Club vs. Business

[sparklymouse]

There's been a bit of talk recently about the club rules being so rigid and Kristy needing to chill the eff out. But as Kristy always says, "We're more of a business than a club". What do you consider the BSC to be?

[wiggir13]

I guess I always considered it a club b/c they did so many other things that didn't make them money. Also, a business just doesn't seem as personal.

[zoar3]

I think they were a club first and foremost because (for the most part) they were friends. As Wiggirl said, "club" does sound more personal. I think the "true beauty" of the BSC and why it worked so well was that the girls cared about one another as opposed to simply being
co-workers who met once a week to make money.

[anzuhana]

My first thought is that they're a business first because of how dictatorial Kristy could be at times.

[oldhickory]

i think it's absolutely a business, because they are there to work and make money. even the fun, extra things they do -- like kid kits and day camps -- are of course to have fun with the kids, but they always make a point to say "and that makes us more popular with the parents and gives us more jobs!" the biggest part for me though is that kristy will put her friendship aside if it hurts the bsc, like she does in MA breaks the rules. so for me it's a business first, club of friends later.

[sparklymouse]

I think it's more of a business too. Not that many of them were even friends before they joined the club, so their friendship wasn't their first priority. Stacey was only friends with Claudia, Dawn with Mary Anne, Mallory and Jessi with nobody, Shannon with Kristy. (No wonder they bickered so much...)

They also, from the very start, put in a lot of effort to get more clients/jobs/money. I think a club would be more content to work with what they had and leave it at that.

[polaris]

I think business as well, obviously their not a "big corporate everyone's a nameless employee" type but ya they took it quite serious. They had their official officers, notebooks and rules.

Also in the way they reacted to competition (particularly Kristy) was very business like. The Babysitting Agency in book 3, led to them inventing Kid-Kits ad having special rates and thinking of introducing other ideas to get one over on the competition. When Mal and Jessi started Kid's Incorporated, the first thought wasn't "we were unfair on Mal" but "we can't lose the Pike's one of our best clients" and while not in direct competition with the We [heart] Kids Club, after their publicity Kristy did feel like the BSC should be getting the same amount of exposure.

They were also looking for opportunities to expand, wasn't the reason Logan joined because they had loads of new clients after putting fliers up at a parent's meeting. They expanded so much that they went from 4 sitter to needing 7 and 2 associate members.

[fairy3lf2]

I would say business too. I think a big problem with Wendy (Jessi and the Bad Babysitter) is that she expected it to be a club instead of a business.

[thejunkbucket]

Business, for me.

I've often wondered if they had needed a permit of some sort? Would that be the case today? Every summer, I read about how lemonade stands are being closed down, because the kids don't have permits. When I was a kid/teen in the '80s/'90s, lemonade stands were commonplace, a quick way to make a buck, and no one gave a fvck! But those days seem to be gone.

[bscfan1997]

At first, I thought a club because of their friendship and the extra stuff they do like day camps and fundraisers and parties, and they also have sleepovers at their houses.

But I settled on business. Because they're all there to make money and get jobs. Also, all ten BSC members weren't friends with ALL of each other. It was Kristy/MA, Claudia/Stacey, MA/Dawn, Mallory/Jessi, Kristy/Shannon, Kristy/Abby, MA/Logan. And when the BSC was in the making and in the beginning, Kristy used Claudia for her room and phone, and Kristy and everybody always "hired" new BSC members based on their skills (Stacey, Dawn, Mallory, Jessi, Abby, Logan, though, not Shannon, I believe). The Kid Kits were inspired by the Babysitters Agency, which were to be more popular with the parents and to score more jobs. And day camps and fundraisers and festivals and all, Kristy's like, "And we'll convince parents that we really are great, and we'd get extra jobs and money!" There's also the ridiculous amount of rules and the notebook and everything. Plus, Kristy is a dictator. And in chapter 2s and 3s, they're all like, "It's more of a business than a club."

so business. Though, in the beginning, for like the first 10 books or so, they were a club.

[Honeybee]

I'll say, they're little bit of both. More of business type, than a club.