Fury As Parents Try To Underpay Sitter Because Baby Slept Most of the Time

Newsweek

22-05-2025

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Internet users have backed a babysitter who was paid for just an hour of her shift because the toddler slept almost the entire time she was there.
Etiquette expert Jo Hayes, of EtiquetteExpert.org, told Newsweek she was "appalled" at how the parents acted.
A 19-year-old woman, who did not give her name but posts to Reddit under the username u/SecretiveGurl, took to the r/AmITheJerk sub on May 21 where she explained what happened.
Asking if she was in the wrong for feeling "taken advantage of" in the situation, she said she occasionally babysits for a "nice" couple in the neighborhood, with their "sweet" 2-year-old usually making it an "easy gig."
Recently, however, she was booked for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. as the parents went out for dinner, and just 20 minutes in, the toddler fell asleep.
The sitter "didn't hear a peep" for the rest of the night, and while she regularly checked the baby monitor, she just relaxed until the parents came home—and that was when they said they should only pay her for 20 minutes of work.
The babysitter laughed at first, thinking it was a joke, but then the parents gave her money for one hour's worth of work, and told her they "feel weird paying full price when you didn't really do anything."
And the sitter tried to object, saying that she was still there to look out for the baby while the parents enjoyed their night out. However, they "didn't budge" and instead promised to make it up to her "next time."
"I didn't argue further because I didn't want to cause a scene," the sitter wrote. However, after her sister heard what happened and said the parents were "being cheap," it left her wondering if she was right or wrong for expecting full pay.
Hayes told Newsweek, speaking directly to the teenager in the center of the story: "If I was your mother, I would march you right over to that house, and speak
on your behalf—having you there as witness to learn how to deal with this sort of thing—politely requesting that the parents pay you your full wage."
Hayes said that "whether the toddler was asleep or not, you invested your night sitting in their home, when you could have been doing many other things.
"If the toddler woke up, who would have been in charge? You. You were on duty, and deserve your full pay."
Internet users also weighed in with fury, awarding her post more than 21,000 upvotes, as one commenter wrote: "Hell no. You're paid to watch the baby. Not for what the baby does."
Stock image: A woman holds a baby, both facing away from the camera.
Stock image: A woman holds a baby, both facing away from the camera.Another said she should suggest to the parents: "Cool, next time the baby falls asleep I can leave then?" A third advised the sitter to "never go back, and tell everyone what they did so no one else gets scammed by these people."
"You spent four hours with the baby so they still need to pay you full," one comment read. "You should demand the rest of the pay. That's just crazy."
The babysitter said in a comment that, while she likes the toddler, after what the parents did, she will not be returning to babysit again.
Hayes added: "This girl was definitely taken advantage of, and I encourage her to go back to these parents, and request or demand—kindly, calmly, but clearly—the rest of her deserved pay.
"You deserve this. Not only will it feel good to get the rest of the money owed, but you'll feel more confident about standing up to other people who try to take advantage of you in the future—be it in babysitting, or any other arena of life."
Newsweek has contacted u/SecretiveGurl on Reddit for comment on this story.
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