On Jan 23, 10:37*am, "Steve B" wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message

m...





Karen wrote:
Greetings

This is a sensible group on Usenet, so I thought I'd ask here.

My daughter is paying her way through college by babysitting. She has
4 different families she baby-sits for regularly. She took on an
assignment for a new family through a referral. She normally doesn't
take any new assignments on, because the families she sits for, treat
her very well.
The family has 2 children, and the parents are both doctors. They
also have a pet dog. Within 1 hour, my daughter noticed the dog had
one of her less than a week old sneakers in it's mouth, ripped to
shreds.
She paid for these with her money, they ran her $75. The parents
refuse to pay for her sneakers, saying she should *be responsible for
her sneakers. She left her shoes at the door, because they have a
very nice new home.
I say the people should have warned her about the dog being a chewer,
and should take responsibility for their pet.

Needless to say, she learned a lesson the hard way.

What do you say?

Assuming the facts are as you have presented them:

You've gotten some heartfelt suggestions, most along the lines of: a)
Chalk up the experience as the cost of doing business, and b) Avoid these
parents in the future. Let's look at some similar conditions:

I. You turn over your car keys to the valet ("Valet parking only") only to
have your car returned with numerous dents. Is your reasoned response
simply to avoid doing future business with the enterprise that wrecked
your car?

2. You check your mink coat at the restaurant's door only to have it
returned slathered in chicken-fat. Rancid chicken-fat. Do you simply vow
not to patronize that restaurant in the future?

3. Change the facts in the instant case just a tad; what if the dog had
bitten your daughter instead of the shoes? Would you expect the dog's
owners to cover all the medical expenses involved?

I think your daughter has a learning opportunity here, a moment to stand
in righteous indignation, to look evil in the eye and beat it back into
the dark hole from which it tried to emerge. Suggest to your daughter that
she take the following steps:

1. Send a certified letter to the family outlining the facts: a) I was
hired to baby sit, b) Your dog destroyed my property, c) I was not warned
of the destructive nature of the dog, and therefore, 4) I expect to be
reimbursed for the damage. The briefer the letter, the better. Copy to the
family making the original referral.

2. Hearing nothing in ten days, trot down to the local small claims court
and file a claim. The clerk will walk you through the process. Send copies
of all the paperwork to the original referring family.

This is a slam-dunk legal case. The process above will cost the parents
far more than the $75. They'll have to pay that, of course, plus all the
costs associated with the filing of the claim, plus time off from work if
they want to contest to suit. If they fail to pay the judgment, the cost
goes up dramatically when the constable visits their office with a "levy
and execute" writ and seizes their computers to sell at auction.

A day may come when the courage of men fails - when we forsake our friends
and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day.

An hour of woe and shattered shields when the age of men comes crashing
down. But it is not this day.

This day we fight.

By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand ...

The same thing can be accomplished by telling the people she won't babysit
for them any more, and why.


Wrong. The same thing cannot be accomplished because by taking them
to small claims court, there is the distinct possibility that she
could win and collect her $75. Also win or lose, it will cost the
doctors the time to appear in court and if the court finds in the
girl's favor, the doctors may learn from it. The girl will also
learn from the experience. Is it worth doing? That is up to the
girl to decide. It's also very possible that once served with the
suit, they may just pay up, not wanting to go to court and appear to
be taking advantage of a baby sitter.

I'd say assuming the facts are as stated, she has at least a 50-50
chance of winning.





*By thanking the friend for the referral, and
why, and a caution to the person referring her. *By telling other sitters
that these people are cheapskates who will probably charge her for the water
she drinks while in their house. *That won't get the $75 back, but I
guarantee it will cost the cheap doctors more than that in the end.

And all done without a shot fired or a bunch of drama. *That's what an adult
would do, and the lady is really trying to teach the daughter the lessons of
how to be an adult, and not a child by running around screaming and making
threats and involving other people in the fray.

Steve- Hide quoted text -



Who suggested anyone run around screaming and making threats? Also,
according the post, the daughter is of college age, not a child.