You handled it well OP. Perhaps there is another friday when you could come home early and give her an early head start to the weekend as a thank you?

Anonymous wrote:I do this on purpose sometimes with a new nanny. I need to know that nanny will be there for me when I really need her, so sometime within the first month or so I will be really late and see how she reacts. If she were to complain then I could look for a new nanny. Honestly I don't care if she comes on here and complains about me being a "bad MB" or something for being late, life happens, and if I can't count on my nanny then why am I employing her.

Nice try, Troll. Please try to get a life of your won and stop bothering us. You are so boring.

I do this on purpose sometimes with a new nanny. I need to know that nanny will be there for me when I really need her, so sometime within the first month or so I will be really late and see how she reacts. If she were to complain then I could look for a new nanny. Honestly I don't care if she comes on here and complains about me being a "bad MB" or something for being late, life happens, and if I can't count on my nanny then why am I employing her.

You sound like a very considerate employer OP in that you truly respect your nanny's time and value her services and I commend you for that because, trust me...Not all families think the way you do.

That being said, what occurred was a one-time thing and totally out of your control. I am sure she understands this and appreciated the fact that you texted her to let her know. And good for you for remembering to compensate her for the extra hour.

If you still feel terrible about it, what I suggest you do to make things right again (even though I am quite sure your nanny is already over it), is in the future, if possible, let her off earlier than planned but still pay her for it.

In other words, offer her some paid time off. That should make you feel a lot better.

It's a one time deal, it's fine.

OP here. Thanks all. Definitely a very rare occurrence. I have people to call, just kept thinking we were almost done! I am certainly aware that my nanny has better things to do on a Friday night than spend an extra hour with my kid. Will get her a little gift next week and be very conscientious not to let it happen again. I just feel terrible.

Thanks!

It happens. I was rear ended coming home and had to do the same thing.
Likewise she was an hour late once due to stuck near an accident. Just communicate, it all goes around.

There are two answers here:
1) Do exactly what you did--give notice as much as you can, apologize profusely, pay for the time, and maybe consider doing something else as a gesture of apology such as letting her go early another day.
2) Be self-aware about whether this is really a one-time thing or if you are late more than you think (or if you are going to start having these meetings more if there is something going on at work). If youthink this may be or become an issue, know that a good nanny will get sick of this fast and a) look for other backup options or b) talk to nanny about extending her guaranteed hours or better yet--both!

Give her a surprise when you can.

Let it go. Shit happens. See if you can arrange for someone else to be your backup for when things like this happen in the future (because they will).

No, you did the right thing, OP. BUT is there any way that you could set up a back-up plan with DH or family member should this happen again? I am a nanny and I understand that things happen but I also have my own obligations after work. It sounds like you understand that your nanny does too - so do everything you can to not force her to stay an hour after her scheduled time again.

I feel terrible. I got called into a meeting half an hour before the end of the workday. I'm a lawyer - the meeting ended up being the associates being bitched at by the partners for an hour and a half. As a result, I was 1 hour late to relieve our nanny! I texted her to let her know, apologized profusely, and of course paid for the extra time. She was very gracious, but I still feel awful. Anything else I should do?