Remember when I was weeding through the candidates for a babysitter from Care.com? Well, that went incredibly poorly.
Attempt 1
I narrowed the list down to ten, and recruited Thing 1 to help me make the final decision. She chose someone we'll call Amelia (not her real name). I arranged for Amelia to watch Thing 1, Thing 2 and the Baby one weeknight so I could go to a church group outing. That morning, Thing 1 woke up barfing, so I texted Amelia and apologized and called it off. I advised her of an upcoming date 3 weeks away, and she said she would be free.
Attempt 2
As the new date approached, I again texted Amelia and confirmed our arrangement with a specific time. Amelia showed up, I explained the dinner I'd pre-cooked for the children, and I went to a church group meeting. Two hours later, I returned, paid Amelia (the upper end of what she'd requested, I may add - which I think was incredibly generous considering she didn't even put away the leftovers of dinner or anything, and Thing 1 said she spent most of the time on her phone; but hey, my children were still all alive and had eaten), and thanked her.
Attempt 3
So a couple weeks later, I figured we'd see if Amelia was free to watch the kids so the Husband and I could go on a date for the first time in three months. I texted her and asked if she was free on Thursday. I gave her an approximate time. She said she could do Thursday. I said ok, I'll get back to you with the time. Thursday morning I texted her the time. She never responded... so evening came, and I began to consider that there was some sort of misunderstanding and she would not be appearing. Sure enough, 7:00 came and went and no Amelia. I tried calling and texting, but there was no reply. So we shoved the kids in the car and we all went to dinner at the 99.
Attempt 4
Still, I had been a little vague in my text. So I gave Amelia the benefit of the doubt and texted her the following week. "Sorry; we seem to have had a misunderstanding last week; are you free this Saturday, from 6-10."
Amelia responded saying she was sorry, she had some family emergency, and she could do Saturday 6-10.
Except when 6:00 came on Saturday, there was no Amelia. And when I called Amelia's phone, she sent me to voicemail (FYI folks - don't send people to voicemail. We know when you do. Just let the phone ring 5,6 times like normal.).
Fortunately, a fabulous friend was available to step in and watch Things 1 and 2 and Baby, so the Husband and I were able to catch the movie (we only missed the Coming Attractions).
Conclusion
This whole experience has been incredibly frustrating. Basically, I've paid Care.com $65 now to recommend to me someone who is the very definition of unreliable.
In contrast, I have also hired the pest control man to come get rid of our ant problem. I know he will show up when he says he will, because he is always reliable and punctual - he has never missed an appointment. So if you need a recommendation for a good pest control guy, just ask. And if you need a recommendation for an unreliable babysitter, I've got one of those, too. And I won't charge you anything for either.
-A Real Housewife of the North Shore
