Like fruit, children are sweetest just before they turn bad

Quote by Dena Groquet.

Yes, two posts in one day. I'm in that bad a mood. Apparently I wasn't done bitching yet.

As I've mentioned, I work in a hair salon. Most of our clients are adults, but some are children, which is wonderful. I mean yeah, occasionally the kids getting their hair cut freak out for whatever reason but that's usually the really young ones and they're gone in 20 minutes.

However, and this is what inspired this post, some parents (who have appointments) bring their children with them to the salon. Because receptionist is synonymous with babysitter. The fact of the matter is that I am a babysitter (at least on Thursdays) and I get paid $10 an hour to be one. Unfortunately, none of the parents who bring their kids into the salon have offered to pay me anything for watching their kids yet.

Today, a father brought his daughters into the salon. I would guess they are 3 and 6. The older one kept taking fistfuls of candy out of the dish (not my problem that she'll have a massive sugar high later - deal with that, Dad!) and the little one was pretty well-behaved except that she touched approximately every inch of the mirrors on the closet doors she could reach. Meanwhile, the dad was just sitting in his stylist's chair, not paying any attention to what was going on in the front, otherwise known as My Domain. So the children are wandering around touching things and making me feel like I had to keep an eye on them, which is irritating because that's not what I'm here for. Fortunately, these children aren't destructive or really doing anything wrong, but the reason we don't offer daycare here at the salon is because it's a salon. Not a daycare, school, playground, or any other place where groups of children are watched by adults who agree to watch them. So maybe I should add $10 to the client's bill for watching his kids for an hour. What do you think?