Dear Ann Landers,
Please help a group of sincere, conscientious young people who are being taken advan-tage of. I refer to the baby-sitters across the country. Here are our major complaints- each and every one out of my own ex-perience-and there are more like me. Wages. We know times are hard. But inflation has hit us the same as ev-eryone else. A dollar doesn't buy what it once did. Instead of getting raises, we are asked to take cuts because money is tight. If people can spend money to go out, they should be able to pay a sitter. Not getting paid. Sometimes they say, We'll pay you next time, and then they forget. The girl hates to ask for it, so she has worked a whole evening for nothing. Late, late hours. They say they'll be home at a certain time, and come in three hours later. This makes it bad when you have school the next day. Adding other people's children to the job. I've had as many as four extra kids to sit for which means extra work. No additional pay, of course. Last-minute cancellations: After having refused two other dates, I've been canceled with half an hour's no-tice. This costs me money. Maid service expected. Some people ask if you'd mind doing a few dishes, and when you go into the kitchen every dish and pot and pan in the house is in the sink. Some people come from a party cockeyed drunk and we have to let them drive us home. Thanks, Ann, for your help. BABY-SITTERS ANONYMOUS

DEAR BABY-SITTER,
I have dealt with various aspects of your problems, but now that you have listed several complaints, I'll deal with them all at once, and I hope you girls out there will clip this column and use it as a guide. Most of your problems result from your failure to establish guidelines and stick to them. If a girl takes her job seriously she should have, in advance, an understanding with her boss on all the issues raised in your letter. If the woman does not live up to her word, the girl should not sit for her again. Wages. Establish your fee and stick to it. If you do not get paid the night you sit, remind the woman the next time she calls that you didn't get paid for last time and that you'll be expect-ing double money, so please have both fees ready. If the couple comes in "three hours late" on a school night more than twice, don't sit for them again. They are not reliable people. Make it plain when you talk price that the fee includes her children only and extra children mean extra money. Have an understanding in ad-vance that unless you get three days' notice for a weekend cancellation, the woman will have to pay you half of a normal night's sitting fee. If you don't want to do dishes, say so. Tell her you have homework to do-which of course you have. Never get into a car with anyone who is "cockeyed drunk." Phone your parents or take a taxi and inform the people that the taxi is on them. Baldness