Worst interview ever

[Anonymous]

So today I had an interview at 3pm, about an hour from where I live. I arrived at the house at 2:50 and rang the door bell. No one answered, so I continued to ring it again and then knock. After about 2 minutes, I call the moms cellphone and when she answers, I say "Hi, I'm on your front porch and no one has answered the door.". Her response? "The kids are in the basement and I am finishing up a phone call, I will be down in 5 minutes". I hung up absolutely stunned. It was pouring rain and she pretty much told me that I had to stand in the rain for 5 minutes until she came down to let me in......so I left. When I got in the car, I called up my roommate and she was horrified to. The mom called me two times 10 minutes later and I ignored her. I am so pissed that I drove an hour for this interview but I could only imagine what type of MB she would be if she was going to make me stand in the rain for 5 minutes for an interview.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you did yourself a favor by leaving. I'm not sure I would have handled the situation the same way. I wouldn't have ignored the phone call. If you found the family on care or sittercity, they potentially could write a bad review about you. Sorry it was a terrible interview, I'm sure we've all had at least one or two like this.

[Anonymous]

OP, good for you.

[Anonymous]

I think you blew this into a bigger thing than it was. You are the one who got there early. That's great to do in an office setting, but maybe she agreed to a 3pm interview because she knew she'd be READY for you at 3pm. Secondly, you didn't have to stand out in the rain at all - just go sit in your car! Thirdly, you just LEFT?! Without saying anything? When she said she'd be at the door in five minutes the least you could have done was to say "Oh, then I'm leaving in that case." Maybe she was just flustered at you arriving early while she was on a stressful call and didn't handle your early arrival the absolute best way, but you sure didn't give her the benefit of the doubt at all. So she's probably feeling SHE dodged a bullet with you too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you blew this into a bigger thing than it was. You are the one who got there early. That's great to do in an office setting, but maybe she agreed to a 3pm interview because she knew she'd be READY for you at 3pm. Secondly, you didn't have to stand out in the rain at all - just go sit in your car! Thirdly, you just LEFT?! Without saying anything? When she said she'd be at the door in five minutes the least you could have done was to say "Oh, then I'm leaving in that case." Maybe she was just flustered at you arriving early while she was on a stressful call and didn't handle your early arrival the absolute best way, but you sure didn't give her the benefit of the doubt at all. So she's probably feeling SHE dodged a bullet with you too.

+1

Why would you not just wait in the car?!?

[Anonymous]

OP, you are very immature.

[Anonymous]

Dear lord. Apparently nannies can't win no matter what time we show up. 3 minutes late and we should be fired. 10 minutes early and we're incredibly inconsiderate.

The thing I think a lot of parents forget is that we are interviewing the family as much as they are interviewing us. I don't blame OP for leaving. Asking her to wait outside was rude. It's a rude thing to do regardless of circumstances. I can't imagine telling anyone I had made plans with that they need to wait outside while I focus on something else. Be it nanny, friend, relative, maintenance man, whatever, it's rude.

I might have answered the call and said that I'd left, but really, what's the harm in not answering when you're not planning on having any further communication with them anyways.

[Anonymous]

OP, you are very immature.

Yes.

[Anonymous]

I don't care who's on the phone, she had the time to respond to the call, she could walk to the door to unlock it.

I would not run to my car, get wet, sit for 5 minutes, then run back to the door in the rain.

She was 10 mins early (which is usual). Not an hour. There's no excuse to leave someone outside, especially in the rain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't care who's on the phone, she had the time to respond to the call, she could walk to the door to unlock it.

I would not run to my car, get wet, sit for 5 minutes, then run back to the door in the rain.

She was 10 mins early (which is usual). Not an hour. There's no excuse to leave someone outside, especially in the rain.

Sorry, I can't agree with you. This nanny is a stranger, not a trusted friend. I wouldn't open the door to a stranger I wasn't prepared to keep an eye on. And if it's raining out, why are you not carrying around an umbrella to avoid getting wet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you blew this into a bigger thing than it was. You are the one who got there early. That's great to do in an office setting, but maybe she agreed to a 3pm interview because she knew she'd be READY for you at 3pm. Secondly, you didn't have to stand out in the rain at all - just go sit in your car! Thirdly, you just LEFT?! Without saying anything? When she said she'd be at the door in five minutes the least you could have done was to say "Oh, then I'm leaving in that case." Maybe she was just flustered at you arriving early while she was on a stressful call and didn't handle your early arrival the absolute best way, but you sure didn't give her the benefit of the doubt at all. So she's probably feeling SHE dodged a bullet with you too.

I agree. Maybe she didn't realize it was raining. You should have waited in you car like a professional. I find parents aren't often ready early- I always arrive early and wait in my car. Knock on the door exactly at arrival time.

[Anonymous]

OP Here: So let me clarify a couple of things. This family was 1 hour away. I got there a little bit earlier then I anticipated. I was ONLY 10 minutes early, which I always find is professional. I don't see how I am "immature". I made a 1 hour drive for this interview. She asked if I could come at 3pm and I arrived at 2:50pm. I rang the door bell two times and then knocked the third time. After no one answered all three times, I called her cellphone. When she answered, I just said "Hi, it's K. I am at your front door and I don't know if you heard me ring the doorbell"....to which she responded "Oh yes..the kids are in the basement and I am finishing up a phone call with my mom, I will be down in 5 minutes.". She CLEARLY heard be ringing and knocking and chose to ignore me. She could have come down and at least let me in. I would have gladly waited INSIDE the doorway while she finished a conversation. I found it VERY rude to just expect me to wait outside for 5 minutes in the rain. It's been raining here for 2 days..so yes she knew it was raining. I was not going to walk back to my car, wait in my car and then come back. This just proved to me that she was not the type of MB I would want to work for. Yes, I did ignore her two phone calls because I was too busy venting on the phone to my friend who is also a nanny. She left me a VM with the second call saying "I don't understand why you left...you just had to wait on the porch for 10 minutes. Please call me back and let me know if you'd like to come back."....So "5 minutes" was actually 10 minutes. When I got home, I sent her an email saying that I did not appreciate having to wait on her front porch and that I was no longer interested in the job.

To the people saying I am "immature", you really have no justification for that at all. Having been a nanny for 7 years now, I do not waste my time on families like this which is why, I have never had to come on here and complain about a MB like 90% of the nannies on here do. I pick my families VERY specifically and have been lucky to work for GREAT families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here: So let me clarify a couple of things. This family was 1 hour away. I got there a little bit earlier then I anticipated. I was ONLY 10 minutes early, which I always find is professional. I don't see how I am "immature". I made a 1 hour drive for this interview. She asked if I could come at 3pm and I arrived at 2:50pm. I rang the door bell two times and then knocked the third time. After no one answered all three times, I called her cellphone. When she answered, I just said "Hi, it's K. I am at your front door and I don't know if you heard me ring the doorbell"....to which she responded "Oh yes..the kids are in the basement and I am finishing up a phone call with my mom, I will be down in 5 minutes.". She CLEARLY heard be ringing and knocking and chose to ignore me. She could have come down and at least let me in. I would have gladly waited INSIDE the doorway while she finished a conversation. I found it VERY rude to just expect me to wait outside for 5 minutes in the rain. It's been raining here for 2 days..so yes she knew it was raining. I was not going to walk back to my car, wait in my car and then come back. This just proved to me that she was not the type of MB I would want to work for. Yes, I did ignore her two phone calls because I was too busy venting on the phone to my friend who is also a nanny. She left me a VM with the second call saying "I don't understand why you left...you just had to wait on the porch for 10 minutes. Please call me back and let me know if you'd like to come back."....So "5 minutes" was actually 10 minutes. When I got home, I sent her an email saying that I did not appreciate having to wait on her front porch and that I was no longer interested in the job.

To the people saying I am "immature", you really have no justification for that at all. Having been a nanny for 7 years now, I do not waste my time on families like this which is why, I have never had to come on here and complain about a MB like 90% of the nannies on here do. I pick my families VERY specifically and have been lucky to work for GREAT families.

I'm a happily employed nanny, and I think you are...wrong.

I do a lot of on-call work on the weekends, saving up money for graduate school, and am often 10 minutes early for the same reason as you: I don't want to be late, so I give myself a little extra time and end up arriving ahead of schedule. Like you, I usually ring the doorbell for the first time between 5-8min. ahead of my scheduled appointment (whether it's work or an interview) and often find myself waiting outside until the official time. But while I do ring the doorbell a few times in the minutes following, and knock a couple of times, I won't ever call a parent to check in until our scheduled appointment time has come and passed. If you had assumed, when you first rang and got no answer, that she was busy getting out of the shower, or changing a dirty diaper, or finishing up a quick toy clean-up because she wanted to make a good impression, and had gone back to your car (or ducked out of the rain), and then come back to ring again at the time she was expecting you, absolutely nothing would have been wrong with this event. I think you made this a problem, not the MB, by trying to rush your appointment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here: So let me clarify a couple of things. This family was 1 hour away. I got there a little bit earlier then I anticipated. I was ONLY 10 minutes early, which I always find is professional. I don't see how I am "immature". I made a 1 hour drive for this interview. She asked if I could come at 3pm and I arrived at 2:50pm. I rang the door bell two times and then knocked the third time. After no one answered all three times, I called her cellphone. When she answered, I just said "Hi, it's K. I am at your front door and I don't know if you heard me ring the doorbell"....to which she responded "Oh yes..the kids are in the basement and I am finishing up a phone call with my mom, I will be down in 5 minutes.". She CLEARLY heard be ringing and knocking and chose to ignore me. She could have come down and at least let me in. I would have gladly waited INSIDE the doorway while she finished a conversation. I found it VERY rude to just expect me to wait outside for 5 minutes in the rain. It's been raining here for 2 days..so yes she knew it was raining. I was not going to walk back to my car, wait in my car and then come back. This just proved to me that she was not the type of MB I would want to work for. Yes, I did ignore her two phone calls because I was too busy venting on the phone to my friend who is also a nanny. She left me a VM with the second call saying "I don't understand why you left...you just had to wait on the porch for 10 minutes. Please call me back and let me know if you'd like to come back."....So "5 minutes" was actually 10 minutes. When I got home, I sent her an email saying that I did not appreciate having to wait on her front porch and that I was no longer interested in the job.

To the people saying I am "immature", you really have no justification for that at all. Having been a nanny for 7 years now, I do not waste my time on families like this which is why, I have never had to come on here and complain about a MB like 90% of the nannies on here do. I pick my families VERY specifically and have been lucky to work for GREAT families.

I'm a happily employed nanny, and I think you are...wrong.

I do a lot of on-call work on the weekends, saving up money for graduate school, and am often 10 minutes early for the same reason as you: I don't want to be late, so I give myself a little extra time and end up arriving ahead of schedule. Like you, I usually ring the doorbell for the first time between 5-8min. ahead of my scheduled appointment (whether it's work or an interview) and often find myself waiting outside until the official time. But while I do ring the doorbell a few times in the minutes following, and knock a couple of times, I won't ever call a parent to check in until our scheduled appointment time has come and passed. If you had assumed, when you first rang and got no answer, that she was busy getting out of the shower, or changing a dirty diaper, or finishing up a quick toy clean-up because she wanted to make a good impression, and had gone back to your car (or ducked out of the rain), and then come back to ring again at the time she was expecting you, absolutely nothing would have been wrong with this event. I think you made this a problem, not the MB, by trying to rush your appointment.

OP Here: By the time I called her, it was 4 minutes to 3:00. I don't think I should have went to my car for 4 minutes. I always arrive 5-10 minutes early for interviews and have NEVER had this issue. This was more of a household manager position as the kids are 12 & 10 so there was no diapers being changed, etc. I would have understood if she was on a work call but this was a call with her mom and she HEARD me ring and knock. You just don't ignore someone at your door because they are FOUR MINUTES early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Here: So let me clarify a couple of things. This family was 1 hour away. I got there a little bit earlier then I anticipated. I was ONLY 10 minutes early, which I always find is professional. I don't see how I am "immature". I made a 1 hour drive for this interview. She asked if I could come at 3pm and I arrived at 2:50pm. I rang the door bell two times and then knocked the third time. After no one answered all three times, I called her cellphone. When she answered, I just said "Hi, it's K. I am at your front door and I don't know if you heard me ring the doorbell"....to which she responded "Oh yes..the kids are in the basement and I am finishing up a phone call with my mom, I will be down in 5 minutes.". She CLEARLY heard be ringing and knocking and chose to ignore me. She could have come down and at least let me in. I would have gladly waited INSIDE the doorway while she finished a conversation. I found it VERY rude to just expect me to wait outside for 5 minutes in the rain. It's been raining here for 2 days..so yes she knew it was raining. I was not going to walk back to my car, wait in my car and then come back. This just proved to me that she was not the type of MB I would want to work for. Yes, I did ignore her two phone calls because I was too busy venting on the phone to my friend who is also a nanny. She left me a VM with the second call saying "I don't understand why you left...you just had to wait on the porch for 10 minutes. Please call me back and let me know if you'd like to come back."....So "5 minutes" was actually 10 minutes. When I got home, I sent her an email saying that I did not appreciate having to wait on her front porch and that I was no longer interested in the job.

To the people saying I am "immature", you really have no justification for that at all. Having been a nanny for 7 years now, I do not waste my time on families like this which is why, I have never had to come on here and complain about a MB like 90% of the nannies on here do. I pick my families VERY specifically and have been lucky to work for GREAT families.

I'm a happily employed nanny, and I think you are...wrong.

I do a lot of on-call work on the weekends, saving up money for graduate school, and am often 10 minutes early for the same reason as you: I don't want to be late, so I give myself a little extra time and end up arriving ahead of schedule. Like you, I usually ring the doorbell for the first time between 5-8min. ahead of my scheduled appointment (whether it's work or an interview) and often find myself waiting outside until the official time. But while I do ring the doorbell a few times in the minutes following, and knock a couple of times, I won't ever call a parent to check in until our scheduled appointment time has come and passed. If you had assumed, when you first rang and got no answer, that she was busy getting out of the shower, or changing a dirty diaper, or finishing up a quick toy clean-up because she wanted to make a good impression, and had gone back to your car (or ducked out of the rain), and then come back to ring again at the time she was expecting you, absolutely nothing would have been wrong with this event. I think you made this a problem, not the MB, by trying to rush your appointment.

OP Here: By the time I called her, it was 4 minutes to 3:00. I don't think I should have went to my car for 4 minutes. I always arrive 5-10 minutes early for interviews and have NEVER had this issue. This was more of a household manager position as the kids are 12 & 10 so there was no diapers being changed, etc. I would have understood if she was on a work call but this was a call with her mom and she HEARD me ring and knock. You just don't ignore someone at your door because they are FOUR MINUTES early.

What if she was actually naked, just getting out of the shower, and didn't want to say that so instead she said she was finishing up a phone call and would be right down? You just seem very inflexible and immature, and to exhibit complete disinterest in showing any kind of attempt at being understanding. I think she's well rid of you, tbh.