'I couldn't believe what had just happened to me. As I sat in the station cafe I did not know whether I wanted to cry or be sick. That morning I had woken up feeling incredibly happy. I was looking forward to a relaxing day saying "goodbye" to all my work friends and after lunch being chauffeured to the station to travel home for a long weekend before jetting off to my next job in Paris. I had packed my case the evening before to give me time to enjoy my last day.
'Just as the children and I were finishing breakfast my employer, Lady Jane, came into the nursery with a face like thunder. She demanded that I open my suitcase so she could search it. I was shocked, but I knew I had nothing to hide. First she pulled out the outgrown girls' dresses that she had said I could have. Then, to my horror, she found one of her own silk scarves folded among my T-shirts. I still do not know how it got there. I had picked up my pile of ironed clothes from the laundry room where the housekeeper left them, and I can only assume it must have accidentally been put in with my things. I would certainly never wear a headscarf or have any use for one. Like most people my age, my chosen headgear would have been a baseball cap. Lady Jane was furious and called me a thief. She said that in a stock-taking she had discovered that tins of pet food and household linen were missing, and asked me what I had done with them. She told me that as my childcare had been so good she would not inform the police, but I was to leave the house immediately. I bundled my possessions back into the case and asked permission to call a taxi to take me to the station. None of the other staff seemed to want to speak to me and avoided my eye when I tried to say goodbye.
'I spent the whole train journey home wondering how such a wonderful job could have gone so wrong. After I got my NNEB I had had two long-term jobs.
Then, when my boyfriend and I split up, I decided to concentrate on my career and travel. So I signed up with several agencies looking for high-profile temporary and maternity work. I had a brilliant lifestyle. I am a friendly, adaptable person and I loved the variety of working for different people.
'This job in the wilds of Scotland had been really enjoyable. I had been employed for three months to care for Edmund, who was six months old. He was being sick and had totally lost his sleeping pattern, so the daily nanny could not cope with him as well as his two sisters. The daily, Morag, was a local girl whose parents worked for the estate. She was great with the children but had never been trained. I found out she was very poorly paid, but glad to have a job where she could stay near her boyfriend.
'I realised that Edmund was sensitive to cows' milk, which he was getting in some of the home-made foods while he was being weaned. He was also a very determined baby who was picked up as soon as he made a sound. I changed his diet and closely supervised it, and got him into a routine where he would take a last bottle at 7pm and sleep until 6am. His mother was delighted.
'Lady Jane and I got on well from the start. We shared the same sense of humour and she loved to talk about London, where she had lived until she married. She was a lot younger than her husband and did not share his interest in outdoor country pursuits. While he spent most of his time outdoors on the estate, she said the only exercise she wanted was at the health and fitness club down in the town.
'When I told her I was going to be godmother to my baby niece, she said I could take the outgrown girls' clothes for her, which were beautiful. I got on well with Morag and we shared the care of the other children. I did feel that the girls took advantage of her, so I was quite strict with them. She was shocked when I told her how much I earned, but I said it was a normal wage for London.
'This was the first house I had worked in where there had been so many staff. I looked after the children in the nursery wing, but the cook prepared all our meals and the housekeeper did the laundry. If we needed to go out the chauffeur would drive us. The staff were all local people and it seemed that the estate was the largest local employer. I thought I got on well with everybody, but looking back, I wonder if they did resent me. The cook was certainly not happy to discover that it was her puddings that made Edmund sick. I have always been on first-name terms with my employers and Lady Jane was no different, but the other staff addressed her as 'madam'.
'When she went to the health club with her children, she took me instead of Morag, and although trying to supervise the two girls in the pool and feed Edmund was hard work, I think Morag might have felt slighted. She did not argue when I introduced changes and extra activities and was always nice to my face, but she may have complained to Lady Jane behind my back.
'I was in tears when my mother met me at the station and the first thing I did was phone my agency.
The agency's response
The agency says, 'I was shocked to get a tearful phone call from Heather explaining what had happened to her. When I had last spoken to both parties, everything seemed to be going well. Lady Jane had said Heather was a lovely girl who had totally sorted out the baby's problems, given some good advice to the nanny and safely been left to run the nursery. Heather had said Lady Jane was great fun and had given her a free hand to organise everything for the children.
'When I rang Lady Jane, she complained that Heather had been too familiar with her, which had caused problems with the other staff, that she had totally ruled the nursery, making decisions without asking her and upsetting the permanent nanny. The final straw had been when she was caught stealing. I told her that Heather mentioned that she had been given the girl's clothes. Lady Jane replied that yes, she had been told she could take some, but not all - she took some that were hand-smocked and very expensive. She was adamant that Heather must have taken the missing pet food and bed linen, even though, other than using the post, she had no way of taking them off the estate. She wouldn't hear a word against the other staff, who had been with the family for years and were totally loyal.
'It was obvious the working relationship had broken down long before Heather realised anything was wrong. She had been with me since she left college, and I had never had a complaint. However, if I placed her with a family and anything went missing, or if they found out she had been accused of theft, I would be in serious trouble. The only thing I could do was contact every employer she had worked for, explaining that an allegation of theft had been made, and asking if they had had any reason to doubt her honesty. They were all unanimous in praising her work and her integrity.'
What happened next
Heather says, 'I was really relieved when Sarah at the agency and all my past employers believed in me, so I decided to carry on with my life and put the unpleasantness behind me. I spent the summer working abroad, so Ididn't have much contact with the agencies until Christmas, when, for the first time, there just didn't seem to be any work around.
'As a permanent temp, I was registered with several agencies, and had usually been in the position of having to choose which job I accepted. One of my friends told me she had been offered two jobs by a particular agency that morning, so I phoned them to ask about the job she didn't want. I couldn't believe it had gone, but the agency insisted that they had nothing to offer me. I suddenly had a very nasty feeling, so I phoned Sarah at my first agency and she managed to find out I had actually been blacklisted for theft.'
The Nanny'sword
The agency says, 'I phoned the other agency who told me they had been informed that Heather had been caught stealing by her employer. I explained what employers had told me, but ultimately it was Heather's word against Lady Jane's. Although agencies earn their money by placing nannies with families, they are under no obligation to offer work to any individual and will not risk using someone there are doubts about.
Heather says, 'All this happened a long time ago. I was very lucky that I had already established a good reputation for myself with certain agencies and employers. A lot of my subsequent work came from repeat maternity bookings, recommendation to my employers' friends and the agencies who knew me well. But it was still an upsetting experience and it made me realise just how vulnerable a nanny's reputation can be. I would say to any young nanny, "No matter how much you like your employer, never forget she is your boss and not your friend. She pays your wages and her reference may decide whether or not you get another job!"'
Names have been changed.
