Nothing good can last
DO look a gift horse in the mouth
Nothing is ever quite as good as it seems
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is
And last, but really not least: ALWAYS GOOGLE THE PERSON YOU ARE THINKING OF HIRING AS YOUR SITTER. BACKGROUND CHECKS ARE RIDICULOUSLY NOT INFORMATIVE.
You'd think that researching the criminal background and historical address files of a person would be sufficient. If you're like me, you'd never assume that anyone in your relatively small community might have some notoriety. If you're like me, you don't read much beyond the first few lines in local newspaper stories unless they have to do with you personally or are about politics.
So if you're like me, you might one day find that your babysitter does not show up at 7 am as expected. You might leave her a few messages and then start to get worried because you know of some health issues she has. You might make other emergency arrangements for your childcare because you have a very busy day at work and meetings that require your presence. On the long drive to work you might start trying to reach the few people you know who might be able to check on her. You might start imagining her passed out or even worse alone in the apartment she shares with no one. You might even, after you get to work, try to locate someone at the church she is a member of to see if someone can check on her. Finally, you might call the local police to go to her apartment to do a "welfare check" to see if she is OK.
While you're waiting for the officer to call you back, you might consider that maybe there was a car accident that she was involved in or something similarly catastrophic, and thinking that perhaps if the newspaper reported it they might include a victim's name, so you might google her name.
That's when you find out all the things that probably would have prevented you from hiring her in the first place. And when the officer calls you back to say that she failed to show up for work today because she is in jail? By that time you won't be the least bit surprised.
Then you'll leave work early, go home and have your locks changed.
