If you have a sicky child, do you still expect other people to look after them?!

[HarrietKettleWasHere]

My boss is a tit. Apologies for the third thread on it

He really makes me cross.

Backstory- I am supposed to be leaving my job at the end of next month. I think I'm done from today. I'm a nanny and took a job that seemed interesting as it had PA stuff attatched too. It's been a disaster and I ended up doing the job of five people, so last week I said I wasn't going to continue.

Got an email last night to say my charge and his dad were currently cluttering up the local a&e unit as the child had been sick every 45minutes in the last few hours. Dad cross as no doctor had bothered to see them yet this was at 3am so didn't look until this morning.

They got sent home as child has a bug

Mum is away on business and dad can't cope. I was summoned in to work at 8 to a) clean up sicky bedclothes b) care for vomiting child.

I said no. I do not think I am being unreasonable. I have said I will come in when he has been sick-free for five hours.

Dad is now livid and can't get to work. I just had a voicemail saying I am uncaring and unprofessional.

ARGHHH. Not going to last until December, clearly.

Yanbu

Looking after a sick child during your normal working hours is probably fair enough as a nanny, but not going in early unless it suits you and they are paying extra

Judging the fuck out of parents who took
vomiting child to a&e (tiny babies and children with underlying conditions aside, a&e isn't necessary for 99.9% of sickness bugs) and then mere hours later send him to his after school activity

I remember your previous thread. You owe them nothing. Ywnbu to not go in altogether given they're unlikely to pay you when you catch it and have time off, if you're going to not get paid you might as well do it without getting sick.

There would be no extra pay. I'd be there from 8-10pm. I'm salaried not hourly, and getting overtime hours out of them is like blood out of a stone, because I am supposed to be a 'committed all-rounder'. That's code in my contract for being at the beck and call.

I'd ring the kid's after-school sports club, say he has D&V and ask them not to let him join in today. Bastard of a useless father.

I wouldn't go in to work either, and would just leave now I think.

He sounds awful. He can bloody well parent and clean up after his poor son. Don't clean up his vomit that has been left for you! Grim.

Just leave. Seriously, what are you getting from either the job or the multiple threads all saying the same thing? You're treated badly and your employers prove over and over they are vile people.

Well, usually people pay nannies to be "on duty" during school hours, in order to avoid this specific scenario of having to take time off work to care for children. So if the dad is too tight to pay the going rate for a nanny available to him from 8am, then I would probably say no too.

Or, at the very least, I would have said I'd come in for cash-in-hand at an extortionate rate if cleaning duties were also required. In fact, I probably would bin bag the vomitty sheets etc and leave them for the dad to deal with on his return - after all, if he was so run ragged caring for his ill child to not be able to deal with sticking a load in the washing machine, then you would be too, presumably.

I'd not take the child to after school club either. If you are on duty from 3pm, I think you would be failing in your duty of care to the child to send/take him to any club knowing he was unwell and possibly contagious.

Can't see how the fuck child sick enough to warrent an a&e visit cab possibly be well enough to do karate, to be honest.

Well quite. So presuming that you are the one supposed to get him there, I just wouldn't.

I’ve used nannies for almost 30 years due to the ages of my kids.

D&V is one thing I do not expect them to deal with.
Also if they were pregnant or had a medical condition that could be effected by another type of illness in my kids then that would go on the nope you stay at yours but still get paid list

Yanbu. Walk away.

I wouldn't go in if I were you. Why would you risk catching the bug and suffering? You don't owe the family anything.

I wouldn't expect a nanny to look after a child with a contagious bug, that's unfair. You're not a healthcare worker. Parents generally have to take time off/find emergency childcare when child is contagious and can't go to nursery, I think it's common decency not to expose the nanny to the virus unnecessarily!

How did it go? Please say the kid didn't go karate!

No he did not go! Poor thing was way too wiped out anyway. I don't have whatever he had yet. Touch wood.

YABU. It's your job. Go do it.

It was yesterday and no, it's not her job. She wasn't supposed to start until 3pm.

Hope the next few weeks go quickly for you OP.

I also remember you. Extended probation wasn't it? Arseholes. Being expected to into work as a nanny - speaking from experience! To care for sick children however shitty it is is fine, obviously bearing in mind something a pp said about cautions, eg pregnant nanny caring for child with chicken pox etc. I think they are BU to expect you to go in early just cause the dad doesn't wanna sort his child out. That's not on. I believe you were right to stick to your guns and tell him you would be in at your usual pre arranged Work time!! Good luck