Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Ahh daycare

If Jeff and I had not taken a tour of the daycare at my work and met the women who'll be caring for Oliver day in and day out, I might have chosen some chimpanzees from the local zoo to come watch him in our home instead. Based on my experience with the administrative staff there. Let me recap our experience with le staff at le daycare. And I won't be naming names, though most of you know where I work so can probably figure it out.

Rewind back to February last year when Jeff and I found out we were going to add to the family. After the first few weeks of disbelief and shock, I started making lists of to dos and one of them was check with daycare. Being a federal employee, I get a relatively good deal at the daycare on our campus. Additionally, it's a 5 minute walk from my desk and they encourage parents to visit the children throughout the day. So, I called in March 2010 and got us on the wait list. In June, we took a tour of the daycare and as previously mentioned, met the women who'll be in the infant room and were generally impressed by them.

We also met with the director and someone else on the admin staff. At every step, we were told we would have no problem getting in and we were on the wait-list. Well, the word 'wait-list' makes me a little leery because it does not imply that we are in. So, I'd call once a month to make sure things were good. At some point, we were told to call when the baby was born and we'd go form there. Ok, so fast forward to baby being born. 11/7/2010. Came home 11/15/2010. Sometime in the week after that, I called to give them his information - birth date, name, date of start at daycare etc. At this point is where I started worrying. 1, nobody called me back to confirm they had our information. I waited a week and called them back. I was told we were way down on the wait-list and we would be called as soon as a space opened up. Very different from what they told us 8 months prior. Oh well, what were we going to do. They had our info, they'd call us.

Me being me, I still called every other week to find out what was happening with this wait-list. And, I'd get told, we'll call you in a week to update you on your position on the list. Except, nobody would call us. So, I would call back in a week. Mid-December we were told we were #9 on the wait-list. On December 26th, I called to get an update and this is the conversation I have:

Me: "Hi Miss ABC, this is Sylvie Williams, I was calling to check where we were on the wait-list?"
Miss ABC: "Oh, let me check, what did you say your name was?"
Me: "Sylvie Williams"
Miss ABC: "Oh ok and your son is walking, right?"
Me: "uh no he's not even 2 months old yet."
Miss ABC: "Oh, what? let me check something again."

She's gone for a few minutes, comes back and asks me, "ok, so your son is walking."

I sat on my couch, trying not to lose it. I had called so many times and repeatedly given my information to them. But, what were we going to do? So, I politely repeated our information and was told we were #6 on the wait-list. She also said she'd called the parents ahead of me and was waiting for call backs. Also promised to call me back within a week. Guess what? No call back. So, I waited 10 days and called them back yesterday morning.

Me: "Hi this is Sylvie Williams just calling to check on the wait-list."
Miss ABC: "let me look at my list. Oh yeah Miss Williams, your son is walking, right?"

@#$%$#^#$@$@!%$%^%^&^&*$@!

Good news is, they had an opening, and I told her I would pick up the registration packet that same day. She said she'd leave it with the receptionist. I get there to pick it up and they inform me that I have to pay the $85 registration fee right then and there to hold our spot. By check or money order ONLY. Once again, #@%$#@$%%^$% could they not have mentioned that on the phone? I was able to get a hold of Brenda and she dropped off a check for me.

How I didn't go home and down a 6 pack, I don't know. But, at least we have daycare starting when I go back to work in 2 weeks.

Just a random question for parents out there: is Oliver supposed to be walking by 8 weeks? No? really? ok, I didn't think so. Whew, I was starting to think he was behind or something.

7 comments:

Angie said...

Are you SURE he isn't walking? I thought I saw him jogging on the side of the road the other day...

In all seriousness - are you SURE they have a space and you won't be left hanging on day 1 of your return to work? Not that I think many of your co-workers would mind him hanging out for a day... but...

Syl said...

oh yeah,now that I paid them the fees, I am in. I better be. I'll cut somebody if they mess it up now.

Anjuli said...

LOL, you just made me laugh. And, it is sad that they cannot get the information right. How hard is that? Everything is entered in their DB.

BTW, I got lucky today. I just called them and didn't get a voicemail. I don't think I'll have a spot cuz there are *only* 45 federal people ahead of me on the wait list. Not to mention, there's a separate list for us contractors. Not sure how many are on there. Oh and the tour is only available 10 am-11:30 am. During work hours! And, I only had to repeat my name 5 times today to them. Also, mention that my kids are not born yet after she asked me how old were my kids. Their DOB is on their form :)

We need to check out other day cares on our list.

Syl said...

Like I said, if they weren't 5 minutes form my building and I hadn't been impressed by the actual staff taking care of children, I wouldn't have picked them. They never told me how many people had been on the list when I put my name on the list last March. Keep calling and checking back.

Non Sequitur Chica said...

Oh boy does that sound frustrating!! You are really lucky to have daycare right near your work!

ALP1882 said...

I have to admit that the entry into the day care has some major kinks to work out. I had a SERIOUS fit when they gave me the run-around with Jackson getting in. I haven't talked to one person who didn't have the runaround. I haven't mentioned it to them since, as we've had a wonderful time at the day care now (it really is good!)...but your story reminds me that I'd like to talk to them about the nature of the Federal employee as many of their clients nationwide are private industry. What they're allegedly afraid of is parents not wanting the spot after they put their name/check in MONTHS before the child entering the day care. What I'd like to know is: At , how many times have you gotten burned by new parents entering the day care? If anything, we're MORE ready because the day care is right there. You're jogging my memory that I actually contacted the Vice President of Children's Choice about Jackson getting in, which achieved quick results, but who likes being a biotch? Ha ha ha.

ALP1882 said...

I have to admit that the entry into the day care has some major kinks to work out. I had a SERIOUS fit when they gave me the run-around with Jackson getting in. I haven't talked to one person who didn't have the runaround. I haven't mentioned it to them since, as we've had a wonderful time at the day care now (it really is good!)...but your story reminds me that I'd like to talk to them about the nature of the Federal employee as many of their clients nationwide are private industry. What they're allegedly afraid of is parents not wanting the spot after they put their name/check in MONTHS before the child entering the day care. What I'd like to know is: At , how many times have you gotten burned by new parents entering the day care? If anything, we're MORE ready because the day care is right there. You're jogging my memory that I actually contacted the Vice President of Children's Choice about Jackson getting in, which achieved quick results, but who likes being a biotch? Ha ha ha.