Au pair and dog poo

[Littleloafofbread]

Dog did a poo in front of the front door during the night - very rare accident and she's never had to clean up after him in six months of being here. Au pair left for work early this morning (we don't need her to work during school holidays so she has a different babysitting job) and rather than cleaning it up, she pushed it out of the way with the door, of course getting it on the door and on the bristles under the door, which of course I have had to clean.

AIBU to say something to the au pair about this? In her defence, it isn't her job to look after or clean up after the dog, there was no other way to get out of the house and she was probably in a hurry to get to work. However, she is an adult and my gut reaction is that she should have just cleaned it up because sometimes these things happen, and by not doing it she knew she was making extra work for me.

Probably best as a dog owner littleloaf

So glad YOU are going to apologise, or did you? Bit confused there. I thought you were still in bed.

But glad you realise your AP should not be cleaning shit at 7am while you are sleeping and she is out the door. poor thing.

The issue here is she made the situation worse by spreading the shit.

I've never had a dog or cleaned up dog shit but I would have cleaned it, maybe taken a pic first to show dog has a problem.

If the shit wasn't right in the doorway I would have sent you a text warning you the dog did a poo so you didn't step in it.

If she doesn't see herself as a pseudo family member then I wouldn't be giving her extra privileges.

" probably would have used wet wipes or kitchen roll to push it out of the way so I didn’t get it stuck in the door"

That would have been a good compromise.

It does make more sense that she either didn't see it or thought that the door wouldn't reach it.

YOU are going to apologise, or did you? Bit confused there. I thought you were still in bed.

Ooh the judgement is dripping off that comment! Funnily enough, there is a thing these days called messaging, so I didn't have to track her down in the flesh to speak to her.

However, I always thought the point of an Au Pair was to treat them like family rather than a paid employee, so I'd be pissed off in your shoes, too - as I would expect another adult family member to help look after the family dog.

^This

Gosh- I sometimes wonder if there's a paralel universe where people read a thread and its totally different to the one I'm reading.

Dog doesn't poo in house normally

Dog gets caught short

AP seems to be happy in her job and OP seems a reasonable host.

AP would never be expected to pick up after dog- however AP was first on the scene

AP made the accident worse by smearing it under the door when a 30 second mop up would have sorted.

OP seems quite reasonable in feeling a little disgruntled. But accepts that she probably shouldn't raise with AP.

you are a nightmare 'employer'

that is all.

You didn't apologise at all did you? You woke up to dog shit and were irritated it hadn't been dealt with.

Awful.

A thing called messaging WTF?

Get your story straight.

Did she know there was a dog in the household when she accepted the position?

Looking after a dog is responsibility for the whole household and she is now part of it.
She dealt with the situation very immaturely and irresponsibly and made a minor mishap worse..

I would worry what else she would be immature and irresponsible about.

Is she otherwise ok with the dog? Keep a close eye on that, could she be stressing him out in some way so he’s behaving out of the ordinary?

Francis with all due respect, I think the story changing OP is a bit cray cray. Take it with a pinch of salt.

NO WAY this was an unsual thing for the AP. You need to read between the lines.

Also, why would you text your 'employer' at 7am?

I think parents with young DD's get all this.

I draw the line at dog poo I really do.

Are you having a bad morning Wendy?

OP stated she apologised. Not Me.

A bit after her original OP

She did? I'll eat the dog poo.

I'm with HObbes, this is another MN parralel universe.

AP has grown up with dogs, therefore knows that dogs crap, she knows there is a dog in the house, she presumably knows that the dog does not normally crap in the house and that there will be poo bags for that dog somewhere. She could probably make a good stab at guessing where that is. Given that you employ an OP hoping they will make responsible choices for the safety of your family, I'd have thought picking up the damn poo as a one-off rather than smearing it all over the kitchen door in a house with small children would be the responsible choice. But clearly I'm in the minority and dog poo is actually anthrax

Our nanny has a dog. She sometimes brings him to play with our dog & kids. The poo politics of that must blow some of your minds! fortunately we're all just grown-ups who help each other out

Yep Maude I am!

But one thing I am clear on is Dog Shit.

How is your morning?

It’s dog poo, not radioactive dragon waste.

Thanks @FlopsyMopsyRabbit . I hadn't seen that and was totally confused!

Wow, there are some nutty responses on here this morning...

Of course she noticed it, it's a huge dog shit, the smell would give it away!

It's ridiculous that she opened the door onto the shit and got it all under the bristles, I wouldn't do that in a stranger's house, let alone a house I was an au pair in!

If she was adamant she didn't want to pick it up, she should've woken you up to do it rather than spread it out all over the floor.

I'd be pretty pissed off

The hard of thinking seem to be out in force on this thread (WendyCope et al).

I honestly can't see how the Au Pair missed seeing the poo, unless she was in some sort of daze when she left your house. In the unlikely event that she didn't see/smell the poo, surely she would have noticed it being dragged under the door? Such a lazy and unpleasant thing to do. I'd be concerned that there are other things she does that you wouldn't like if you knew about them.

*Probably best as a dog owner littleloaf

So glad YOU are going to apologise, or did you? Bit confused there. I thought you were still in bed.

But glad you realise your AP should not be cleaning shit at 7am while you are sleeping and she is out the door.  poor thing.*

How very dare the OP be in bed at 7, despite the AP going out at 7! Just so unfair!! I think your the cray cray one @WendyCope!

Not her dog, not her responsibility to clean it's shit up

@AryaStarkWolf but was it her responsibility to not spread it further? Or to alert and give the owners opportunity to clean it up and not have it spread through the hall and on the door bristles?

I think people understand the not her dog, but calling OP a nightmare employer (not you but cray cray Wendy) for something that had never arisen before is surely not acceptable.

I say I'd be considering her future in my home, if she did this knowingly. If whoever came to my home and went to the door, saw shit and deliberately ignored it and didn't give me the option to clear it up and then spread it all over, they would not be welcome in my home again.

Disgraceful behaviour.