I met Mandy about a year ago. She was an outgoing, chatty nanny with a dry sense of humour. We got on well and often went out on day trips and to play groups with our charges. She'd found a new job caring for a two-year-old girl, Jasmine, with which she got a flat to live in. A few months later the mother, Cheryl, had her second child, Aaron.
One afternoon Mandy told me they were all going on a family holiday to Gozo, Malta, for a month and needed a second nanny. Would I be interested? I said that it sounded good, and I'd like to meet the children's mother.
But weeks passed, so I began to think they had decided to use an agency.
Then one afternoon Mandy called and said that Cheryl wanted to meet me. It was short notice but I agreed to come the next evening. The house was huge and gorgeous - six floors and lavish furniture. They had lots of money and weren't afraid to show it.
Cheryl told me that the family were going to stay in a five-star hotel. I would have my own room, all meals and flights paid for. I would work 11 hours a day and get two days off a week and would be paid 250 net a week plus overtime. This was less than I am normally paid. She said the children would share one room and Mandy and I would have a room either side of that room. I also had a brief chat with her husband.
When I got home I told my father. He said it should be good experience and asked if I had a contract. I didn't, but I thought it would be okay because I knew Mandy.
The following day I informed my regular boss that I would like to arrange two further weeks of unpaid holiday, so I could go away for the month, and she agreed.
I met the children one morning when Mandy and I took Jasmine to get her hair cut around the corner, and soon after Cheryl arrived. She shouted at Mandy, telling her that she had done it wrong. I couldn't believe my ears - the utter disrespect Cheryl had for Mandy. Luckily the maternity nanny arrived and she took me back to the house to tell me the baby's routine. I was left with Jasmine, so I read her a few stories and put her to sleep. I was told to meet them at Heathrow airport on Friday morning.
I had told them that I was claustrophobic and needed to have an aisle seat on the plane. I wasn't provided with one and I wasn't offered an alternative. Throughout the flight I was shaking and nervous, so I stood in the aisle, where I was handed the baby. I comforted him as best I could until he fell asleep. I sat down with him in the tiny economy seat when my arms got tired.
On our arrival at the hotel, a cot was put in my bedroom, which seemed strange. A second cot was put in Mandy's and a third in the 'playroom'. The baby's things were put in my room and I was told that I would take him for the night. As it was the first night and we were all tired, I assumed it was a one-off. The baby woke me several times. His first feed was at 5.30 each morning and I was under strict orders to wait until that time.
My week was arranged on a Friday to Friday basis, two days off a week. My first day off would be Sunday night and Monday. But Mandy and I worked solidly from Friday to Monday morning. Sunday evening I was given Jasmine and told she would be sleeping in my room, on my night off. I disputed this and said it was not what we agreed to - but all in vain.
I had to wake up before 8am with Jasmine and take her to Mandy's room. An hour later I was awoken again so Mandy could collect things for the baby she should have already had. She tried to cheer me up and told me that when she looked after the children overnight she was paid extra, and the same would apply to me.
After breakfast I went to lie by the pool with a book. It cleared my head and I decided I would have to discuss my unhappiness with Cheryl. That night Mandy came down with gastroenteritis, so Cheryl had Jasmine sleeping in her room, and I had Aaron.
The parents took Jasmine to the pool the next morning and I took the baby to join them for awhile, then took him back to the room and continued with our day. By 5pm Mandy was feeling better and joined us in the 'playroom'. I asked Mandy if it would be all right if I went to the bar that evening to have a glass or two of wine. She said she couldn't see why not, as it was my night off. A few moments later Cheryl knocked on the door to say the children would be going with her and Mandy to a friend's house at 5.30. I started to ask if I could go to the bar for a drink, but before being allowed to complete my sentence she shut me up and told me to discuss it with Mandy.
I had a quick dip in the pool before getting ready to go to the bar. I took money so as not to charge what I spent to the family's room bill. I spent an hour or so sitting at the bar chatting with the staff over two glasses of wine. Mandy was back when I returned to my room, and I told her I felt happier about the situation, though I was still unhappy about the hours and sleeping arrangements. Mandy told me she had spoken to Cheryl about my wanting to go to the bar that evening, but if I came back merry I would be on the first flight home. I could understand her not wanting me to get drunk, but to me it isn't classed as a night off if your employer dictates what you can and can't do!
That night I began getting serious stomach pains. At 8.30 in the morning Mandy knocked on the door to collect some of the baby's things. I told her I wasn't well and had had diarrhoea all night and hadn't slept. She said she would let Cheryl know. I said I would phone her in a few hours, after I'd managed to sleep.
I had just about drifted off to sleep when Cheryl called me on the phone, ranting and raving. She claimed that I wasn't working enough hours and if I was unhappy with the situation I should leave. She added that if I did want to leave I would be without a room at midday the next day. I said I was unhappy with the new arrangements, and had in fact worked nearly double the agreed hours since Friday. She wasn't interested and hung up.
I decided to leave there and then and packed my bag.
But when I went to Cheryl and her husband to ask for my return air ticket, I was told no. I said that as they were the ones who had broken the contract, they should in fact give me my return ticket. Reluctantly, they gave me the helicopter ticket and my passport. A few hours later I managed to retrieve the plane ticket with help from a receptionist.
Still suffering from bad diarrhoea, I had to take a cab into the town to the Air Malta office to change my flights, which cost me about 30. I was due to leave the hotel that morning at 3.30am. Believe me, it couldn't have been soon enough!
Back at the hotel, I presented a list of the hours I had worked to the children's father, together with the total cost. As it had been agreed that I would be paid any overtime worked, I figured out the hourly rate to be Pounds 4.55, and charged it throughout the day and nights I was responsible for one child. From Friday to Tuesday night, I had worked 96 hours and totalled it to 436.80.
He looked at me smugly and said, 'We aren't paying you a penny!' I almost laughed in his face, telling him that I had carried out work for them and they had broken the terms of the contract made back in London. He said it was my decision to leave and therefore I was breaking the contract.
I told him that he was an appalling employer and that I would be reporting him to the employment tribunal and to National Insurance if he refused to pay. He didn't care.
When they returned to London I sent them a letter informing them that I would begin legal proceedings if they failed to pay.
A few weeks later I received a letter from them stating that there had been no hours agreed and that I would have had a child in my room each night, to provide 'round the clock' coverage, for 250 a week. Then, unbelievably, they claimed that I was drunk in charge of a child on Tuesday night - which they knew was not true. To top it off, they claimed that Mandy had written a statement to confirm this. This was ludicrous, as they had had Jasmine asleep in their bedroom and Mandy had Aaron that night.
I phoned Mandy to talk to her about it and she told me that they had found a replacement for the next day. I asked if there had been any problems for her after I left and she said no. She was astonished when I told her they were refusing to pay me.
But at the beginning of October a mutual friend said that she had spoken to Mandy, and she had been very coy and didn't seem like herself. This time when I phoned Mandy she seemed unsure what to say to me. I asked her about the 'statement'. She didn't reply. I told her that they had claimed I was drunk in charge of a child, and it wasn't true.
If Mandy backed up the parents I could not take legal proceedings any further, as I would have no witness to that evening. But Mandy said, 'I can't chop and change what I write in my statement, I just can't.'
At that point I was sure of what I had feared - Mandy had been threatened with her job and flat. She was being forced to lie. Cheryl knew she would have to agree. Mandy said she couldn't talk to me and if I wanted to take it further, to do it legally.
Well, what have I learned? Not to trust anyone in this kind of situation, and to always get a written contract before starting any job. It seems that some people with money think they don't have to respect others.
All names have been changed
