Tuesday

Nannies Beware of the UWS Beast

 
Gwen Meyerson
       Speaking of trial periods, I have a bad boss story for you. I interviewed with a woman off of Craigslist who was hiring for a nanny, the salary was 1400 a week. There were two children, she lived off CPA and West 93rd... She described the job in such a way... I wanted it. She called me back and said she was interested but wanted to know if I would consider a trial day, whatever, to see if it is the right fit. I agreed. We made arrangements for me to come on a Thursday at around ten. Wednesday night she called and asked if I could come at 7, just to familiarize myself with the morning routine. Of course I said... Why Not... So I show up at 7. The housekeeper is there. She is nice, she tells me, the woman isn't here, but tells me what to do and shows me where things are. I make breakfast for the kids, check homework and walk the oldest to his school. There are directions for a playgroup to go to that morning and I take the 2 year old. Non eventful. I meet some people, but very superficial greetings which is expected if you are a nanny. I pick the older kids up from school and bring them home. The housekeeper shows me the dinner plans and what she has "prepped." I asked if I had missed the mom. No, I hadn't. Could I stay later, she'll be late, but she appreciate so much". So at 1120 PM, the door opens, and the father came in and nodded to me. He says "Thank you, XXXX will call you in the morning." So I left. I never got a follow up call. When I finally got through to her, because she never took my calls,she told me, we weren't a good fit and that it wasn't a paid trial". She clearly misled me to think that the job was fine and used me for a 16 hour workday and didn't pay me anything. I have a feeling I wasn't the first or the last. Because she had such a nice apartment and a housekeeper and was going to pay $1400 a week, I never considered that she would bat an eye about paying for a day. I have done trial days before and they are always paid.

   So who is this woman? What does she tell her children? The older boy? Maybe he wonders why no one sticks around or takes it personally. She responded to my Craigs List Ad, she uses a hotmail email address that includes the word "wink". Her phone number area code is 347. Her housekeeper is an older, white woman of about 60 and wears a housekeeping dress. The woman is very tall, attractive, blonde with sharp bone structure. She has a 2 year old and a 7 year old, both boys.

Share your experiences, warnings and sightings by emailing isynblog@gmail.com.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Try to go through agency, most parents that goes through Craigslist or Gumtree is the "Taking advantage" type in my experience. Agencies tend to have much better families that pays on the books and treat their nannies better. I'm not saying that all Craigslist parents are crap but a considerable amount compare to agencies parents. Also you should always say upfront that you expect your trial to be paid. You might be rejected, but this is how you "filter" bad employers from good employers.

Good luck :) !

Bananas said...

How in the world does this happen? I never come for a trial day without implicitly stating my rate. There's no such thing as unpaid work! Trial or not! I would not have left when the father came home without my pay! Go after your money. This is almost 330 dollars ( regular and overtime pay since you worked more than eight hrs).

Lacy said...

I personally would take her to small claims curt. She used you for 16 hours and never paid. You worked, in all states employers have to pay even for trials and training. I have a hunch you would win, I would take her to curt for your normal hourly rate, overtime after 9 hours, and double time after 12 hours; and for any expenses you endured for this.

In the future, never do any job assignment without an agreement being written down with details about pay, hours, and job description. In my contracts I even have a fee for late payments and bounced checks.

bibby said...

That's funny because I worked for a rich woman too and she was always nickle and diming EVERYBODY. Like she wouldnt pay overtime, but If I was 5 minutes late, she would take 1/4 of an hour of my check. She would eat lunch out at nice places and then complain about the food EVERY time to get money off her meal. Her husband made like six figures, maybe 7.

Anonymous said...

WOW 0_o for your last boss, she had probably the Stingy pattern without knowing it! Did you quit?

Gigi said...

Super wealthy people are often times the cheapest! It is ridiculous.

I agree - take her to small claims court. I have a hunch she will settle before you even get that far. But don't sell yourself short, you deserve to be paid for work.

Anonymous said...

Agree, I've worked for a millionaire family in london Chelsea ( Really rich borough of the capital) they are one of the stingiest people I've ever worked for; she would not pay me while i had a lunch break, refused to declare, didn't pay holidays and when she imposed me days off,and ripped me off while I travelled with them ,paid me like an au pair on a 24/7 call. Her excuse ? I'm the one who should be grateful for them to take me to exotic places, expensive hotels, and so on...

On the other hand, you got the families that don't earn enough to hire a Nanny but don't want an au pair or day care so the nanny has to deal with being great and do a lot with an au pair salary.

So far , the kind of parents that treats me the best tend to be Middle class-upper class rather than the very rich.

Anonymous said...

First mistake: Trusting somebody with a hotmail email address smh