Unbelievable Nanny Woes

I’ve heard many people narrate their bad experiences with helps, nannies, or search for nannies, and I’ve always looked at them from the point of “pity” saying “eeya” in my mind. Well, right now, I’m very unhappy to say that I have my own terrible nanny stories to narrate. While I have not had an outrightly bad nannies, I recently had a series of unfortunate events, and I am currently in between nannies.

Firstly, I had to replace my nanny when we got into the month of july because the most terrible sets of attitudes I have seen in an elderly person. I got a younger person who was almost perfect in every sense, and then just like that, her mother died, or lemme say “they said her mother died.” One minute, she was in the house doing her work as normal, and the next minute, she was in her village, and I wasn’t even aware. I was later informed, and asked to send money so she could come back, which I did. Let’s just say that up till now, I am yet to see her. I couldn’t reach her nor her family members. If only I knew that this was the beginning of my nanny woes.

The first day without a nanny, my husband volunteered to stay home with my son because we believed my nanny was going to resume the next day like they promised. No show!

The next day, I took my baby to work, and I assigned a staff (who he absolutely adores) to babysit him. By this time, the family members had stopped picking my calls, and I knew there was foul play.
When the nanny didn’t resume the third day, I told him to send me some people to interview so my disappearing nanny could be replaced, which he did.

First day, I interviewed three girls. What stood out was that these ‘nannies’ lie a lot. They say they finished secondary school, yet they cannot read and write. This was very annoying, and I disqualified some people based on this because I just believe liars are dangerous people to have working so close to you. On this day, I decided to go for the last girl I interviewed cos I genuinely liked her. She seemed agile, smart, and ready to work. She said her past employer lived in my estate (she didn’t know I lived in that estate cos the interview took place at work). She had to leave the job because her mother died. I told her to take me to her past employer cos there was no way I was going to employ her, knowing her former madam live few doors away from me. She told me she had to go and get the contact number from her second sim at home, and she would meet me on the way home. Let’s just say that was the last time I heard from her.

I was so disappointed cos I really liked her. I had to go for the second choice, whom I didn’t really like because she seemed sluggish and lackadaisical. I told her to resume the next day, but the next day, she was nowhere to be found. I was kinda glad cos I prayed to God that if she wasn’t meant to work with me, God should make her not resume.

After informing me of the girl’s refusal to resume, he sent me four more girls to interview, and two stood out for me. The most perfect one lived too far from me, and I was concerned about this (it’s a live-out nanny job). She lived in the same area with my first nanny, and I remember distance being an issue with her. So I called the agent to discuss the two options, and he said my second choice, who lived close to me said she didn’t want the job again because I was asking her many questions. Ehhh, egbami. You want to interview for nanny, and you don’t want me to ask you questions??? I should just trust you and give my child to you? Funny thing is that she passed the interview in flying colours. I even spoke to her former boss in front of her, and he gave her glowing recommendations. She wasn’t happy about this. I said if I took her, she would be going to the hospital for nanny test. She wasn’t happy about this too. I just concluded that she was a spoilt little child who wasn’t ready to work, so I went for my first choice who seemed perfect in every way, apart from home distance. I told her to resume the next day, which she did.

The next day, little miss perfect was given money to go to the hospital for nanny test, while I went about my business at work. A series of test routines that was supposed to take about 60 to 90 minutes (it is a crowded mother and child hospital) ended up taking 7 hours! She left around 8.30am and returned at 3.30pm, and this was the result she gave me.

Not only was my “little miss perfect” pregnant, she forged the hospital report to make it look like she wasn’t pregnant, and that the hospital had made a mistake, hence the tipex. She wasn’t even smart enough to know that any idiot would see this, and know that it had been doctored. The handwritings look nothing alike. It all started making sense. Why she had been gone for so long, why her phone had been switched off, etc. Everything I did from then on was in a state of shock. I told my assistant to follow her to the hospital, and ask for who used tipex on the report (I honestly didn’t think she did it. I assumed she begged a staff to help her cover her lapse in judgement). Anyway, she saw we were serious, and we told her to confess, and she said she’s really pregnant. I was shocked. This girl was 21 years old, who looked like a 16 year old, and had the voice and innocent smile of a 10 year old. She said it happened last month wither guy in her neighbourhood, it was her first time ever, bla bla bla, and she would abort the child. I told her I wasn’t going to be a party to that, and she must report herself to her mother. I sent her back to the agent, and we all agreed I should employ her, because whether I liked it or not, she was going to abort the child. She said she was never going to tell her mum because it would break her heart. She was going to resume the next day.

The next day, this girl never showed. I called her, but she didn’t pick. She later sent a message to say she couldn’t do the job again because she had failed me by forging records, and would not be able to face me again. while I applauded her for her bravery, I was concerned about who would now refund the money I spent on her hospital test.

So here I am, without nanny for 9 days. My staff have been responsible for taking care of my son while I work during work hours. As I type this, two people are on their way for interview, and I pray I get someone perfect for the job amongst one of them. They sounded like correct people when I talked to them. Let’s hope they are fit for the job.

What of you? Have you had to deal with nanny, help or staff issues? If yes, how did you resolve them?