The Nanny Stories, Part 1

The Nanny Stories

We’ve all heard the stories about the horrors of having a nanny. One story trends every now and then in social media. And yet sometimes – most of the time even – we could not help taking risks in hiring one. Because we need a nanny. And because there are also good ones out there. And I envy those lucky ones.

Z just turned 6. And in the 6 years, we’ve had 6 nannies in a span of 3 cumulative years. Not as many as the others, that’s for sure. I’ve heard others had around 9 in a year! For the 3 years that we didn’t have one, it was my mom and my sister who took the responsibility of taking care of my son.

So let me tell you the story of the 6 nannies. For the sake of privacy, I will not publish any names.

Nanny #1

We hired her as a stay out nanny with duties from Mondays through Fridays. She was in her early 20s, I think. Z was about a year and a half back then. So her duties were relatively easy – bathe Z, feed, put to nap, change nappies.

Nanny #1 was not organized. That was my sister’s feedback. On the second day, while my sister was doing the laundry, the nanny went through my sister’s purse and took money. The nanny didn’t come back on the third day or any other day afterwards with all excuses for not coming back to work.’

So much for Nanny #1.

Nanny #2

We hired Nanny #2 a few months after the first one. My sister found an agency in Baguio (my son was in Baguio back then) and I checked them out. They seem okay. I told them of my requirements – stay out nanny but will have to travel to Manila for a few weeks as Z had scheduled medical consultations with his doctors here. They sent one who was about mid- to late 40s back then.

Overall, she was fine. At first. When she got comfortable, she started coming in late in the mornings, throwing off my mom’s work schedule. There are times as well when she wouldn’t come and will let my mom or sister know that she couldn’t come after being called or texted.

She also didn’t tell us that she had a medical condition that would require surgery if she started bleeding. She was here in Manila with my son back then when it happened. I had to send her back home to Baguio right after Z’s medical consultation. And I needed to file for a week’s leave to take care of Z.

She wanted to report back to work after a week to which I refused. Even the agency was asking me to let her go back to work to which I refused. She needed to get a clearance from her doctor first before she could come back to work. I didn’t want my family to be responsible for her if and when something happened to her if she wasn’t cleared.

After her contract ended, I didn’t renew. She lasted for 6 months. She became sloppy in her job, too, apart from being late. A friend of my sister got her a few months later and experienced the same issues.

Nanny #3

Nanny #3 was the one who stayed the longest. A month short of 2 years. We got her in 2016 as a stay-in nanny. My cousin’s nanny had a sister who was looking for a job, I think. I hired her after a couple of phone calls. That was the time that I was able to bring Z to Manila to stay with me.

She was in her early 20s when we got her and in terms of doing her job, she was good. I actually had no complaints. More often than not, I did not need to tell her what to do because she’s already done it. She was patient with Z and did not hesitate to learn Z’s therapy activities so she could do it at home as well. She was not afraid to ask questions if there’s something that she didn’t understand. Z’s bag was always complete – change of clothes, milk bottles, nappies, water, etc.

I guess at some point she would have been the perfect nanny. Not that there are perfect nannies, anyway.

I am not the most organized person. Let’s say that I’m one of those who function more in “organized chaos”. LOL! So when small, unnoticeable items are missing in my house, I don’t notice it until I start looking for it. And that’s the flaw of this nanny. I didn’t have any cameras installed at home back then (yes, I was too trusting, if you may) so I couldn’t prove anything. But there were just the three of us at home: me, my son and nanny #3. I also lost some money throughout her stay. The worse thing that’s gone missing? Underwear. Yes, you read that right. I’ve had underwear missing that I found in her drawer. When I confronted her about it, she said she didn’t know how it got there. Typical excuse, right? It even went as far as her saying that Z must have put it there.

That was very unlikely. You see, when Z was 3-4 years old, he didn’t know the concept of putting things in different places. He always puts things in their proper place. He has specific places for specific toys where he returns stuff when he’s done using them. So there was no way that Z could have done it.

After New Year’s celebration, 2018, she was supposed to come back from the province. And we were all supposed to travel together back to Manila. She didn’t arrive and had all the excuses about no buses, no rides, etc. Until it came to the point that she admitted something that I probably already knew for a long time but didn’t take the signs seriously. She said she was pregnant and was due in a month’s time.

I travelled alone to Manila and Z was left at my mom’s care. I packed up all the things she left and threw it in the garbage. And during that clean-up, I found other small items missing in the house. Z’s toys that were gifted to him had gone missing too.

And that was the end of her stay with us.

 

It took another year and a half for me to find a nanny. This time I got it from an agency here in Manila. But that story’s for another time. I’ll be writing the experience on the last 3 nannies on my next post.

Let’s share nanny stories, shall we? Comment down your stories, too.

You may also like

30 Comments

  1. Oh no! I remember an agent recommending a yaya to us once. The girl fainted three times in four hours, isinoli naman agad! Pano maiiwanan mag alaga ng baby if maysakit!Though they denied it.

    So i think it’s wise not to hire someone who needs medical attention. Not for you anyway. Of course we want to help but there are families who are far more capable that can help helpers with medical conditions.

    1. So true! She visited the first few months after I ended her contract. I think she was hoping that we’d ge her back but we already got nanny #3 then. Good thing that she didn’t ask me to shoulder her medical expenses. I would have said no regardless and would have demanded the agency to do so for not disclosing the issue.

      Wait for part 2. It gets crazier! πŸ˜‚

  2. I gave up getting a nanny. Ang hirap maghanap ng pagkakatiwalaan some are trustworthy, but most of them na dumaan sa pag aalaga, walang tyaga at may kumukupit pa. Pati coins na nilagay namin by the window kinukupit din.

  3. I gave up getting a nanny. Mahirap maghanap ng pagkakatiwalaan sa bata and money as well. Some can be trustworthy, but most of them are not.

    1. True! Finding a good one is like finding a needle in a haystack. And when you find one, sometimes hindi din sila tatagal because of better opportunities.

  4. The search for the perfect “one” !

    We have been lucky and blessed with Gab’s yaya. Though she went back home to the province, he still meet and take care of Gab when we need her there.

    1. Kung mahirap hanapin si Mr. Right, mas mahirap hanapin si perfect yaya πŸ˜‚

      Bless Gab’s yaya. Hoping and praying na we’ll have someone like her.

  5. omg. this looks like a mommy version of true philippine ghost stories. Cause you were ghosted by all your nannies! hahaha! grabe the one with the elderly, I don’t think I can hire someone who is a bit old as it would feel like i’m with my in law or mom and i can’t correct them kasi “disrespect”. And yeah, mahirap maging liable pag may nangyari sa kanya while working for you.

    1. Yeah, medyo mahirap pag older nanny. Hehe pero in terms of getting things done, mas okay sila kasi you don’t need to tell them what to do. Ang mahirap is correcting them though pero para paraan nalang din. Hehehe

  6. When I gave birth to my youngest, I met this woman named “Fatima”. I got her contacts from a mommy group on Facebook. Since there are good reviews, I decided to call her. After weeks, she finally provided me 1 yaya for me and 1 all around for MIL. They are neighbors from Rizal. I paid Fatima P5000 as her finding fee (2500 each).

    These two angels asked for a cash advance (3k each) to send to their family in Rizal. I gave in since mabait kami ni MIL hahaha. After 2 weeks, my yaya asked for a day OFF kasi uuwi daw family niya sa mindanao. She wanted to say goodbye to her kids and husband. And since I’m mabait nga, I said YES. She promised that she will come back 2 days after. Prior to that, I gave her salary that she worked for 2 weeks ng walang kaltas. I was so stupid! The all-around maid decided to come with her na din since babalik naman daw sila. Pinayagan na din ni MIL.

    And then poof, they’re gone. No call, no text. I reached out to Fatima, I told her to refund nalang because of what happened. At first, she answers our call/text. The last time, nabunggo daw siya ng tricycle. Sabi ko, get well soon. But after that, her number cannot be reached na.

    Gusto ko silang sugurin sa Rizal, but I realized they don’t deserve my time and energy. I just hope wala na lang silang lokohin in the future.

    1. OMG! Ang dami talaga mapagsamantala. I made it a rule naman na no cash advance for any reason at all. Though meron naman ako certain situations na kinoconsider. Pero narealize ko, whether you give them in advance or not, if they want to leave, they will find a way. Kaya mahirap magtiwala.

  7. This is one of the reasons na wala ko yaya or helper, ang hirap maghanap ng okay and ayaw ko sumakit ulo ko. I hope makakuha ka ng pag matagalan na talaga.

  8. Wow, nanny number 3 sounded so perfect already. At the start! Hay, nanny problems, I have too many of those also! We’ve switched a lot of times also in the last couple of years.

    1. Ang hirap no? I got complacent din kasi siguro so I didn’t notice the little things. But she did set the standard ng paghahanap ko ng yaya nowadays. πŸ˜…

  9. Nagkaroon kami ng helper once, pero hindi ko rin kaya ikatiwala yong anak ko. this is one reason why I quit on my job. Nakakatakot talaga nowadays ang daming nanny horror stories.

  10. We also have our own share of horror nanny stories. And because we can’t find a truly reliable one, we trained the then three young boys to survive without their mom and dad at home. They go home from school with all their food on the table. It was a pretty good set up than having headaches because of irresponsible nannies.

    1. I would love to train my son to be independent but it’s gonna be a long road pa to that given his case. But I do hope that there will come a day na hindi na namin need ng yaya. Less gastos πŸ˜…

  11. We only had 2 yayas before then I decided, ayoko na! Hahahaha. That’s when I convinced myself to work from home so we don’t need to hire yayas. Not that I’ve had bad experiences, I’m just more comfortable pag kami-kami lang sa bahay. πŸ˜‰

    1. It really takes getting used to talaga having someone in the house. If only it is easy transitioning to work from home but as of now, it’s not a feasible set up yet.

  12. Hahaha! I had close to 20 yayas na in a span of three years. Yung iba nga, I can’t even remember the names. I had one pa na less than 24 hours lang because ayaw daw niya may bata so pinaalis ko kaagad. Finding a reliable help is hard these days.

    1. The yaya horror stories are waay scary pero it can’t be helped din. Talagang proper screening ang need and lots of cameras at home. 😁

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.