Contemplating letting nanny go

[Anonymous]

We have had a nanny of three weeks. She is really amazing. From the moment we interviewed I knew she was the one. Our answers and personalities matched perfectly. She has been a godsend with my newborn and my son adores her. My son is so happy and that makes me happy. She goes out of her way to help us with duties like running errands, cleaning dishes, tidying up, etc. Needless to say we think we found the perfect nanny.

The only issue is she has missed three days of work. She missed two days last week and one yesterday. The first two were due to strep throat and the second was due to a stomach virus. Two of the three days she offered to come in anyway but we told her to stay home. Thankfully we have not had miss any work ( we took shifts working from home/office).

We are sympathetic to her being sick but we also worry that she has missed three days already. I don't want to lose her as nanny so we are torn.

[Anonymous]

I would give it 1 more week. If she misses anymore work or is even 5 minutes late I would start looking. She should be on her A game this early on so she should never be late. But give it 1 more week.

[Anonymous]

Only you can make the decision to lose
her as a nanny. I would chalk it up to bad
timing. Nannies get sick, they are human too,
Did her references say she had a good work
ethic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only you can make the decision to lose
her as a nanny. I would chalk it up to bad
timing. Nannies get sick, they are human too,
Did her references say she had a good work
ethic?

The site we found her on has multiple positive reviews, she had 5 glowing references, and a wonderful recommendation letter from her most previous position. Everyone spoke highly of her. On the days she has been here, she is always prompt and stayed late twice for us. Like i said, her taking sick days is the only issue we have. She is amazing, otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Tough call, OP.

[Anonymous]

That's tough OP, but I'd be inclined to give her a bit more time. A great nanny is hard to find and anyone can have a tough streak.

Talk to her about your concerns and listen to your gut. Hopefully this will prove anomalous and she'll be with your family a long time.

[Anonymous]

That is a lot of work to miss in the first 3 weeks, but if she's as amazing as you say I can't imagine why you wouldn't give it some more time before firing her. Nannies are human and they get sick. Right now everyone I know is sick and sickness spreads fast. If she volunteered to come in with strep throat she is clearly committed to your family and feels awful about taking time off already. This sounds exactly like what happened to me in my current position when I started two years ago. I missed 3 days in 4 weeks and thought for sure I'd get fired. Lucky for both of us, my boss was very understanding and decided to give me the benefit of the doubt. Two years later, I've only missed 2 other days from sickness and both were during this bad cold season.

Give her another month OP, if she turns out to be flakey you can replace her then. If your nanny is as good as you say, you'd be crazy to fire her already. Amazing nannies are hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

Fire that B.

[Anonymous]

Didn't this exact situation get posted last week as well?

Everyone there said to give the nanny the benefit of the doubt, this is cold/flu season, and hopefully she'll be on the mend soon. And people told you not to hold the day she offered to come in but you said no against her.

Besides, you have a limited number of sick days in your contract anyway right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn't this exact situation get posted last week as well?

Everyone there said to give the nanny the benefit of the doubt, this is cold/flu season, and hopefully she'll be on the mend soon. And people told you not to hold the day she offered to come in but you said no against her.

Besides, you have a limited number of sick days in your contract anyway right?

You must have me mistaken. I have never posted on here before, only lurked.

[Anonymous]

Your nanny just hit a bad patch health-wise. I would see what happens in the nest month. Certainly is it continues you will have to fire her.

[Anonymous]

MBs, incase you were wondering why nannies do this with such frequency... we take sick days early to see how you react. You may be in love with us but from our point of view you are just another job. In the first week or two we still have open contacts with other families we were in talks with or have already interviewed with. If we take 2-3 sick days in the first 2-3 weeks we can see how you will handle the stress of finding coverage, pay, and everything else and get to see if you make it awkward to ask for a day off. If you make a big deal we quit and accept an offer from another family, but if all goes well we start working like normal.

So, it wasn't "Strep" or a "stomach bug", just a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MBs, incase you were wondering why nannies do this with such frequency... we take sick days early to see how you react. You may be in love with us but from our point of view you are just another job. In the first week or two we still have open contacts with other families we were in talks with or have already interviewed with. If we take 2-3 sick days in the first 2-3 weeks we can see how you will handle the stress of finding coverage, pay, and everything else and get to see if you make it awkward to ask for a day off. If you make a big deal we quit and accept an offer from another family, but if all goes well we start working like normal.

So, it wasn't "Strep" or a "stomach bug", just a test.

I'm a nanny and this is the dumbest post I've ever read to date. You may be a flake and not take your job seriously but you better bet you a** that us other nannies do. You may have no morals, integrity, and are a liar but majority of us aren't. I am doubting pp is even a nanny. She is probably some pathetic troll who has no life. Probably even a nanny wannabe who can't get a great job. Ignore her.

OP, please don't listen to his dumb**s. Im sure your nanny was legit sick and not playing some immature game. I say give her more time because it could be a bad streak. Everyone is getting sick this season. I would give her at least anther 2 weeks and if she takes off, fire her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MBs, incase you were wondering why nannies do this with such frequency... we take sick days early to see how you react. You may be in love with us but from our point of view you are just another job. In the first week or two we still have open contacts with other families we were in talks with or have already interviewed with. If we take 2-3 sick days in the first 2-3 weeks we can see how you will handle the stress of finding coverage, pay, and everything else and get to see if you make it awkward to ask for a day off. If you make a big deal we quit and accept an offer from another family, but if all goes well we start working like normal.

So, it wasn't "Strep" or a "stomach bug", just a test.

This is absolutely, 100% ridiculous. Not true at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MBs, incase you were wondering why nannies do this with such frequency... we take sick days early to see how you react. You may be in love with us but from our point of view you are just another job. In the first week or two we still have open contacts with other families we were in talks with or have already interviewed with. If we take 2-3 sick days in the first 2-3 weeks we can see how you will handle the stress of finding coverage, pay, and everything else and get to see if you make it awkward to ask for a day off. If you make a big deal we quit and accept an offer from another family, but if all goes well we start working like normal.

So, it wasn't "Strep" or a "stomach bug", just a test.

I'm a nanny and this is the dumbest post I've ever read to date. You may be a flake and not take your job seriously but you better bet you a** that us other nannies do. You may have no morals, integrity, and are a liar but majority of us aren't. I am doubting pp is even a nanny. She is probably some pathetic troll who has no life. Probably even a nanny wannabe who can't get a great job. Ignore her.

OP, please don't listen to his dumb**s. Im sure your nanny was legit sick and not playing some immature game. I say give her more time because it could be a bad streak. Everyone is getting sick this season. I would give her at least anther 2 weeks and if she takes off, fire her.

You sound really dumb.

"OP, it's sick season and everyone is getting sick! You can't hold that against nanny. But if she gets sick in the next two weeks fire her!"