17 Nannies with Unforgettable Stories About Their WORST Days on the Job

Every job has its nuances, pros, and cons. However, being a nanny is unique because it involves being welcomed into a home and a family, becoming privy to the household’s inner workings, and learning family secrets. While most families turn out to be fairly ordinary, sometimes nannies encounter situations so extraordinary that they can’t help but talk about them endlessly.

• I applied for a vacancy that was placed on a famous job website. I was looking for a nannying job. When they called me, I was prepared to talk about my age, my experience, etc. But I was asked a totally different question, “What’s your Zodiac sign?” When I said I was a Virgo, they said, “Sorry, we’re looking for a Capricorn or a Leo.” © Podslushano / VK
• A woman wrote to me regarding a vacancy. There was a 3-year-old boy, the only child in the family, the mom was divorced, they lived with a grandmother, the salary was quite high. Inspired, I went to the interview. Everything went well until they began to ask me weird questions, like, “How would you react if someone shouted at you?” “Would it be a dealbreaker, if you were called names?” “Are you stress-resistant, or do insults make you cry?” © Miss.Te*** / Рikabu
• I was working as a nanny, and the children’s mother once told me, “My husband doesn’t think we should pay you for when the girls are sleeping...” They were 4 months and 2 years old.
  I was a junior in high school and responded, “Okay, so should I duck out once I tuck them in?” I wouldn’t have done that, but I think at that point she realized how ridiculous her request was. © reckate / Reddit
• I’m not a nanny, but I’ve been babysitting a girl on and off from when she was 5 to 7 now.
  Her: What is that?
  Me: Pineapple
  Her: Oh, I’ve never had pineapple.
  Me: Do you want to try it?
  She does this about everything, too. I asked her mom if she had ever had pineapple, and she was like of course she has! Then I realized she’s just trying to eat my food. © Kacidillaa / Reddit

• In my early twenties, when I worked for a daycare, I would babysit a set of twins from my class on the weekend once in a while. Their mom was super beautiful and had just had breast implants and always did her makeup really well, and she was always going on dates.
  One night, she told me she met a guy and was going on a date with him. She left at 6 and said she’d be back around midnight. Well, pushing 1 a.m., I’m thinking maybe she’s running late. 2 a.m., 3 a.m... I’m calling and calling her and finally her phone just goes to voice mail. I wake up, and it’s 7 a.m. and she still isn’t back.
  The twins are too little to know anyone’s phone numbers, so I go digging through all of their things for some kind of emergency contact and finally find the grandparent’s number in an address book. I call her parents, and they don’t even seem phased. They just seem annoyed like this is business as usual but tell me they’ll be over to sit with the twins, so I can leave. I call the non-emergency police number and explain what’s going on and that the grandparents are on their way, but voice my concern that the lady I’m sitting for was going on a blind date and her phone was going to voice mail, and I’m really concerned.
  I stick around for another hour, and then she pulls up wearing a men’s t-shirt, heels, and she’s laughing. She says jokingly, “Oh my god! Call the police!” I never sat for her again. She just ended up staying with the guy all night and turned her phone off so she couldn’t be bothered. She truly thought I’d dismiss it like it was no big deal. © Kikabennet / Reddit
• I had a phone interview with a mom that went really well, so we met in person for a second interview with her husband and 4 children. It went well until she explained her nanny was fired for having an affair with her husband and how their new nanny needed better morals and to limit her interaction with her husband (who was sitting there the whole time with us).
  I’ve never felt more awkward in my whole life as she told me that I’m pretty but thankfully not his type as he just nodded his head. I just find it irritating how it’s the nanny’s fault when her husband also had the affair, and how the nanny needs morals when her husband clearly doesn’t. So yeah, definitely not accepting this job! © thisisdevon- / Reddit

• So, it is that time of the month for me. I go into the bathroom, and while unwrapping a feminine hygiene product, the kid yells from outside the door, “I can hear you eating candy in there!” It made my day, and made me wish that I was really eating candy. © HalleysComet5 / Reddit
• I was in the living room, watching Sister, Sister, when all of a sudden I hear a man say, “Hello.” I check the front door, look out the window at the driveway, the parents aren’t home. Go upstairs and check the kids, they’re both still in bed.
  Go back downstairs, hear it again, from the darkened dining room, “Hello, I am Armando.” They had a freaking parrot. © Unknown author / Reddit
• My worst moment happened about 5 years ago, a couple years into my nanny career. I was watching 2 little guys who I had every weekend. They were eating snack happily. The toddler was eating goldfish crackers (a toddler staple), nicely putting one in his mouth at a time, just like we’d taught him.
  I turned my back to wash a dish and suddenly heard nothing. He was quiet, the kind of silence toddlers just can’t do. I whipped around to see a choking child. My mind froze, but my body sprung into action. I quickly felt and listened for breathing, there was none.
  I gave him quick pats on the back, nothing. Then I pulled him out of his seat and performed the Heimlich Maneuver. I even managed to aim him over the sink. His throat full of crackers flew out, and he cried for a minute. Then he looked up at me and said, “More fishies?” © Unknown author / Reddit

• The parents asked that I did not use the word “no” with the kids. It was a situation where the mother was at home while I watched the kids. One time, the 4-year-old was trying to spill his orange juice on the table. I said, “No, Wesley! Don’t do that!”
  I was reprimanded by mom. Instead of saying, “No Wesley, you don’t do that,” she asked me to say, “Wesley, you’re not allowed to pour orange juice on the table it makes a mess for me to clean up.” And I understand the logic of explaining why the “no,” but I actually do not understand for the life of me why the word “no” could not be used.
  Additionally, they would allow bad behavior if the child understood what the consequence of that behavior was. One time, Wesley wanted to pee off the balcony. Going with the policy, I said, “Wesley, if you pee off the balcony, you won’t get any books read to you tonight.” He thought it out, and decided he’d rather pee off the side of the balcony into the yard than have his books.
  And? That was it. I had to deal with going down and cleaning his peepees and he felt he could go without the books. © eukaryotes / Reddit
• A lady tried to dump 2 extra kids on me without paying when she realized I was babysitting her neighbor’s kids. Her rationale was that I was already babysitting 2 kids and 2 more wasn’t that much, so I should watch her kids for free and let them eat her neighbor’s food. © CaptDeliciousPants / Reddit
• The family where I babysit has a tiny poodle/yorkie mix who the mother despises. The dog is very well-behaved, she’s just never been one for animals. The puppy was the dad’s prior to them ever getting together.
  They have these 2 fluffy pillows on their couch, and while the parents are away, the dog likes to sleep on them. It leaves a distinct dent in their otherwise perfect fluff. The mother will scold the puppy, and he just looks so sad and heartbroken.
  So every day I quickly hurry downstairs before the mother gets home, refluff the pillows, and go back upstairs. The puppy has not been scolded in months. That’s my confession. And I don’t regret it. © nannybabywhisperer / Reddit

• The dad of the kids I watched liked me on Tinder. Then, when I told his wife, and she didn’t believe me, he convinced her that “his Facebook was hacked.” The kids were almost always wonderful. © marymoon77 / Reddit
• I was 13 and was babysitting my neighbors’ kids. It was my first time, so the parents walked me through all the rules about the bathroom, and TV, and food, and bedtime, etc. Just as the parents were taking off for the night, the mom came back in and whispered to me, “Don’t go into the basement.” As a teenager in the 80s, my mind went to all of the scariest movies that had basements. I avoided the door to the basement all night until I had put the kids to bed.
  Then I walked slowly to the door and put my ear against it. I heard what sounded like whimpering. And then it sounded like sad laughing. I ran to the couch and started watching TV to get my mind off of it, but then I heard something fall in the basement and knew someone was down there. I really don’t know how I got the courage/stupidity to do it, but I went over and opened the door. The whining instantly got louder.
  I went down just 3 or 4 stairs, so I could peek down... and I saw... a goat. Not a ghost. A goat. As soon as the goat saw me, he started bleating loudly. It scared the crap out of me. I went upstairs, and the goat was still bleating loudly, so much that it woke up the kids.
  The oldest girl came out and said, “Did you open the door to the basement?” I said, “Yeah, why?” She said, “When you do that, Carlos thinks you’re going to feed him, and he starts yelling.” Thank god I knew it was a goat first, because if she had said that before I went down, I would’ve thought Carlos was some kidnapped person in the basement who would yell for food.
  It became very funny to me. The mom came home and I told her what happened, and she almost died of laughing. They were repairing the goat pen and had to keep him in the basement for a few days. I still remember every moment of that night vividly. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I nannied for a wealthy couple, and the husband had a study in the house that the wife joked about never being allowed in. Now, I’m nosy, and I was curious about why you wouldn’t let someone in a study, especially since it looked like a fairly normal room: big desk, walls covered in bookshelves, books of architecture everywhere.
  So one day I just roamed around in there. I didn’t really find anything, and I was kinda disappointed, but then I grabbed a book off one of the shelves. The thing had money pressed between its pages — about $500 if I had to guess. Picked up another book, found the same thing.
  I think I checked like ten different books, and every single one had money hidden in it. Still not sure if the dude was just paranoid about banks or if he was intentionally hiding money from his wife. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I worked for a wealthy family, and everything was secretive with them. Like, I couldn’t take the kids to the park. I had to leave through the garage area, I couldn’t have my phone or laptop location on at the house as I had to sign a bunch of waivers before starting. They kept all the windows closed. I mean they meant well and paid well but it was a very stressful environment to be in. © Shook Taylor / Quora
• I agreed to work for a young woman. I noticed that her son looked strange. He was skinny and afraid to make any noise. His mom didn’t even try to talk to him. She would take him on her lap, sit quietly for 5 minutes, and then ask me, “When do you think he’ll start talking?” I would get angry and reply, “Never! Because you never talk to him.” © Azumi / Yandex.Zen

By the way, not all wealthy families hire nannies. For instance, Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes are raising their children without any help.