Say something or don't?

[Anonymous]

I like our nanny very much and don't want to offend her. She is great with the dcs but bad with laundry. Everything is wrinkled and put away wrong. She has plenty of time while dcs are at school. To avoid the issue, I take the nicer items out of dds' hamper and wash them myself. Should I say something to nanny? I think she'll be very annoyed if I say something. I don't really mind washing the items myself, but I work FT and have 3 dcs, one with medical problems, so I have to choose what I can get done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like our nanny very much and don't want to offend her. She is great with the dcs but bad with laundry. Everything is wrinkled and put away wrong. She has plenty of time while dcs are at school. To avoid the issue, I take the nicer items out of dds' hamper and wash them myself. Should I say something to nanny? I think she'll be very annoyed if I say something. I don't really mind washing the items myself, but I work FT and have 3 dcs, one with medical problems, so I have to choose what I can get done.

Do yourself ,Ora's bolas....

[Anonymous]

If she would really get offended, and you really don't mind, do it yourself. If you really do mind, but don't want to offend her, spend some time thinking about the most gentle way to approach it, and do that.

[Anonymous]

It's nice you're trying to be so sympathetic to her shortcomings. However it is her job and laundry is part of her duties, so I would say something, but I would go about it like 'Susan, I know this is really petty but I'm weirdly particular about the way I like the laundry to be folded... would you mind doing it this way?'

[Anonymous]

If things are wrinkly she's not taking them out of the machines as soon as they're finished and folding/hanging right away. No big deal for socks and unmentionables but bigger deal for shirts and maybe pants.

I'd say something. "Susan, I wonder if you can hear the buzzer on the dryer when it finishes - everything is winding up wrinkly and I know that happens to me if I let clothes sit in there."

[Anonymous]

Since she does have zero children at home w/her during the day, I would think it is okay to expect your laundry to be wrinkle-free.

Gently & diplomatically know that you prefer it if in the future she could fold the clothes immediately upon taking them out of the dryer to avoid wrinkles please.

Then compliment her on one aspect of her laundry duties that she does well, such as excellent pre-staining the clothes or how soft the towels feel.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

*let her

[Anonymous]

Does she have a lot of other household chore taking up her time and preventing her from folding right away? If not, I would speak up.

[Anonymous]

She is only willing to do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. She does grocery shopping on those days, too, from a list I make. She has no chores on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, by her own choice. She does a very limited amount of cleaning on Fridays.
I am unhappy with this but don't want to speak up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is only willing to do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. She does grocery shopping on those days, too, from a list I make. She has no chores on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, by her own choice. She does a very limited amount of cleaning on Fridays.
I am unhappy with this but don't want to speak up.

It doesn't sound so much of a laundry issue but you need more help. What is she doing on Tuesday and Wednesday's? She should be helping around the house or errands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is only willing to do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. She does grocery shopping on those days, too, from a list I make. She has no chores on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, by her own choice. She does a very limited amount of cleaning on Fridays.
I am unhappy with this but don't want to speak up.

Stop paying her during the daytime on the other 2 days. Since she has consolidated all her chores onto 2 or 3 days, thats a win win, more free time for her, less pay for you.

[Anonymous]

I found that what worked best for us was that I would wash and dry the laundry and then empty the dryer into a laundry basket and just lay all of the pieces flat for her to fold. I had the help of not having to spend the time folding, but also knew that things wouldn't end up wrinkled from sitting in the dryer. Our nanny didn't like doing laundry (for herself or us - it was just a chore that she disliked in general) but this helped by minimizing what she had to do and also helped keep me from going nuts about everything being wrinkled.

I also said something similar to what PPs mentioned that I'm fairly particular about laundry so could the nanny please do x,y,z - mainly it's just follow the instructions on the tags but I know that many people don't.

[Anonymous]

Write a list of steps for laundry, paste it up, hand her one to read and then discuss it later in the day when you return.

If she can't figure out laundry she is either incompetent or half-@$$ing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She is only willing to do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays. She does grocery shopping on those days, too, from a list I make. She has no chores on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, by her own choice. She does a very limited amount of cleaning on Fridays.
I am unhappy with this but don't want to speak up.

You both work FT, have 3 kids one of whom had medical issues and you are scared to have your nanny so her job during the day? During her hours and hours of "downtime"?

I hope you don't bend over that far for any clients at work...

[Anonymous]

Yes, say something.