WIBU to ask our nanny not to smoke before work?

[RelaxMax]

We have a new nanny - going ok so far, but she obviously smokes just before starting work, and on her lunch break. She very obviously smells of smoke when she comes in, and there's a fainter smell all day.

I hate the smell of smoke but more importantly I've read that third hand smoke on clothing can be harmful to young children and we have a 6 month old.

So I'm not sure what to do - as an employer can I just tell her not to smoke on her working days because of the smell and risk? Or is it none of my business what she does outside working hours?

You can't really ask her not to smoke in her own time, but you can ask her to wash her hands and eat some mints before starting her duties.

Penggwn - good. Bye bye.

Martiniwini - thread has moved on!

I also think you handled it well, Fwiw.

And at no point appeared spiteful (srlsy wtf?)

Sounds like as good an outcome as could be expected - hopefully she'll stop or find a more suitable job. My DN gave up when she was going to lose a job opportunity that specified no smoking so hopefully it'll cause her to rethink.

The baby smelled of smoke after she held him? Really?

I didn't know that my mum and dad, our house, and presumably l stank of smoke until I went to boarding school aged 8. My mum's letters to me smelt of cigs, - it used to make me homesick! All gifts and presents and even her freshly laundered ironing smelt of smoke. I wasn't a smoker and never went on to smoke, but if you live amongst it, you can get nose blind. I can't stand the smell now. Obviously someone who smokes a lot and in their car smells worse than someone who smokes 5 a day and always outdoors, but a non-smoker will still smell it if they stand close or share a small space.

You can open some reading folders in school and the smell nearly knocks you out.

When pfb was very tiny (under a week old) we had BF support workers come out to help. One in particular absolutely reeked of smoke - whether she smoked or had just visited a smoky house I have no idea. But in my post-natal, post-PPH, starving-pfb haze I was absolutely fixated on how she was poisoning my baby and couldn't wait to throw all the windows open as soon as she had left.