Sorry OP, but dusting and vacuuming as well as loading a dishwasher are housekeeping duties not nanny duties.

The sheets, organizing toys and preparing their meals are nanny duties.

That may give you a little insight perhaps.

OP here. Thanks for all the brainstorming.
I guess she wants a good reference too.
The one person I talked to is supposedly her new boss and I was honest when she asked what made me fire her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's hoping for a goodbye bonus. That's why she's putting in the work now.

What kind of idiot would ever think they'd get a goodbye bonus when they're being FIRED? Moron.

Don't shoot the messenger! It was a hypothesis.

She wants a good reference

Anonymous wrote:She's hoping for a goodbye bonus. That's why she's putting in the work now.

What kind of idiot would ever think they'd get a goodbye bonus when they're being FIRED? Moron.

She's hoping for a goodbye bonus. That's why she's putting in the work now.

She wants a good reference. Enjoy her better job performance, and before she leaves tell her you appreciate that she did finally step up after giving you notice, but that you would suggest she start her next job off on a good note by actually DOING her job.

If you choose to write her a reference letter, be matter of fact and straight forward about the job performance issues, but don't come off as bitter - that will make people less likely to believe you. Same goes for phone references.

Anonymous wrote:She wants a good reference and realizes you probably won't give her a stellar one since she did a half as job and asked for to many days.

+1

Or she just wants to leave things on a good note.

Or maybe unbeknownst to you she's been very depressed and this new job will allow her to make the changes she wants to make and she's feeling more chipper and motivated since she knows there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Or maybe now that she's going she realizes how lovely your family was to her and wants to put in her best before she goes because she knows she didn't earlier.

Or a trillion other reasons. We don't know her, OP.

She wants a good reference and realizes you probably won't give her a stellar one since she did a half as job and asked for to many days.

Anonymous wrote:Did you ever actually have a conversation with her about performance issues before firing her? It sounds like you jumped the gun, and since being fired was the first time she was informed of any issues, that is when her performance improved. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for you both. She needs to fully understand all aspects of the job she is agreeing to do, and perform them reliably. You need to be a better manager and communicator as an employer. Good luck!

You missed the OP. The issues were communicated several times. Please read again.

Anonymous wrote:Did you ever actually have a conversation with her about performance issues before firing her? It sounds like you jumped the gun, and since being fired was the first time she was informed of any issues, that is when her performance improved. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for you both. She needs to fully understand all aspects of the job she is agreeing to do, and perform them reliably. You need to be a better manager and communicator as an employer. Good luck!

Regardless of the cleaning, which they overlooked, nanny is asking for a considerable amount of time off that was not part of the agreement.

WIth your next nanny don't let the performance issues slide.

Also, maybe reconsider the "live in" thing? It's pretty tough to undo a bad hire if they're living in your home.

Did you ever actually have a conversation with her about performance issues before firing her? It sounds like you jumped the gun, and since being fired was the first time she was informed of any issues, that is when her performance improved. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for you both. She needs to fully understand all aspects of the job she is agreeing to do, and perform them reliably. You need to be a better manager and communicator as an employer. Good luck!

Because she is probably hoping you will reconsider. She got away with not doing it and there were no consequences. What you are asking is very basic and reasonable. Let her go and move on.

We've had this live in nanny for 9months now.
When we interviewed we clarified the details about the job description including changing the kids' sheets dusting and vacuuming their room once a week, helping them to sort their toys when putting them away, and the most critical part of it all: being upstairs at 7am every morning since the kids wake up around 7:20-7:30. She was supposed to unload the DW and prepare bfast for the kids during this time. Due to an illness I cannot tend to them at wake up so this morning routine was crucial.
Anyway, every morning she waited until I brought the kids downstairs to come up and start the day. Never once unloaded the DW, never asked the kids to sort toys and rarely changed their sheets or cleaned their room. They have asthma and this was part of their treatment so I ended up having to do it when I noticed she hasn't done it. We talked a few times but she ignored it.

In every other aspect she was amazing. The kids love her she's responsible and so loving! So we put up with the down sides. She used her 2week vacation within 3 months and mentioned she wanted to spend new years eve in NYC asking if we needed her help on the week between Xmas and new year. I said we needed it but she'd have the holiday off so some of it would be unpaid.

Well, 8 weeks ago she came to me and asked for 12 weeks off between October and end of December to visit her family in CA. I was in shock! Dh and I talked and we decided to let her go. We gave her 8 weeks notice and suddenly she started doing EVERYTHING! I mean EVERYTHING.

What in the world is going on in her head? I got one call for a reference - apparently she's taking a new job in November and will spend October in CA - but nothing else.

I wonder why suddenly she's doing what she was supposed to be doing all along :/