OK, I realize the title of the post is a bit extreme, but I'm a bit irked. I have a neighbor who is also kind of a friend. She moved in almost four years ago with similar aged kids and we kind of run in the same social circles. She's not the most social person and we aren't terribly close to each other but know lots of the same people and the kids play together outside all the time.
She hit a snag with child care and I basically guilted myself into helping her out. Her DS is the same age as one of my kids and goes to the same school. I now have her kid at my house for 30 minutes every morning before school. I then drive him to school and drop him back at home after school every day. I agreed to finish out the school year for her - what will end up being 14 weeks of this since she got left in a bind. How this came about is a whole other BP but it is what it is and has not been as bad as I thought it was going to be.
The family ended up needing last minute help with their dog while out of town for Spring Break. My kids went up and took care of it. It was truly 6 visits to the house over two days. No big deal and within the realm of being neighborly in my mind.
She very nicely paid all of them today. It is more than she gives me for almost three weeks of taking care of her kid. When she said she'd pay me for the mornings I thought it was a nice offer and certainly didn't counter her, but really? Six visits to your house by my kids for your dog is worth more to you than over 6 hours of watching your child plus transporting him?