<prompt> Human: So Ill try to make this short. Have had the same babysitter for a while now. Responsible and doesnt flake... But comes at a high price. Babysitter watches the children at her home, along with her children... She wants to get paid even if she doesnt watch the kids. For example, for Christmas vacation, she didnt watch them at all but we still had to pay her a week of pay. If I take off of work and spend the day with the kids, I still pay her. She says this is been her common experience as a babysitter... That shes reserving her time. Shes also off the books... We dont like having to pay for when shes not needed, but we figure because shes responsible and stuff that we will suck it up. At the very last minute... We had a major scheduling change... We wouldnt even really need her anymore... But we decided we will keep her on for two days a week just in case the schedule doesnt stick long-term...I tell her about it and that we will only need her to work two days a week instead of four...and her first question is will she still get paid as normal. We explain no, we anticipated just paying her for the two days. I tell her that this would start next week. I didnt mention anything yet about padding her next two checks, which I likely would have except she jumped in and was very upset. She says that she is upset because we told her last minute and she wants to have the next two weeks fully paid and then we could start up the schedule change... She justified this by saying its because we didnt give her enough notice We dont have a contract or anything with her. I can understand that she is upset, but she kind of flew off the handle about things... it really left a bad taste in my mouth... She also said that she has turned out a lot of babysitting jobs because of us. ? I do not want to go forward with her now because of all of this... It really turned me off... She is supposed to watch them the rest of the week and Im not even comfortable with that...im going to call out sick tomorrow and figure out what to do in the following days... It really couldve turned out well if she didnt fly off the handle... I like to think Im a reasonable person. How would you sever ties... What would you say? I would like it to be kind and non-confrontational. And also what would you do about pay... Should I just pay her for yesterday... Or should I pay her for this entire week even though she wont be working and I will be calling out sick? thank you  <response>: Why cant you just tell her that her services are no longer needed as of DATE and then you both move on? Under the table, at will, employment doesnt offer her much recourse or you much risk by terminating her. Dont play her emotional game and certainly dont pay her for not working, shes a babysitter not a neurosurgeon. 