There's a first time for everything!

[fireheart]

So I'm currently at another site running the split shift (meaning I do a few hours in the morning and then come back in the afternoon to help close things up) meaning that I'm on until close with the coordinator. This school for some reason gets all the kids from School Up The Road (SUTR) but none of the staff.

Now, our late policy applies across all sites: $10 for the first five minutes and a $1 for every minute after the first five from closing time (which is 6pm), which gets added to your bill (every fortnight).

Lately, we've had a kid from SUTR who's been a late pickup, but no more than 5 minutes or so. Her mother...the first three times it happened, she admitted that she'd driven to SUTR itself by mistake (no more than a 2-3 minute drive, SUTR does not do holiday care). The fourth time however, she rocks up, admits she's late, apologises and then tries to give me $15 cash.



I passed her over to my coordinator and she tried to do the same thing!

She said that it was for our trouble, not so much a bribe or anything (since she'll get charged ANYWAY) but it was still very very odd.

[KatherineB]

I wonder if hubby keeps a tight hold on the purse strings and she doesn't want him to find out she's running late.

[fireheart]

I wonder if hubby keeps a tight hold on the purse strings and she doesn't want him to find out she's running late.

Possibly, although while the figures quoted above are the theory, in practice, we tend to allow around 5 minutes to account for traffic and other issues.
If she's also claiming childcare benefit or childcare rebate, chances are that her husband may not even notice there's a slight increase because the amount varies based on the hours taken, their income and a whole host of other things.