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Mom Tried To Save $12.50 By “Correcting” Her Nanny’s Hours And Ended Up Owing Nearly $2,000 Instead

by Leona Pham
December 2, 2025
in Social Issues

Navigating the world of childcare can be challenging, especially when the families involved have different expectations and values. For one nanny, the experience turned sour when her employers decided to nitpick over a mere $12.50. This seemingly small amount sparked a chain reaction that would lead to a much larger financial reckoning.

As the original poster recounts, she had always been diligent in tracking her hours and adhering to her contract. However, when her wealthy employers attempted to shortchange her after their vacation, she realized that this was about more than just the money.

The situation escalated, revealing deeper issues of respect and fairness in her work. Keep reading to discover how she navigated this predicament and the unexpected consequences that followed!

A nanny’s commitment to fairness and accuracy leads to a shocking revelation about her employers’ financial ethics

Mom Tried To Save $12.50 By “Correcting” Her Nanny’s Hours And Ended Up Owing Nearly $2,000 Instead
Not the actual photo

Mom splits hairs with nanny to save a few dollars and ends up backpaying hundreds?

tl;dr: Family I'm working for admonished me for charging them an extra $12.50 that they technically owed,

so in the interest of accuracy, I tracked hours that I generously chose not to charge them

and they ended up paying hundreds back to me.

Karen and Ken are wealthy and extremely stingy. Their kid is Bob.

Henry is an extremely sweet, generous single dad

who lost his husband a few years ago and dotes on his kid Steve

I have been a nanny for several years now

and for the most part, I've worked with lovely, reasonable families.

I have contracts for every family that guarantees the hours that I work, meaning if a family goes on vacation,

I still get paid because I'm technically available to work

but they chose not to use my services.

Think gym membership where you pay regardless of whether you've been to the gym in a month.

This is standard on nanny contracts.

Another bit on my contract is called the nanny share,

so if two of the families want to combine for the day,

each of them pays 2/3 of my regular pay rate.

I get paid a little more for watching more kids,

and they save a little only paying a portion of what they would have paid.

Karen and Ken's family went to Hawaii three weeks ago,

and per my contract, I was to be paid as usual.

Before they left, they asked if I could come in and watch the Bob the Sunday

after they returned so that they could recover and rest.

I agreed and my hours were set at 8 am-4 pm that Sunday.

They went on the trip, everything was wonderful,

and they texted me when they landed saying they would see me at 8 am.

The next day, when I was about to head out the door at 7:30 am,

I received a text saying that Bob were just waking up, so I should just show up at 8:30 instead.

After the day of nannying, Karen asked if I would stay past my regular hours during the upcoming week

so that they could have two date nights.

I agreed, and Karen said she would reimburse me for all the extra hours

at the end of the week since it'd be easier just to make one payment.

Totally fine with me. The week finished, and I ended up staying an extra 8 hours total for the two date nights.

I asked Ken to pay me for 16 hours but he said he had to talk to Karen first

to double check hours and would pay me shortly.

When I got home, I received a text from Karen saying.

"Hi Meowsasaurus, thank you so much for covering for us these past few weeks.

Ken and I are feeling refreshed and the show was HILARIOUS.

Since we were in Hawaii, you were paid for an entire week while you weren't working.

We don't think this is quite fair as it is a large sum of money, so we'd like

to apply some of those hours to your babysitting today and yesterday.

We will pay you for 8 hours instead." I was furious.

I screenshotted the part of my contract that plainly stated I would be paid for any hours

that their family was on vacation, and I reminded her that it was in violation of contract.

She reluctantly agreed, and I texted that it would be a total of 16 hours.

Karen instantly replied and WENT OFF, texting "On Sunday, we asked you to come in at 8:30, not 8.

We are already being generous and paying you for the holiday we took.

We expect you to track your hours better next time. This is unacceptable.

You need to be as accurate as possible with the hours that we are paying you.

We will pay you for 15.5 hours." Readers, this was a difference of $12.50.

I was going to SS the part of my contract that said any rescheduling needed a 24 hour notice, but instead I went nuclear.

Bob has been tagging along with Steve and me to music class

and soccer twice a week outside of Karen's regular contracted hours since January.

Karen has never offered to pay for those hours, but Henry was fine with paying his full rate for those hours

because Steve was having trouble making friends at school and had become close to Bob.

I chose not to say anything about the slight bump in pay because I loved watching them play together.

MALICIOUS COMPLIANCE TIME. As Karen stated, I needed to be as accurate as possible.

I calculated all the hours that Bob has joined us since January (6 hr/week x18 weeks)

and the total amount they owed was almost $2000.

In the group chat with Karen, Ken, and Henry, I said, "Karen stated that it was of utmost importance

that I tracked the hours as accurately as possible, so I took it upon myself

to double check everything including the share hours.

Thank goodness I did! I didn't realize we had forgotten

to track all the hours that Bob joined us for soccer and music.

Henry, I'm so sorry, Karen actually owes you quite a bit of money.

If my calculations are correct, they owe $X to you and to me" Henry replied,

"Karen and Ken, I am so disappointed to hear that Meowsasaurus hasn't been compensated properly this entire time.

I don't need my hours to be refunded for those hours bc I wanted Steve to continue his playdates

but you need to pay Meowsasaurus's portion immediately"

I got a huge chunk of money I wasn't expecting, and I am now on the hunt for my next nanny family.

I'll be putting my 2 weeks notice with Karen and Ken as soon as I do

In our complex world, feelings of betrayal and injustice resonate on many levels. The story of a nanny, who found herself embroiled in a tense dispute over unpaid work, highlights the emotional turmoil that can arise in professional relationships, especially when monetary compensation is involved.

The protagonist (OP) navigated a web of manipulation and entitlement, and her journey sheds light on the pain and frustration that can accompany unmet expectations.

At the heart of OP’s experience is a profound sense of betrayal. After agreeing to terms that were standard in her profession, the family’s refusal to honor their contractual obligations left her feeling wronged.

As the situation escalated, OP’s emotional triggers were set off; her desire for fairness and recognition for her hard work drove her actions.

This sentiment rings true in OP’s case; her decision to meticulously track unpaid hours was not merely about reclaiming lost wages, but an act of asserting her self-worth in the face of dismissive treatment.

The emotional dynamics of this narrative reveal that revenge is often a response to feeling powerless. OP’s meticulous documentation of unpaid hours reflects her need to reclaim control after being dismissed. In this case, her malicious compliance was a calculated response to the family’s stinginess.

As she calculated the hours owed, the process provided her not only with potential financial gain but also a sense of empowerment after having been undermined.

Interestingly, readers may find satisfaction in the OP’s resolution. The family’s initial attempt to “nickel and dime” her backfired spectacularly, resulting in the opposite of their intentions.

This outcome can create a sense of justice that resonates with audiences. As Benjamin Franklin observed, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are”.

OP’s actions not only vindicated her but also brought to light the unethical practices of the family, encouraging discussions about the importance of fair compensation and respect for caregivers.

See what others had to share with OP:

These Reddit users slammed the couple for underpaying, undervaluing caregiving work, and calling professional nannying “babysitting”

coberh − Why p__s off the nanny? It's really hard to find a good one.

upset_pachyderm − Good for you! It doesn't matter what kind of work you do, wage theft is unacceptable.

If they can afford a nanny and vacations in Hawaii,

they can certainly afford to pay you your contracted hours.

moonahmoonah − If there's anything I've learned from being a parent for the past 10 years,

it's that you DO NOT nickle and dime your babysitter/nanny/caregiver.

Ever. And be GENEROUS.

You pay them well, pay them on time, treat them well,

and they will always show up.

Especially if you are fortunate enough to afford it!

killerteacell − Also, I caught that she refers to your services as "babysitting",

which shows how much she doesn't respect your profession.

This group connected deeply, sharing tales of wage disputes, forgotten agreements, and wealthy families treating workers poorly

justkate2 − Former nanny here.

I had an old boss accuse me of trying to get extra money from them,

my clear record of hours on their fridge,

because my paycheck had apparently been $50 over several weeks in a row.

He was sooooo smug about how he had “caught” me

and we needed to have a serious talk about this.

That $50? The gas/mileage amount THEY suggested to me

and had already been adding for 6+ months.

He just forgot about it because his wife always handled it and she was out of town.

So he accused me of theft instead of checking our agreement or asking his wife.

Whyyyyy are people this hostile to the people that they choose to care for their children? !

alexaboyhowdy − I charge for private lessons.

I had a family of three that wanted lessons back to back to back.

They must pay a registration fee, they must pay each month in advance.

The second month, one child decided she didn't want lessons anymore

because it interfered with social aspects of her life.

But I was not told of this until the second week,

which means they now had a late fee of their tuition.

Parents tried to raise a fit saying that they had already paid registration and that was like a deposit.

She wasn't taking lessons anymore.

They could apply her tuition to the siblings and all other kind of excuses.

I pointed out the policy and how they had to give notice

and the time she had slotted was now too late

to get another student in and I was losing potential income.

It took over 20 emails but I did get my full amount of money!

I found out there were two other teachers being treated the same way.

When the family left the program in month three (of 5 potential), we actually had a little celebration.

We decided it was worth the slight financial hit to not have to deal with that family anymore!

(Discipline issues, not bringing supplies, being rude to other students, back talking, etc...)

But we got our money! Honestly, we felt bad for the kids.

They had potential if only they were properly taught and given good examples.

Elocindancer28 − I was a nanny for a few families back in the day.

I was young and naive, and this was before I went to law school

so I did not have even half the knowledge i have now.

Most of the families were wonderful, but one family

(the most wealthy by far) were so entitled I only lasted 5 weeks.

They expected me to pay for my own gas in my own car to drive their kids around.

They expected me to front anything the kids wanted (fast food, ordering in, etc.

) with the vague notion that they would “pay me back later”.

They specifically told me certain tasks were not my responsibility

when we settled on details, but backtracked later.

But the final straw was this: this couple were both lawyers.

We agreed that I would have “1 week off a year”.

First of all, 1 week in an entire year is insane, but again, I was young.

I assumed that this meant it was paid.

In my 5th week, my brother arrived home unexpectedly from the military

and I asked for a day off to spend with him, which was reluctantly granted.

But when I was paid for the week, that day was deducted from my paycheck.

So…if it’s not paid, basically I’m being told I can NEVER take time off, even if sick, except for 5 days a year!

I quit then and there.

It was the last straw.

I do wish I had provided more notice.

Now that I’m a mom, I realize that was inappropriate.

But I was also being taken advantage of.

I now make sure my Nannies always have a payment method available

to them to buy the kids what they need,

and I always err on the side of overpaying.

These Redditors cheered the “nuclear math,” enjoying the poetic justice of turning $12.50 into a massive backpay

banaversion − Haha get rekt. Well played on your behalf

sarcastic-pedant − Honestly, Readers, this was a difference of $12.50.

I was going to SS the part of my contract

that said any rescheduling needed a 24 hour notice, but instead I went nuclear.

I would now go back to them and get that last $12.50.

It will hurt more than anything else,

because they know that this stinginess started the whole situation.

AquaticStoner1996 − If I was in this situation, and i found a new job and quit, I'd be petty

and say as I was leaving "imagine if you hadn't been stingy unkind people

and just paid me the less than 20$ dollars you were supposed to."

This nanny’s experience raises intriguing questions about the dynamics of trust and respect in employer-employee relationships. Do you think the OP’s approach was justified given the financial stakes, or did she take it too far? How would you navigate such a sticky situation with your employer? Share your thoughts below!

Leona Pham

Leona Pham

Hi, I'm Leona. I'm a writer for Daily Highlight and have had my work published in a variety of other media outlets. I'm also a New York-based author, and am always interested in new opportunities to share my work with the world. When I'm not writing, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Thanks for reading!

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