Warning Signs

I recently interviewed a very lovely family. I would have gladly enrolled them into our daycare family. The parents were lovely, the child was well-mannered and well-behaved, and I was quite confident that this family would work out beautifully.

We, however, had one not-so-little issue - they would not be able to pick up by our closing time every day.

I was not willing to budge on this one.

This is not the first time this has been an issue for a family. I once had a parent quit a new job because she didn't realize she would have to be at work until my closing time. She thought she got off a half hour sooner. I have had parents go to their employers and ask to change their work schedule or take a shorter lunch break to work into my schedule.

This family thought they might have a solution, but needed to talk it over and try to work it out. That would be great! I told the family that I was not planning on scheduling any more interviews for the next four days. The spot would still be available to them as long as they called me by the end of the fourth day.

I did not hear from them by the end of Day 4. I was ok with that, figuring that they just couldn't work out the issue. I proceeded to interview a couple more families, and enrolled a child on Day 7.

On Day 8, they called me wanting the spot.

Was I disappointed? Did I consider calling the other family and saying sorry, I can't take your child? Did I get mad at myself for not waiting a bit longer?

No, I felt like I dodged a bullet.

One of the things I look for in a potential client is signs that they will be respectful of  my time. I do not conduct interviews during operating hours. I will explain this to a family when we schedule their interview right after my daycare day ends. When a family shows up a half hour early, I take it as sign that they are not respectful of my time. If they show up more than just a few minutes late for their interview without calling, I take this as a sign that they are not respectful of my time. This tends to be something that will continue throughout our relationship.

Because this family was not respectful of the time frame I had set, especially a family that already had the potential of not being able to meet our pickup time, it is likely that they would not have been respectful of my closing time throughout our working relationship.

They were genuinely shocked the spot was no longer available to them. They said they weren't available to contact me before that. However, in the age of cellphones and email, I find that rather hard to believe. Had they even contacted me to say they needed a few more days, I probably would have obliged.

Now...I just feel relief.

Sophie