Got fired over a text message....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the nanny sounds pretty aggressive and bitchy. It also sounds like she wasn't getting along with one of the children. I don't blame the MB for sending a text and avoiding a terminated employee demanding a warning instead of being fired.

OP here: You are wrong on both counts there. I am not aggressive nor bitchy. Also, I was not DEMANDING a actual WARNING. I was saying..I had no other warning that this would have been happening.

And I was getting along with both children fine. "K" just had many issues with being told what to do which we were working on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your MB is probably looking for someone who can handle her DD's behaviors without consulting her daily. It probably stresses her out after a busy workday. Let this one go.

OP here: I can understand where you are coming from however, EVERY DAY when MB would meet me at the kids activities she would SPECIFICALLY ask how the afternoon went with "K" and if there were any issues. I didn't push it at all and would have just kept dealing with it if she hadn't wanted to know about it every day.

[Anonymous]

OP here: Just an update...I ended up sending her a text message back saying "I respect your decision however, I am upset about how this was handled and I really would have appreciated it if we had sat down and talked about all of this before you making the decision to fire me over a text". She wrote back that she was very sorry and didn't mean to "upset me" and that she was mailing me a check for 1 weeks pay as an "apology" for how this happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am guessing that she misunderstood your telling her often of K's behavior/discipline problems as being that you don't know how to handle them or didn't like having the issues. Especially if she kept apologizing for them and saying it won't happen again. From a parent's perspective, when our kid was in preschool and had a tough time adjusting (for a long time, like 5 months), we got sick and tired of hearing about what he did wrong when we picked him up. We kept apologizing but pulled him out as soon as we could and found another school because we felt like if it was a big enough deal, then call us when it happens to deal with it, but if you dealt with it, why tell us over and over and over again. There was nothing we could do about it after the fact - so it just made us feel awful.

I'm not saying you did anything wrong, but if the mom kept apologizing, she may be feeling what we felt. That she just wants someone that could handle the usual normal bahavior problems without making it a conversation each day and only report to her the big deal stuff.

I understand for a toddler but an 1 year old? The 11 year old sounds like a DEMON and the bitch of a mom didn't want to her that her special little snowflake was a little bitch in training. That was WRONG that she texted you but some parents don't/can't hear that everyone thinks their little snowflake is not perfect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm beyond annoyed/confused/angry. I have NEVER been fired in the 7 years that I have been a nanny and I NEVER would have imagined that a family would be so low as to fire me over a TEXT MESSAGE? I think I'm more angry that this came out of NO WHERE and that she didn't even give me a warning about this and just flat out said.."we no longer need you". So now I'm screwed out of a job and my weekly paycheck is going down $250. My roommate thinks that I should call her and tell her that I understand however, I think it was really unprofessional of her to fire me without talking to me first or giving me a warning.

From your post its not hard to pick up that the MB might have been concerned that you would be overly dramatic, volatile, and angry about being fired.

OP here: Trust me, I would not have been "overly dramatic or angry" if she told me in person. It was very unprofessional on her part to do it over a text message IMO. I was only with them for 3 1/2 months but I went above and beyond for them so it would have been nice of her to tell me all of this in person.

.

OP, you are the "professional" here not the MB. You provide the service and MB pays for it. It might not have been nice for MB to fire you with a text but professionalism has nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: Just an update...I ended up sending her a text message back saying "I respect your decision however, I am upset about how this was handled and I really would have appreciated it if we had sat down and talked about all of this before you making the decision to fire me over a text". She wrote back that she was very sorry and didn't mean to "upset me" and that she was mailing me a check for 1 weeks pay as an "apology" for how this happened.

What a bitch, huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the nanny sounds pretty aggressive and bitchy. It also sounds like she wasn't getting along with one of the children. I don't blame the MB for sending a text and avoiding a terminated employee demanding a warning instead of being fired.

Um, no she doesn't. She sounds like someone who is upset because she was fired via Textmessage, ONLY after confronting her "boss" about the ad online.

No, the OP sounds very even headed for being used and abused by an employer. Seriously, some people shouldn't be nannies, and some people shouldn't HIRE nannies if they can't handle how to properly treat an employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm beyond annoyed/confused/angry. I have NEVER been fired in the 7 years that I have been a nanny and I NEVER would have imagined that a family would be so low as to fire me over a TEXT MESSAGE? I think I'm more angry that this came out of NO WHERE and that she didn't even give me a warning about this and just flat out said.."we no longer need you". So now I'm screwed out of a job and my weekly paycheck is going down $250. My roommate thinks that I should call her and tell her that I understand however, I think it was really unprofessional of her to fire me without talking to me first or giving me a warning.

From your post its not hard to pick up that the MB might have been concerned that you would be overly dramatic, volatile, and angry about being fired.

OP here: Trust me, I would not have been "overly dramatic or angry" if she told me in person. It was very unprofessional on her part to do it over a text message IMO. I was only with them for 3 1/2 months but I went above and beyond for them so it would have been nice of her to tell me all of this in person.

.

OP, you are the "professional" here not the MB. You provide the service and MB pays for it. It might not have been nice for MB to fire you with a text but professionalism has nothing to do with it.

If you hire a nanny you are doing more than simply paying for a service. You have hired an employee, and she is entitled to a boss that understands their responsibilities as such. It is a professional relationship, and professional behavior should be exhibited by BOTH parties. The MB in this situation behaved unprofessionally and does not seem to understand her role as a boss.

[Anonymous]

Well at least she didn't write it on a post-it note a la Jack Berger.

[Anonymous]

You're right, OP. Firing you via text message probably wasn't the best mode to go about letting you go. Getting fired stings. But hey - you weren't a good match for her and she probably saved you both a lot of agony in the long run because now you can find a position that's better suited for you.

Maybe she didn't like the constant reminders about her daughter. Who knows. And it's silly to expect everybody to adhere to your code of conduct. But the reality is that she has moved on, so why don't you? Or do you want to stamp your feet and shake your fists about it a bit more on DCUM? Perhaps it would be prudent to spend your time looking for a new job.

[Anonymous]

"She wrote back that she was very sorry and didn't mean to "upset me" and that she was mailing me a check for 1 weeks pay as an "apology" for how this happened. "

wow! how super generous of your MB! To give you 1 week's pay instead of 0 severance when you were fired for "fit" not for something egregious.
jeez. some people. Sorry, OP. sucks and MB is wacko to think it's professional to send that message in any way other than in person or at LEAST in a live phone call (not message).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're right, OP. Firing you via text message probably wasn't the best mode to go about letting you go. Getting fired stings. But hey - you weren't a good match for her and she probably saved you both a lot of agony in the long run because now you can find a position that's better suited for you.

Maybe she didn't like the constant reminders about her daughter. Who knows. And it's silly to expect everybody to adhere to your code of conduct. But the reality is that she has moved on, so why don't you? Or do you want to stamp your feet and shake your fists about it a bit more on DCUM? Perhaps it would be prudent to spend your time looking for a new job.

OP here: Stamp my feet and shake my fists? Really? Please move on if you have nothing helpful to say. This just happened at 11am today....I will be looking for a new job but please don't talk out of your ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're right, OP. Firing you via text message probably wasn't the best mode to go about letting you go. Getting fired stings. But hey - you weren't a good match for her and she probably saved you both a lot of agony in the long run because now you can find a position that's better suited for you.

Maybe she didn't like the constant reminders about her daughter. Who knows. And it's silly to expect everybody to adhere to your code of conduct. But the reality is that she has moved on, so why don't you? Or do you want to stamp your feet and shake your fists about it a bit more on DCUM? Perhaps it would be prudent to spend your time looking for a new job.

OP here: Stamp my feet and shake my fists? Really? Please move on if you have nothing helpful to say. This just happened at 11am today....I will be looking for a new job but please don't talk out of your ass.

Also, if you had actually read what I wrote prior, you would have seen that I said that SHE was the one who asked about her daughter EVERY DAY when she met me to relieve me. I did not bring it up on my own everyday. She was the one who wanted to know what had happened that day with her.

[Anonymous]

OP, every subsequent post you write solidifies my original opinion that you are someone who sounds like she thinks she knows how ALL situations should be handled (i.e. your way) and if not, you throw a hissy fit. That IS precisely what you are doing here, regardless of whether it happened as recent as 11 am today, because whenever anyone tried to gently point out another pov to you (perhaps that of your 'evil' MB), you argued against each piece of advice, pointing out all the ways you were correct and that poster was not.

Again, like I said, someone who can never be wrong=you, OP.

[Anonymous]

I see 2 issues here - (1) MB's decision to fire you and to post an ad seeking a new nanny before she did so and (2) the way you were fired.

(1) I don't think MB did anything wrong by deciding you weren't a good fit for the family. Honestly, it sounds like you were struggling to control the 11yo, and that would concern my as a parent if the 11yo was not having similar behavioral issues with me/school/previous caregivers, etc. Regardless of the reason, MB was completely within her rights to decide it just wasn't a good fit. And while it is unfortunate that you saw that ad before she told, I don't think she did anything wrong by posting it before firing you. If you were the one that decided the family wasn't a good fit, wouldn't you find a new job before you quit?

(2) Normally, I would say that firing via text (or even email) was inexcusable. But this is a little different. From her original text (don't need you today, will be in touch), it sounds like MB was trying to figure out the best way to deal with this. You saw that ad and forced her hand by leaving her a voicemail essentially asking if/why you were fired. If I read the OP correctly, MB then tried to call back and you didn't answer, so she left a voicemail answering your question and followed up with a text that referred to the voicemail. While she could have handled it better, confirming what you already knew and specifically asked about in a voicemail (which really doesn't seem like the most professional way to handle it either) is a lot different that just texting out of the blue, "Sorry, but we no longer need you."