Friday, January 04, 2008

The end of the saga?!?!

I sure hope so. Waldo writes in his comment that this blog would make a good reality show... Not sure how I feel about that. It would actually be nice to have a calm, boring, no events, nothing to blog about life. (And Waldo, you're right - I probably should NOT have answered the door clad only in my towel... but I HAD to see who this man was!!)

I hired a new sitter and she starts tomorrow.

A few weeks ago I was visiting a client and my sitter called: "The kids say you are firing me. Is that true?" "Umm... no. It's not true. And I'm at work, could you please only call me for emergencies?" So, as I was leaving the client I laughingly said to the home attendant: "Do you know any good sitters?" Now, what you have to know about this home attendant is that she is the creme de la creme of home attendants. She is amazing. Kind, responsible, thoughtful, takes the job seriously, has a genuine caring and affection for her clients, takes initiative, and THINKS. You may think all these qualities are a given in a home attendant - but unfortunately they are NOT.

So she thought about it for a minute and said: "My niece." She is 26 years old, lives in Brooklyn, and while not in school, is taking classes. I called the niece and we talked a bit on the phone. I told her how important it was that the person I hire be consistent. How I get crazy if I even sense that the person might not be on time to pick up the kids at the bus. And that it's only 4 hours a day. She understood and responded appropriately to all the points. But, what really sold me is she idolizes her aunt. She likes to spend all her free time with her. I feel like if this is the quality of person that she aspires to... then that's a HUGE selling point!

I met her the following week (she actually met me at my clients - with her aunt!) and really liked what I saw. So on New Year's Eve Day, when I had the kids with me at work she came over to meet them. They clicked, too. I offered her the job and she accepted.

Then I realized. I went over to her: "Melissa, you accepted the position and didn't even ask how much I would pay you! So, that means you'll work for free, right?!" She laughed, but said "I just know it's right and that it will work." So that double sold me.

I spoke to the boys about NOT telling the current sitter.. but... do I really need to write the rest? Nathan told her. She freaked. Called me Wednesday night, while I was at J's. I said "Let's talk about it tomorrow, when I see you." But she couldn't do it face to face. She said, please talk to me now - I can't do it in person and I won't be able to sleep tonight I'll be so worried! So, I fired her over instant message. Kinda surreal. I told her we had a family friend who was coming to NYC to study elementary ed & wants to sit for me for free! How could I turn that down?!?

She was supposed to come today - her last day (I was going to give her more time, like another week, but soon realized that she would not be able to handle coming back) but she told me she couldn't come to see the boys. That she would cry. So, the new sitter starts Monday.

Pray for me.

3 comments:

Family Adventure said...

Crossing fingers that this time it really is right. Good luck, Alm!

Heidi :)

Anonymous said...

Oh Im praying, Im praying really hard and crossing every body part that I can think of (although walking around with my eyes crossed is a little inconvenient!). You definately deserve someone who is great. Good luck

Anonymous said...

I am so glad that you got someone you like. I hope today was great. I will read about it I am sure. I enjoy reading your blog and making off the wall comments. Thanks for puttin up with me.