The Kind of Thing You Only See on Television...

Have you ever had something incredible happen to you, and think "This kind of thing only happens on TV". Well, that is exactly what we found ourselves thinking today. Jeff went to our day care provider around 12:15ish (just as he does every day before his shift starts), and was informed by one of the directors that the owners skipped town. Apparently, no one had seen them for weeks, they were past due on all of their utilities and rent, and haven't even paid their employees for quite some time. I think some of the mail labeled as "final notice" tipped off the management, so they proceeded to open the mail that had been piling up. They uncovered really bad news. Check out the story at a local news site here.

It was big shock to most, but I can't say I'm surprised. There were so many broken promises, and they seemed to have a hard time retaining employees so started hiring 16 and 17 year olds. some of them were fine... others not so much. They had a tough time covering each "classroom" with enough "teachers", and things were always just so hectic. The owners made some really obvious poor business decisions - and clearly didn't know what they were doing. I'm sure I saw more of the drama there than most parents because I spent an hour there each day while feeding Harper on my lunch break.

Regardless of whatever dramas there have been, this is a difficult situation for the employees and parents. Parents are now scrambling for daycare (and not getting paid due to time off of work), and the poor employees are now looking for jobs. Some of them were so sweet, sticking around to watch some of the children today even though they knew they would not get paid. Getting back our deposit and advance-paid tuition should be quite interesting (we may be looking at a class-action lawsuit).

I am fortunate that my boss has been great about this. She said she didn't want me to worry, and that I could work from home until... well... until this all washes out (more to come on that later). This is good timing though, and I am glad Harper won't have to go in there ever again.

S