Financially speaking, life has been getting harder for everyone, no doubt about it, but when someone in California can afford weekly dinner outings, living in a mansion, and a boat, complaints about the economy feel rather disingenuous to those struggling. This is exactly how a college student felt when her employer said that “inflation was causing him to cut any unnecessary expenses,” so he would cut her hourly pay by $5. For context, she is a babysitter for a well-to-do family, and while they initially started with $30 an hour, they began paying her 16% less without warning or notice.
“When I texted asking if they had made a mistake, the dad called me and told me he felt $30/hr was a lot for 3 kids who he called self-sufficient,” the young woman explained in her post on r/Babysitting. “He felt $25/hr was more appropriate to pay and because I’m still in college it was still great money for a college student,” which is a wild thing to say to a California college student struggling to get by as a babysitter. Not to mention, the family lives in a 6-bedroom house and can most likely afford to pay her what was originally agreed upon.
Many people in the post’s comment section collectively agreed that the parents have no business trying to force a huge pay cut of $5 less an hour. “If they are unwilling to pay going forward, wish them well and do not accept less. Don’t argue about why you deserve your pay. They can’t decide to just change it because they don’t feel like paying you anymore,” remarked one commenter. “They’re treating you like a child,” added a second. A third user complained how shadily the parents paid less without mentioning anything: “Just shorting you the money after you babysat is awful.”
Fortunately, this California babysitter had an ideal outcome for her pay cut dilemma. She put out a post again on r/Babysitting, this one explaining what happened after the discussion with her employer, the father. The college student also babysat children for another family who were friends with the parents who deducted her wages. The mother of this second home became upset when she heard about the pay situation and eventually got the first mom to raise the hourly pay to $45. The dad went on a business trip for 9 weeks, so he wasn’t around to enforce any more undiscussed changes.
The California Babysitter’s Pay Is Actually Higher than the Average, According to Job-related Sites
“I think they’re just cheap,” said the California babysitter, referring to the dad. However, Indeed suggests “$28.84” is the average hourly pay for nannies and babysitters, while some sites quote wages as low as $17 and $18 an hour. Still, the cost of living has been brutal to those less well off, especially in a coastal state like California. But an agreement is an agreement, and the dad was objectively wrong for trying to pull a fast one by secretly reducing his employee’s pay. Thankfully, she’ll get through college for a bit longer thanks to the other family she works for.
