Poll: Two teen siblings. One is old enough to have a job and does, a hard one at a fast-food place. One is under sixteen and not old enough to hold a job yet, except for vary rare housesitting, petsitting, and babysitting for neighbors. We do occasional catsitting in our home through a professional service, and both teens take care of the cats, splitting the pay equally. Younger teen feels that she should be able to take care of the cat alone and get all the money because older teen earns money at a real job (and occasional babysitting jobs). Older teen feels that she should not be penalized for holding a job that she works hard at. Taking care of the cat involves cleaning the litter box once a day and making sure that there is food and water available -maybe five minutes of work per day, for $6 per day (total). Side notes: employed daughter squanders all her money, non-employed daughter is saving all her money. Older teen has always had an easy time drumming up work and money; younger teen is less outgoing and has had a harder time getting neighborhood jobs.
Should younger teen have exclusive monopoly to this catsitting gig? Does what each teen ultimately does with the money have any bearing? Please explain why your reasoning.
I’d give it to the younger daughter, since she can’t hold a job yet. If the older daughter needs money so badly, let her pick up an extra half hour at work. It’ll be more than she’d get splitting the cat job.
If the two are sharing the cat job now, I don’t think it would be fair to take it away from the older one on the basis of the reasons you’ve given.
However, I think the older one should be willing to let the younger one have it, both because the income is less significant to her (it’s what, $3.00 a day if they split it; that’s about a half hour at minimum wage) and because the younger one has fewer options.
I voted for the first option, to split it, because this is apparently a poll on what you should do. I don’t think that you should force the issue, but rather suggest to the older one that the nice thing to do would be to give it up.
I think it should go to the younger one, and I agree that the older one should be convinced to give it up voluntarily. $3.00 a day is pocket change that doesn’t really help either one of them, but $6.00 a day is enough to make a difference in the standard of living for the younger one.
I agree that it would be nice for the older one to be the bigger person and give up the gig to her little sister. On the other hand, she has a point. It’s something like people on unemployment who suddenly find their benefits cease because they got a part-time job - how is that an incentive for anyone to work?
So, since you’re unlikely to get a peaceful resolution whereby you’re not the Bad Guy, I suggest you turn this into a Learning Experience. Go on line, find a random job application and print off two copies. Have each girl fill them out and then interview each of them for the position! They must treat you as an interviewer, not a mom, so no whining, no begging, no eye-rolling…They’ll get practice at the hiring game, and you can flip a coin or choose your favorite or whatever when you make your hiring decision. Heck, who knows, you may end up hearing something interesting that really makes it apparent one is better suited for the job than the other!
Have them bid. Whoever is willing to do it for less gets the job. You pocket the difference as a agent’s fee. If this comes and goes on a week by week basis, you could rebid each time.
I actually think that’s kind of a rotten solution, but it gets you off the hook and out of this fight.
I read all the other replies and the poll result before reading the actual situation. They seemed pretty reasonable, but then I saw that, if I read it correctly, they’re currently splitting the pay? I’d feel differently if this was a new venture and you were giving the disadvantaged daughter the opportunity exclusively. But pushing the older daughter out of something she’s been doing a good job at would leave a bad taste in my mouth if it were me.
It would be nice if she decided all on her own she wanted to let her little sister have it, but apparently she hasn’t. Maybe you could explain the situation from your point of view and see if she sees the wisdom of it?
If she just gets shit canned from her cat gig she’s liable to see that the situation as here she is, splitting things equally and doing her fair share, she already had been working her other job, she already had been the only sister eligible to work a real job, and then all of a sudden, she can’t do it anymore and the only thing that changed is little sister wanted it all to herself.
Can you do an uneven split? Like the younger one gets the job five of seven days per week, or the older one gets every third cat, or something like that. Then the older one isn’t totally cut off.
If they are currently sharing the job and splitting the pay, then they should continue to do that.
By telling the older daughter she’s fired from her portion of the catsitting duties, just because she has a real job, basically punishes her for being a go-getter. It’s not her fault little sister isn’t old enough to get a real job yet. Also, unless you have some hard and fast rule about what they must do with their income, it should not matter whether they spend or save their money.
I’d give it to the younger kid and tell the older kid to grow up and be mature about it. It’s not a work issue, it’s a family issue. You prioritize family above petty greed.
They should continue to split it. It’s just mean to the older one to fire her because she drummed up another job. Way to punish her for being a go-getter.
And she shouldn’t have to. For some reason, this issue is really frustrating to me. What if older sister gets laid off next month? Are you going to then make younger sister start splitting the catsitting job again? What if younger sister gets a regular babysitting gig and starts making pretty good money? Do they start splitting again? What happens when younger sister is a year or two older and gets her real job? Who will do the catsitting then?
Seriously, the simplest solution is to leave it as it is and have them continue splitting the job until one of them quits.
needscoffee, how do they split the 5-minute a day job? Do they do it in turn, or are they both responsible that the job is done ad hoc?
I think that it’s an agreement that only they should work out; if they’re both old enough to earn money (in any way) they’re old enough to learn how to negotiate a deal.
If the older sister is hellbent on keeping her share by maintaining her duties and the younger one can’t persuade her otherwise, then the financial status quo will remain and the younger one will have the forever story of what a bitch her sister was to her when she was a kid.
The best way for things to work out would be for the older daughter to give up the cat sitting job, and the younger daughter to be grateful, understanding that her sister is doing her a favor. The older sister might not *need *the job, or the money, but it is half her’s. If they’re not going to get to that point on their own, I’d leave things as they are.
It’s not right to force the older daughter out of the original partnership, nor is it right to lead the younger daughter to believe it’s okay to force her sister out of a business that they both ‘owned’ because she thinks her sister already has enough money, and she wants it all for herself.