Super quick background - we hired a nanny for a few months while I have to attend the office portion of my job. She ended up quitting a week early, which left us scrambling. No biggie, already dealt with and over.
However, we experienced quite a few moments with her that...just defy logic and boggle the mind. I'll share a few:
- returned home to windows/doors open, and the AC full blast. I inquired. She replied "oh, it was warm so I turned the air on." I inquired as to the open windows/doors. "I like to hear the noise of outside."
- returned home to find her and little man on patio. He is chewing on an appliance power cord that is plugged in to the house. I inquire. "It's safe, theres only electricity if it's plugged in to the appliance."
- her resume stated that she cared for little man from "waking until bedtime". Apparently Mrs. On Purpose and myself only get to parent at night, when he's asleep.
- resume also stated she was responsible for all communication between the mother and father. Then please tell Mrs. On Purpose that have a dentist appt.
- wife forgot her phone, so arranged for nanny to bring to her work. Nanny arrived. Forgot phone.
- as she's getting ready to leave (not immediate), she noticed the dirty highchair tray. Says she'll wash it (normally didn't) and takes the dishsoap, pours it all over the tray (enough for 6-10 sinkfulls) then rinses and puts on counter. After that, we started to inspect the dishes that she "washed" for us (a few pans and some plates she used during some days) and noticed food/grease on every one.
There's a ton more, but I'm drawing a blank. I'll add as I think of them.
So the question - what's some wierd stuff your nanny/babysitter has done?
(and no offense to actual professional nannies or care providers - we fully understand that she had no training and this is not a knock on nannies or babysitters or day care providers)
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Came home to babysitter who was very bored, and industrious. Decided my fridge needed a complete make over, and when I opened it to get some Milk, I found Cereal, bread, and the cracker box neatly put in there. Apparently at home they do this to "keep the bugs out" THAT is scary. Needless to say they didnt stay in there for long.
Oh my. That made me laugh :-) Some people are just special.
I'm a nanny. No offense taken at all. Not everyone is cut out for childcare.
And you hired her?
That is almost as bad as the babysitter who decided to wash the paper plates in the dishwasher and used Dawn instead of the dish washing detergent. That was enough to show we were not letting her be responsible for the safety of our kids. Didn't help that the first thing out of the kids mouth was we told her not to do it. :p
LOL Mrs. On Purpose - too funny!
She's already checked out, eh? In her mind, the job is already over and done with. Anywho...
Nothing too weird...I had one girl who sat for me once and then sent me a letter asking to sponsor her for a class field trip in $50 increments. I had another girl who drank a whole 6 pack of soda in the fridge and we weren't gone for more than 3 or so hours.
Added - Oh my, Riley! I think you might have "gotten through" to them if you had said in answer to their remark about firing you over the key incident, "Good thing you didn't fire me - how would you have gotten in the house since you lock yourself out so much?" What strange people you worked for!
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Astonishing, Dad. She does need to find herself, but hopefully not as a mom anytime soon. I really hope that she doesn't look for another nanny job so that you don't have to actually tell someone how awful she is.
I have a feeling that her mom never taught her ANYTHING in regards to maintaining a house. She obviously never washed dishes.
I'm glad your son is a-okay. Whew!! I am feeling really lucky right now that I don't have ANY stories to tell, LOL!
Dawn
We had a sitter when my 4 yr old was 9 months. We had a playpen in the frontroom so she could move around and nap. I had stuff for my daughter to play with like a Leapster table, one of those cars for toddlers, other toys. She would pick everything up and put them inside the playpen. My daughter could not play with her toys.
ETA college grad doesn't mean house savvy.
Well, this isn't a nanny story but I once had a cleaning person who put WET sheets on our guest bed just prior to my parents arrival! I happened to sit on the bed already made up, and my pants got damp (that's how wet the sheets were).
I still shudder to think how it would have seemed to my parents if I hadn't noticed! They're too nice to say anything and likely would have slept in the sheets as they were . . . ay ay ay.
I'm grateful for help when we can afford it but sometimes quirky things happen.
NO nanny stories to share....we don't have O..
I really got a good laugh from your stories though.
I guess she's not the sharpest tool in the shed?
....and that's why I didn't have a sitter until my son could fully talk!
We had similar issues with our first sitter who was with us when our son was under 4 months. My husband was having a hard time adjusting to SAHD status by his own admissions. In desperation he hired a woman to watch our son for a few hours a couple of times per week so he could regain his sanity. As new parents we were clueless so we got what we got and rued the day. The single most annoying thing is she ignored EVERYTHING we politely asked her to do or not do. It was completely "I'm an experienced mom and I know so much more than these two yahoo first timers." The final straw was a phone call from my husband one day. He was tied up in a business deal he absolutely couldn't get out of but he said he got this weird phone call from the sitter. We discussed it briefly and I decided to race home. When I arrived home, I was greeted by two perfect strangers standing in my living room. After trying to figure out who they were I gave up since neither of them spoke a word of English. I was so unbelievably furious. I opened the front door and said "OUT". They trotted out very quickly and I slammed the door behind them. After locking the door, I called my husband and asked him who in Hades was in our house watching our infant? Turns out the sitter had to go to the doctor. Instead of telling us she asked her sister and her teenage daughter to fill in the time gap. We fired her on the spot with zero explanation. Honestly I don't even think my husband her the last week he was so mad. Live and learn.
I'm currently having issues with my "nanny." She comes in a couple mornings a week. The same mornings every week, and is off the others. And yet, somehow, every doctor's appointment, vet appointment, etc. ends up being scheduled on the days she's supposed to work for us. She NEVER cancels more than 12 hours in advance, leaving me with the little ones to take to MY doctor's appointments, etc. She has actually canceled 35% of the times she was supposed to come! I'd think she doesn't like my kids, except that they're really excellently behaved, not just from my perspective, but also from hers (she tells me regularly). And when she shows, she's awesome, and the kids love her.
In response to a couple of people below, not all of us have grandma around to help. We live in an area with no family, and are about to move further away. So, it's sitter or bust. I did three years without ever once leaving my child with a sitter, and at the end of it, I was exhausted!
LOL, not only no training but no common sense!
I hope she was young and still living at home as she's still got quite a bit to learn if she doesn't even know how to wash dishes :(
Oh my! How do these dee-de-dee people make it thru life? As a former nanny and professional life long child care provider, I will not take offense at this post, but will ask...REALLY? How did she get this job with you? Yikes?
Ding dong alert should be added to her resume! LOL But I will say I do know a few people like this. We have a friend of a friend sorta situation. A guy. Hes a pretty boy... Adonis type. Tall, blond and handsome. Works out. Chiseled face, the whole bit. Dumb as a box of rocks. The box is probably smarter and has more common sense. The person "upstairs" sure has a sense of humor and this was all the first hand proof I needed!
And as a nanny, I worked for 2 doctors. Highly respected in their fields and even further advanced now all these years later. But they could not remember to grab a pack of diapers or deodorant for themselves when they were at Target to save their damn lives. Nothing dangerous, but come on...you were just there!! LOL
I really hope this nanny does not get a good reference from you. It just makes the rest of the real professionals look bad whenever there is a bad apple in the big cart.
Hope your next one is better!!
Please write a book! I am so sorry this all happened to you, but I heartily enjoyed your post!
"Find Self" v "Find Brain"
That's the problem with ticking the 'brain donor' box. Sometimes they collect early.
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No "other people" stories... but one of my own / in reverse.
Nannying for a family that decided to change to auto lock doors (the kind that lock behind you). Now they TOLD me they did this, but my brain didn't click into gear until the snick of the latch popped into place. Aaaargh. Well, we weren't spending 10 hours outside in grey cold Seattle.
So Little Man and I walked the 3/4s of a mile to Mom's office to borrow her housekey.
Funny part:
- But you WALKED here???? (( Repeat: it's only 3/4 of a mile from her house to her work. This is the Same mom who told me to walk son around greenlake, over 3 mile circuit, every day it wasn't raining. Yes boss-lady. And wel'll walk back. And skip Greenlake today. And have walked half as much as we usually do.))
- Why didn't you take your car? ((Because if I had my car keys, I would also have your house key. As. They. Are. On. My. Keyring.... On. The. Kitchen. Counter.))
- How will I get in the house? ((Same way you always do. I'm hand off to you every night. We're always there. ... I actually volunteered to drive back, assuming that she had a function or something and I'd be handing off to dad. Nope, little man and I were picking her up like always. Headsmack.))
There actually was some talk about firing me because they HAD told me they'd changed the doorknobs to autolocking knobs. I found out about this after the SIXTH time I got a phonecall from them seeing if I'd let them in the house (they'd locked themselves out). "Gee, you know we were actually talking about letting you go after the Lockout Incident ((Really??? Incident??? With a capitol I???)), sure glad we didn't! Talk about a pain to get used to." No. Really? Grrrr.
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We have never had a nanny or babysitter that wasn't grandma. I told my husband when our daughter was born that I didn't think I could ever trust a stranger with our child. And now reading this I am glad I never did.
I know not all nannies are like this but I have to ask.....Didn't she have references when you hired her? I think if I came home to my child chewing on a power cord I would have let her go right then. I wouldn't want to think about what went on when you weren’t home.
Just because someone is book smart or a college grad does not mean that they have common sense.
Our daughters are being home schooled on washing dishes, they will get their ceritficate in learning to wash our family dishes when they graduate High School. LOL!!!!!
I wondered if you made her do the dishes over like I will do with the girls would she have quit?
That is awsome you are deciding to work with her.
Made me smile Thanks
I've never had a sitter or nanny like this but it sure sounds a lot like my husband.
Thanks for a good laugh!
We've never had a nanny or babysitter, just grandma & grandpa. They don't seem to know how long it's safe to leave food out, and will never actually cook anything at my house. We show them canned food, noodles, etc. in our pantry. When we get home, they complain that they are hungry, but were too tired to go out to McDonald's. I make sure to prepare a plate of food for my son before I leave, but I worry how long they'll leave it out.
