Phased Out
It dawned on me today that I'm being phased out of my job. Not that my job is being phased out, but I am personally being phased out. The main reason I'm being phased out? My boss' sister is jobless and pregnant. She needs money, which means she needs a job, which apparently means give her mine. Though I understand the importance of helping family, it kind of peeves me that I'm being swept under the rug after 3 years of top notch care for her daughter.
It didn't start until my charge started school on Sep. 4th. On September 4th I was under the impression that I would be working 5 days a week beginning the following week. On September 5th I got the finalized schedule, 3 days a week. Okay, I can live with that. It made practical sense so I just shrugged it off. Today I find out that I will no longer be required to do overnights. This is what is aggrivating to me. Overnight's add a significant amount to my monthly income. I was told there would be at least 1 overnight a month, meaning there would be at least an extra $50 each month in my budget. Take away the overnights, take away that $50 a month, and now I'm scrambling to rearrange my budget and get the numbers to work.
I guess more than anything I'm just frustrated with the situation. I run a tight budget as it is-(if you made $3 an hour you would have a tight budget too)-and when you take away $350 of my $8000 pre-tax income, it hurts. Not hurts as in, "oh darn, I can't go buy a video game" but hurts as in, "electric bill or phone bill?"
After number crunching for a few hours, I came to the conclusion that it just isn't going to work. That $350 is necessary in order to just pay for the necessities. So I took on another job. It's a night job, for a friend. She has 3 kids: 8 yr. old girl, 6 yr. old boy, and 21 mnth old boy. The hours are 9pm-4am on Friday's and Saturday's. It's $7 an hour.
Add to all of this that come November-(boss' sister is due Nov. 8th)-I will be on call for the November overnight because the sister will not be able to do it. In addition, I will be working 5 days a week for the entire month. Then in December, if all goes as planned, I will be dropped back down to 3 days a week and no overnights.
Sorry for such a disjointed post tonight. Bless your heart if you read all the way through it. I just needed to get a few things off of my chest this evening, so thank you for reading.
posted by Jen at
12:53 AM
3 Comments:
I am sure, after three years of sitting for the family, you feel a huge obligation to them, but they obviously don't feel the same. I understand the whole "help the family" thing, but they need to understand your "pay the bills" thing. If it were me (and maybe I'm PMSing so it skews my attitude, haha), I would have a hard time stepping up and helping them when the preggers sister is not available...but then again, the alternative might be that they let you go altogether, and that would be rotten, too.
I'm rambling now myself...at least you can sleep at the other job, right? :-)
10:46 AM
How attached are you to this family? I think (remember I am not in your shoes) I would look for other employment to REPLACE this job. I know you are a fabulous nanny...and there have to be other people that would hire you. Those are just my 2 cents...
6:01 PM
Yeah Hon, you need to have a sit down with this family and explain some things:
1. You need to know your schedule a bit more in advance so that you can plan your time.
2. There is a minimum number of hours you are willing to work. If they can't make it worth your while to hold the time open for them, then you are going to have to get another gig.
One time two families shared me. Between the two of them, I was full time, and when the needs overlapped and I had all 4 kids, I got paid double. But they coordinated the schedule between themselves. If you can set up something like that, go for it.
9:44 PM
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