Who is in the wrong?

[Wiseman2]

Why haven't you talked to your parents about this? There is no such thing as a contract, written or verbal, with a minor.

[j.man]

The woman you're working with is wrong. No ifs, ands, or buts. Legally enforceable or not, she entered into a contract with you. I'd dare any woman who has been a stay-at-home mom to value their household work at under $7 an hour because that's exactly what's happening here.

 

"I'm only using you because day care is too expensive."

 

Using you is exactly what she's doing. She's asserting herself as an adult over you as a teenager would of course be expected to be relatively despondent in such a scenario and is screwing you out of pay. Truly despicable.

 

Also, as wiseman suggested, go to your parents.

[Wiseman2]

So to answer your question as to the thread title, you are right because she has no business trying to enforce a "contract" with a minor. So yes she is taking advantage of you.

 

"When it comes to legally binding agreements, certain people are always considered to lack the legal ability (or "capacity") to contract. As a legal matter, basically they are presumed not to know what they're doing. These people--legal minors, for example--are placed into a special category. If they enter into a contract, the agreement is considered "voidable" by them (as the person who lacked capacity to enter the agreement in the first place). Voidable means that the person who lacked capacity to enter the contact can either end the contract or permit it to go ahead as agreed on. This protects the party who lacks capacity from being forced to go through with a deal that takes advantage of his or her lack of savvy".

[annie24]

I'd stop working for her. You can get paid better elsewhere.

[ParisPaulette]

So tell her it's not enough and not worth your time then tell her you hope her finding another babysitter works out. And you go and start perusing the want ads. BTW babysitting is one thing, but cooking and cleaning on top of it? I'm sorry, but you are getting screwed big time. But that's actually on you.

 

As someone who is a freelancer I'm going to be blunt here. You do the research, you find out what the going rate it, you charge that rate. The client doesn't want to pay it, you go elsewhere. You cannot force a client who wants cheap labor for the best possible service to be more generous or fair. You just can't. You're probably better off to go outside, point at the moon, and yell at it to turn blue.

 

I'm pretty sure the moon will turn blue first.

 

Your friend values spending $170 on her. She doesn't value spending that on her kids. That's her prerogative. But it's on you to not accept that, and BTW you've already sent a clear message you work for nothing and let yourself get bullied too with your past work history with this one. So burn this bridge and tell her no even if she offers you double. Go get a job that you know the terms of or put an ad in the paper for babysitting and housecleaning services if that's what you like doing, get some references, get some insurance, charge a fair market value price. Drop a client right on their head no matter their "excuse" or "emergency" if they try to stiff you on pay.

 

One last word of advice. Never work for friends. Someone is either a client, a boss, or a friend. You can't fit all of those categories into one arrangement and not expect to get crapped on and have it turn out badly. So just walk away and stop grousing. You created this in large part by already doing way more than you should have for the money paid to you. And if you agree to now do more without more pay you may as well get doormat tattooed on your forehead.

 

I'm sorry, tell her it's done and walk away. This woman isn't your friend anyways. She's just using that to get cheap babysitting. Value yourself and your own worth a bit here.

 

What she's offering to pay you isn't even minimum wage. You'd be better off working at a fast food store or going freelance and getting several babysitting jobs instead of just one. And that's on you to get, no one is going to hand that to you.

 

And yeah, you've got to be a bit ruthless about it all, because no one cares whether you eat or starve. If I'd let every down and out client soft talk me into pay cuts or "I can't pay you right now, but..." I'd be on the street. And would they give two cents about it? No. I had kids to feed, I didn't have the luxury of being "understanding" and "Kind" when a client refused to pay me decently and fairly for my services.

 

The few times I ever allowed that are the few times I got screwed. And not in a good way.

 

Regardless, it doesn't matter who's right or wrong. What matters is if you cave and work for peanuts and go above and beyond for people who do not pay you to do so then you can't cry or be surprised when they feel they are entitled to keep not paying you what you're worth. She's wrong for not offering a fair exchange for the amount of work she wants done from you. You're wrong if you take that unfair amount and keep doing it while feeling resentment and anger and complaining.

[annie24]

"Well for 25-30 hours, I need at least $160." She then told me "Oh, couldn't you do like $90 to $100 instead?" I never chose $70 for when I started doing 11 hours for her. I told her, "No I can't do that." She also told me she spends $170 on getting her hair cut every 2 weeks(again, I didn't ask any of that she had just brought it up). The other thing is she really wants a job after she is done with her college(she told me) she was supposed to have an interview today, but she told me she texted the person and said "I refuse to work for you if you don't give me $15 an hour." Who is in the wrong?

 

PS - I see a few things wrong with this situation. You're still young so you're still learning about the workforce. I think what you said is fair, actually, you are underselling yourself if the average for someone with your experience is $13 an hour. I don't know where you live, but she needs to be paying you at least the hourly minimum wage.

 

It doesn't matter how much she spends on herself - that's not the point here. What matters is the work that you're doing which is watching the kids and housework. Make sure you are being fairly compensated. Otherwise, I say go work at McDonalds where at least you know they will pay you an hourly wage.

 

Which brings me to the third point - the way she communicated/negotiated is awful. you don't text someone like that. I don't know if those were her exact words or if you're paraphrasing. Usually you would say something like, for this job, I would expect to be paid at least ... an hour. And you might say this through email or on the phone or in person, after the job has been offered.

 

4th and final point - it seems like she has a history of not paying what she has promised. I would find a new employer.

[journeynow]

I babysit for her, she has a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I also have to make them food and clean up for her I never just "sit there, while I'm watching them I constantly interact with them because they both never sit still.

 

These are normal things for babysitters to do with children they care for, making them food, cleaning up after them, interacting. If your rate is $8.50 an hour and she is not paying that, then you can say "I don't work for less than $8.50 per hour." and then don't. Find someone who will pay you your asking rate. I'll bet she's not the only one in your area with children who need babysitting.

[Capricorn3]

Under review.