Wednesday

Borders Bookstore in Chestnut Hill/Boston, MA

Received Wednesday, March 18, 2009
nanny sighting logo I am going to post this and I don't want any flames or repercussions. I am going to post this because this is what I saw and this needs to be shared. In retrospect, I coulda, shoulda, woulda, but hindsight is 20/20 and life comes at you fast.

I was in the Chestnut Hill Borders bookstore. I was with my three year old daughter and she was helping me pick out books for our upcoming vacation. A young woman and a child passed us a few times and the little girl (cherry print shirt, taupe cords, black buckle shoes, dk. brown hair with ringlet style curls, blue eyes, and the same size as my 3 year old) was obviously interested in my child. The woman was looking around the bookstore, holding the girl's hand. Finally, she said, "you can say hi, say hi". With that the little girl said hi and started talking about her brother who has lots of train books, but she doesn't like trains, but Thomas is okay". I tell the young woman, "she's precious". The young woman says, "she's super. I'm the nanny". I say, "I'm the Mom". The nanny bends down and says hello to my child. Then she talks to the child about helping her pick out some books for her brother first since he couldn't come. They disappear, off to what I assume was the child's area. I am in the best seller area, the new arrival and the magazines. While in the magazine section, the two reappear. The nanny is holding a stack of books. She is looking at the magazines on the other side of me and the two girls are at the end aisle somewhat talking. The little girl with the nanny is VERY verbal, "do you have a dog?, I have one dog, but maybe we are getting one more. Then we would have two dogs. And you would still have no dogs. I don't like cats. Cats make my mom itch a lot, so we don't have cats. If I had a cat, the cat would be named..." etc. So my little girl is pleasantly entertained. The nanny says, "would you mind if I ran to the bathroom? I usually take her, but she's right on top of me". I say, go ahead, of course. So the nanny sets her books down and off she goes. The girls are still talking. I am leafing through magazines and my stack of books and magazines is growing. I realize the nanny has been gone for almost ten minutes. I am not 100 percent sure of the time since I wasn't watching the clock, but it would have to be a good amount of time because I noticed it, even though I was still looking at magazines and the children were talking and twirling about five feet from me. Just when I start to wonder, the nanny returns. She is still as pleasant as before but there is something different about her. I notice it as she is walking towards us. As she comes to collect her books and thank me, I notices very evident white powder on the outside and just inside of one of her nostrils. It was very noticeable. She thanks me and tells me she had to freshen up. I notice now that she has made up one eye. Like one eye has a very obvious amount of mascara on it and one eye is completely plain. She makes a comment about being on the move from the time the children wake up until Mom comes through the door and thanks me again. Then she is off.

I stand there confused and concerned. I'm no babe of the woods. But I don't know if or how to say something and I wonder if the child is going to be okay. It is not an ideal situation to have a nanny use cocaine. So, I did nothing. I've thought about this all evening.

Aside from the fact that the little girl obviously has a brother in to trains and her description, I can tell you that the nanny was white. She was unassuming in the way she looked. I think she had on a nude or tan colored sweater and it was a v neck and she had a white shirt underneath it. She had on jeans but I don't know what kind. They fit her well. She had an athletic figure, nice shape, small bosoms, thin hips and was medium height. She had light brown hair that was worn up in a loose bun and no jewelry. I don't remember shoes or bags. The magazines she was looking at before she went to the restroom were house and design magazines.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine how you must have wrestled with this one after parting ways with that nanny, OP. I know I would've, too. But you did the best thing in the end by reporting it here. Thank you for that, and we will just pray that the child's mom sees this post.

Anonymous said...

This was a GREAT post OP.

And even though there are more than likely going to be those defending the nanny (but it could have been XYZ, she could have been doing this that and the other thing you don't KNOW IT WAS COCAINE... etc) you were the only one there.

I hope the parents see this, and don't listen to any negative comments trying to tell you that you're wrong. You were not wrong. It would have been damn near impossible to say something (honestly, I doubt *ANYBODY* would say anything in this situation). I mean what could you say?

"Excuse me there, but is that cocaine?"

Yeah, right.

Good going, OP! I hope that little girl (and her brother) is okay and hopefully her parents see this.

Anonymous said...

OMG! A friend of mine lives in that area and it sounds like her daughter and nanny! I thought they had cut her daughters hair. Did the little girl say her name? Was it McKenna? Did the nanny have a southern accent? She would've hired me as her nanny but as she put it I am too close to the situation. I would never be able to put my foot down wit McKenna and she's right.

Anonymous said...

There's another problem here, besides the suspected cocain use. This nanny left her charge with a complete stranger. Fortunately, you are an upstanding person...but another person could have abducted this little girl. No one should ever leave a child, their own or a charge, with a stranger...ever!!!!!!!!!!!

Why are you so white? said...

Momkat, relax. OP, this is a great post and I'm sure it was tough for you to leave the situation unsure of how to handle it -- I certainly would not have known what to do.

Anonymous said...

seattle...why would anyone defend the nanny? This is a pretty cut and dry sighting...I can't hink of any excuse ANYONE could make for her..not even the gung ho nanny defenders..Great sighting OP.

Anonymous said...

As a nanny, I wouldn't even begin to guess how I would deal with this situation had it been me watching a stranger's child. How interesting that the nanny chatted up OP and the children clicked with each other, feeling a level of comfort immediately, so that the nanny could leave her charge with OP. If it was powder around the nostrils, then I would say a 99.9% chance it was cocaine. The question I have is why are people defending this nanny, and since OP noticed what she thought was cocaine (crack is different as in it is cooked over a stove and smoked through a pipe) could the police have done anything about the nanny, and the fact that she was high taking care of a child? My guess is that the nanny uses the drug without the family aware of this, and stakes out nannies, parents, and other people she thinks are trustworthy to watch her charge while she snorts. Thereby she is high all day long, and nobody notices anything until now. She is putting the safety of this child at risk with her drug habit-the next time she asks a stranger to "keep an eye on her while I go to the bathroom" she will return to find the child abducted, in which case, the police will be contacted, parents notified, and her drug use while working revealed. OP, if you go to this Borders again, would you remember this nanny and child? Could you chat up the nanny long enough to detain her and call the police? I would think that the white powder around her nose would be enough to question her, search her bag, and contact the parents. Not unless the nanny has an addiction to powder sugar donuts and gets high from them.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

MissDee, who is defending the nanny? No one that I saw...maybe I missed something.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
there is no way around this one. Leaving your charge for ten minutes with a stranger is bad news. Being gone for that long, returning with only one eye made up and white powder on your nose, well, there isn't much else that could be going on. I really hope this gets seen by the parents.

Mar 18, 2009 11:34:00 AM

Anonymous said...

Wow...

Leave your charge with a stranger so you can run to bathroom for a line of cocaine.
Completely unacceptable. Period.

Excellent sighting OP!

Anonymous said...

Jacqui: Sorry, I misread a previous post....

Village said...

I hope someone locates the mother. Obviously, drugs are affecting the nanny's judgment as she is leaving her charge with a stranger. Excellent post. You couldn't grab the nanny. A post here is the most appropriate thing to do.

Anonymous said...

I honestly did not see that coming at all. From the way your post read, I thought she was simply leaving the child with you and ran next door for coffee or something. It is bad enough that she left her charge with you, but man. I can't even believe that.
In your situation, I probably would have done the same thing. Good sighting, bad situation.

Anonymous said...

Whether or not it was cocaine, leaving a child with a stranger is horrible judgement. And since she didn't take the child with her, my guess would be she was up to no good in the bathroom. Hopefully the mom sees this.

I've noticed that parents and nannies alike seem to get caught up in a false sense of comfort when they are around people with other kids though. Several times when I'm out with my charges I've had people ask me if I could keep an eye on their kids while they do something.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I hope the parents see this.

OP maybe you can talk to the manager of the store and if he/she is sympathetic there is probably surveillance cameras that might be of some help.

Anonymous said...

Jacqui,

I said what I said early on because there is always at least one person who disagrees. Who wants to argue or defend the nanny in some way. I'm glad you agree with me, but if you frequent the board enough you should know that no matter how good a sighting is there is always a handful of those who want to berate and argue just to stir the pot.

Anonymous said...

Nanny Taxi, could you print out this post and get in contact with the poster via email and try to identify her? If it is not the person you know, maybe yuo can put up the posting in the local library and post it on other places.

Anonymous said...

Okay I know the powder was cocaine and all but I don't understand the part about one eye being made up? Was is because she was so high she forgot to do the other eye?

I just don't get it.

Anonymous said...

Westy, cokeheads are erratic. So yeah, basically.

Seattle, oh yeah, I completely understand that...I'm just saying I couldn't even begin to imagine HOW someone could find a way to defend this behavior.

Anonymous said...

a real mom @ 1.40, you really need to go away, your comment on the sex harassment post above proves it. Just go away.

Anonymous said...

if the parents do read this a simple drug test will validate the OP's post.

no need to defend a nanny who apparently is a danger to children. especially when drug tests are so easily done.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

That must have been so freaky... it seems like the nanny seemed to be great in all other ways, and then this happened! I think there is a point in drug use where a person is still able to maintain being a good person, and then you cross that point when the drug becomes your priority. If this nanny really did slip into the bathroom to do drugs, she must be just at this point, just about to lose herself to the drug. It sounds like she does care about the kids, so we can only hope she'll realize that, when she leaves the kids with a stranger in order to slip into the bathroom and do drugs while the kids are in her care, she has gone too far!

Anonymous said...
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