I recently hired a nanny for my 4 month old daughter. My maternity leave was ending and I didn't feel comfortable taking my baby to daycare. So I interviewed a few potential nanny's and settled upon Samantha K****. She was young and talked incessantly and excessively but I thought her experience and resume looked worthwhile. Turns out it was a mistake hiring her. She lied about her education. She lied about how much her past families 'loved' her. I did call two of her four references before hiring her. One raved about her and the 2nd one was on the fence but said she was good with the kids. I should have taken the hint.
Later I found out that one of her past jobs was not happy with her - they paid her in advance and she was a no-show. I also found out post-hiring her that one family believed she had stolen a $200 item from their home. Samantha proved to be unreliable almost immediately. She would call in frantic that some tragic circumstance was preventing her from coming in. Two days in a row, two different, unrelated, crazy events; (this was the third time she called to cancel - she cancelled her first interview we scheduled the night before). I decided to let her go. She was "insulted" and she wasn't holding back on her unhappiness. I now believe that drug use may play a role for her erradic and irrational behavior. My boss was not happy being that it was only my 2nd week back to work and I was late one day and having to leave early another day, unexpectedly. I had to take my baby to daycare, sign her up the same day so that I could get to work. This was not going as I had hoped.
I originally told Samantha that I would start her pay cycle along with mine (she would get paid when I got paid). When I let her go I told her when I would mail her check. A few days later she began harrasing me on my work phone, threatening to come to my work (with the police) and make a scene if I didn't get her the measley $180 I owed her, immediately. Also, threatening to sue me. (The check was already in the mail! In fact, now, based on her allegations, I have to pay to cancel the check and mail it again). Her behavior is not grounded, she is irrational to say the least. I would like to warn families before they employ her. Be careful what kind of cuckoo you are letting into your home.
16 comments:
She worked for you two weeks and you only owed her $180.
Well honey you get what you pay for!
Maybe next time you'll reach a little deeper into your pockets, and get better results.
Jeez, you never have anything positive to say do you? OP never mentions how many hours she worked. Two of those days the nanny canceled and whose to say she even finished the 2nd week? Stop being an asshole, will ya?
180 dollars is not "measly" to some of us.
that being said, some of the things you are accusing your ex-nanny of doing are pretty serious. drug use? you have no proof of this and it is a very nasty accusation to make on the internet about somebody if it may not be true.
as a supervisor, if I hire a person who turns out to not be a good fit, or unreliable, etc, someone I have to let go, I would never post things like this about them on the internet. I would simply let them go and tell them that they should not use me as a reference in the future.
OP, am I to understand that you did not check all her references? Only two out of four? Perhaps next time you should call all of them. It is lazy not to.
The devil said in another post she enjoyed the drama because it was like a car wreck. Seems to me shes the wreck.
She mentions a second week of work. So I assume she worked at least two weeks. I'm trying to figure out how $180 would cover two weeks of work even if she missed days not using vacation time.
I will never understand parents openly admitting they've not called all references provided and not verified education, and then being shocked that their "good" nanny has not worked out.
I have to agree that $180 is not measly.
I have a question....why did you mail her check to her? If she needed it pronto, I would have had her come and pick it up.
However, none of this excuses her behavior. To call your work and threaten her is out of line.
By the way, I am just curious...how old was your nanny? Also, where did you find her?
*you
why would you assume drugs?
i know she is probably different but my life is like a bad movie with stupid shit. I'm terribly clumsy and no shit I had 3 completely different crazy freak accidents happen 3 days in a row. My boss thought I was making things up. Until I brought pictures.
I do things like leave my house and trip and sprain my ankle, fall and crack a rib that makes me go to the ER.
try to unclog my perfume bottle my looking directly into the spray and pushing down and burning my eye ball directly out of my socket.
decide to get coffee and keep it in a mug and while driving hold onto my steering wheel whislt holding said mug of hot coffee and turn the wheel spilling the flaming contents onto my crotch
nearly behead myself thinking I can stop a ceiling fan without turning off the switch
this is all in a week. so she may just be retarded like I am
you never know
How condescending! Drugs? Measly $180? Youre just plain rude. You probably did her a favor, by firing her. And if shes a con-artist, youll know when that check clears for $1,800.00. Bwahahaha
Phoenix,
With those types of accidents and stories I would think you were being physically abused by your husband. If someone is hurting you need to get away....love does not equal physical pain. You can email me if you need support 1bostonnanny@gmail.com, I'm dead serious my mother was abused Ive heard all the made up stories.
You learned about her education and previous job performance AFTER you hired her? You clearly didn't do a thourgh job of interviewing her and checking her references.
Granted, you were right to let her go, but.....you should have given her the money you owed her when you let her go. Especially since to you, it was a "measly" amount.
no. sadly those are not made up stories. i am a huge walking catastrophe.
I mean, LOL. I am someone who walks and trips on phone cords and curtains, or my shoes.
then the fun accidents are when my sink breaks and floods my house, my cat and my dog are fighting and one has gone missing, i grabbed the iron on the wrong end.
ive only met one other person who is as bad as me and she was my best friend (2 peas in a pod right) I remember once she was using a work out machine all fine and dandy I leave the room and come back and somehow she got tangled in the pully ropes and was stuck.
fun times
While Samantha is less than stellar the missed days and harrassing you at work, you aren't blameless here.
It doesn't sound as though you did not do a thorough job researching and interviewing this nanny. Seems like you waited till the last possible second to get a nanny, because you felt entitled to one, and you wanted to get one for a discount.
Well dear, you get back what you put in.
There was a law in CA that if you fire someone, youre required to pay them what theyre owed immediately. I wonder if its still a valid law.
There are so many things wrong with this situation. I hope you can take responsibilty for your part in this mess. But it sounds more like you're the kind of person and employee that often has disasters that cause drama in your life but none of which is ever your fault. You seriously waited until your maternity leave was runing out before you started to search for suitable child care. Why is the care of your new baby being treated as an after thought? This nanny cancels her interview and you actually hire her? That is unheard of. Are there any reasons why you did not properly research this lady which to whom youve handed over your child to? Too busy? Too lazy? Simply disinterested? Nannys cancel sometimes. All child care providers will. They get sick, have appointments, accidents. Etc. Its your responsibility to secure several back up options for when you WILL need them. After all, is your child that needs to be cared for and its your job that you need to be at. So now that you've paid her the "measly" $180, one can only hope it was for a "measly" three days of work. You make it sound like there is something wrong with daycares. However, had you arranged care in a suitable daycare, this wouldn't have happened. And where is your child now? A daycare. I guess you just didn't have the energy or funds to find a decent nanny and had to settle for something you view as less than ideal. Is this a child were talking about??? If that child isn't the most important thing in your life, I don't want to know what is. I would hope you've learned your lessons, the hard way. But it doesn't sound like it. You hastily placed your child in daycare. I highly doubt you did background checks on all adultd living in or visiting the home. So God knows what kind of people they are. And who is going to watch your child when the daycare closes due to illness, death, appointments, etc?? Let me guess, you'll frantically call in sick and blame the daycare. How much more careless could you, the MOM be???? This nanny may very well be on drugs and be a cuckoo, but I'm far from convinced that's any worse than a careless mother who doesn't take reasonable precautions to look out for her brand new baby. How sad. I hope your child is in a safe environment. Too bad you've left her life and care up to chance........
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