What do you do if someone owes you money and you want to remind them to give it to you? For example, I watched my aunt’s kids for her, and she came home and said, “I owe you money but I do not have it on me right now.” I said that’s okay, she could give it to me the next day. I saw her the next day, we went out to eat, and after the meal I said, “Thanks for paying for mine since you owe me!” kind of jokingly to remind her that she still needs to pay me for babysitting. She smiled but still did not give me anything. We were together for awhile after eating and since I already reminded her once, I did not feel comfortable asking about it again. How do you go about reminding someone of something like that? I do not want to come off as greedy or rude but just want to get what is owed to me for doing the job, while still being nice. Any suggestions?
I’d say just stop beating around the bush and say it in a direct, yet polite way.
“Hey, I’m sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if you could pay me for X.”
And then, if/when she pays, “Awesome! Thanks so much.”
If she still doesn’t pay after that, then that’s a very weird situation. It’d cross the line from kinda rude but forgivable absentmindedness to obnoxious.
How much does she owe you?
Small amounts I usually assume will never get paid back (lesson learned through life), but in your case if I was asked to house sit again I’d bring it up. “Watch the kids? You never paid me for last time. I’ll need the money up front.” Larger amounts I have no qualms about mentioning it.
She is supposed to give me $60.
So, just to be clear, she did not in fact pay for your meal?
No she didn’t. My boyfriend was actually with, and after I said that to my aunt he said that he was going to pay for me, which I suppose could be another reason my aunt may have felt it wasn’t important to pay me right then.
Sounds like you learned a lesson about not making this particular aunt pay you up front.
Leaning on family about money never ends well. Write it off and move on.
Give her a call “you owe me $60. I’ll swing by tomorrow afternoon and pick it up so you have time to get to a cash machine.”
And, of course, you don’t sit for her again unless she pays up.
There are plenty of people who will walk all over you if you let them and cheat you out of money. In my experience, family members can be some of the worse. I have a brother-in-law who has ‘borrowed’ thousands of dollars and never paid it back.
Ask politely once then write it off if they don’t pay up. And never lend them a cent again or let them do things like borrow a car. Also let other family members know so that they don’t get shafted also. Could this cause your aunt to distance herself and her kids from you? Yes but then it’s no great loss.
Dangerosa’s advice is best- set a future date and time and follow through.
You aunt is being very rude. People who owe money should take the lead in paying it, not require the people they owe to nag them for the payment.
Most folks do things (or don’t do things) because there is a reward for any particular behavoir. Your aunt is relying on the fact that you won’t assert yourself and she won’t have to pay. Her reward will be to keep her cash. Your reward will be to not make waves, cause family conflict, or make someone uncomfortable. But, if you let this happen, it will happen over and over again. Train her right this time and you most likely won’t have further problems in the future.
Give her another week, then turn her over.
Exactly.
If you do work for a client, you have to have thick skin and collect the bill. In this case, if she pays the OP now, its settled, but money up front (or at least half of it) is how to handle them in future.
If the aunt ends up stiffing the OP, then she never really had a client, so its no big loss.
That’s just what I was thinking - if she had any intention of paying, she would have paid the night of or the next day when you went out for lunch.
Perfect.
Agreed. My feeling is that she does this because she gets away with it. Time to make this a “fool me once…” situation, if she doesn’t come up with the cash as per Dangerosa’s plan.
Let me just say, I hate people pulling this kind of shit. She knew damned well that she was supposed to pay for the babysitting, she knew when she was supposed to pay, she knew how much she was supposed to pay - where did she get the nerve to just stiff you like that? No integrity, man. People these days. And tell her to stay offa my lawn, too!