

 

I would not pay her and I don't think pay is expected for help like that. For nannies and everyday babysitter( salary) help...yes...you pay... but come on ..not for once/week (extreme part-time) help.

I have always had college aged sitters 2 days/week for 4hrs. I apologize if I have to cancel but never pay them. I do not pay them for sick days either. I give them opportunities to make up for it other times. (sit on the weekend...etc.) NEVER have had any problems with that system. HTH.

 

I give my sitter the opportunity to make it up. If she cannot I pay her if I cancel on her. She has a son and rent to pay so she depends on the money for her bills. If she cancels on me I do not pay her but give her the opportunity to make it up. She has only canceled one time in a year. Very reliable!

 

I have only payed when I canceled very last minute like the day of or a few hours before the scheduled time. But if you gave her a couple days notice I don't think there is a need to pay her.

 

If I gave her severla days notice of a cancel I wouldn't pay her. If it was last minute I'd pay her half at least(or if I knew she needed the money bad).

 

I think as long as you gave her reasonable notice (like a day before) that you don't need to pay her. If it was last minute then I would probably offer to pay her and see if she could come another day.

 

I wouldnt pay either..

 

I work as a part time nanny and I do not get paid the full 7 or 8 hours if she cancelled but she does pay me maybe 3 or 4, because I had reserved the day for her and therefore she sort of "messed up" my day.
She is the first woman to do this I have to say, and this is my like 4rth nanny job. She does however generally cancel either the day before or most of the times on the same day. What also happens sometimes is that she calls me for the day and the evening and then she or her husband are too tired to go out and they send me home for the night, she generally pays me 3 hours in that case. If they go out it is seldomly more than 3 or 4 hours so I think it is more than fair.

I was very surprised at this but it is great because my rent is so huge and life is very expensive here!
The family I work for are great by the way, they also always round up my pay, the husband even up to like a full hours pay more (he "tipps" me). They are very kind, offer me stuff when they don't need it (that goes from a bag of sweets to a whole TV they did not need anymore), they always try to make sure there is food for me when they leave and when I stayed over x-mas to dogsit they even left me A LOT of pocketmoney so I could at least have really nice food, if I was housebound with the pup.

So I think you don't have to do it, but she will appreciate it if you do it. And if she is a student like me, she will use it for important stuff!!
XXX, CJ

 

quote:
If she is a regular sitter, I would pay her something. She was probably counting on the money for something, especially if you didn't give her more than a days notice. If they were going to daycare, you would be reponsible to pay whether they were there or not.

I agree too. My kids go to a sitter 3 days a week (A little different than your situation, I know). But, if I have to stay home a day with them, I reschedule with the sitter to go into work a different day b/c I pay her regardless.

Now, if this was just a sitter you go so you could go out on a Friday evening and had to cancel, I wouldn't bother with paying her. However, since it's a "regular" sitter and maybe she counts on that little extra $ per week, I would pay her for it...(DH would disagree with me totally on this) but I would pay her the whole amount, or at least half if you are debating it.

 

I don't think you need to unless there's a set "contract" or something. If you feel badly, maybe give her a few extra bucks this week or even half if it's not too much!