The worst job I ever took

I was thinking last night about the jobs I have had over the years and for the most part I've had some good ones.  Then I got to thinking about the worst job I ever took.

I had graduated from Norland, I had finished my 1 year probationary post with a wonderful family in Kensington and I was holding out for jobs in the U.S. mostly interviewing over the phone.  During this time I needed to take on temporary work as I didn't want to commit to a permanent job for a year and there were enough temp jobs at the time to carry me through.  Remember my baby nursing, slipper shuffling experience?
http://textiletrolley.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-nannys-life.html

Anyway I got a call from the Norland Agency asking if I was available to work for a family in London for 10 days starting in 3 days time.  I said I was and was given the phone number to call and have a chat with the parents.  I spoke to the mother and she seemed nice enough, the job was for 2 young children a girl of 4 years and a boy of 7 years.  I was to take over from their old au-pair as the parents were already going to be in the Bahamas by then. 
WHAT?  You were going to leave me in charge of your children for 10 days and you hadn't even met me?  That should have been my first warning.  But I figured Norland had THAT good of a reputation plus I needed the money, how bad could it be!

When I arrived at the house it was Sunday night and I met the au-pair who spoke broken English (she might have been Spanish) she gave me a 5 min tour of the house, introduced me to the children and shot out the door.  Hmmmmmmm second warning???  Immediately the little girl started crying poor thing, she had  just been left alone with a complete stranger.  She had beautiful long, blonde hair, all the way down her back but I couldn't help noticing how tangled it looked.  I was told that the children needed a bath or shower, the little boy who hadn't said much to me at all and looked very annoyed that I was there gave himself a shower and I bathed the little girl and washed her hair.  There was a number of bottles in the bathroom and I couldn't really see a child or regular shampoo so I asked her which one her au-pair had used.......she handed me a dog shampoo!!!!!!!!!!  No wonder her hair was in knots!!!!  I scouted around the place and found a shampoo and conditioner for humans and then we washed her hair.  It took forever to comb out the knots, I mean FOREVER, definitely not less than 30 mins.

The little boy who had been pretty quiet up until this point started picking a fight with his sister.....I intervened and tried to split things up because he was starting to get physical.  All of a sudden he lashed out at me telling me I couldn't tell him what to do, I wasn't his mother and I should "F**K OFF" .......  WHAT????
I was in shock.......I had never been sworn at by a child.  This boy was getting out of control, he started lashing out and I had to physically restrain him from his sister.  Well then of course when he couldn't reach her with his own hand he started throwing things at her.  Oh my God where was I?  The grande finale was when he turned and threw an object at the glass french doors that lead out to the patio and one of the panes cracked!  I had to get him out of here.  I took him up all 3 flights of stairs and put him in his bedroom for all our safety.  He needed to calm down.  I sat outside his bedroom door and every time he tried to come out I shut the door on him and said he had to stay in there until he had calmed down completely.  Now I had always been taught that a bedroom was no place for a punishment but at this point I didn't know what else to do, he was a danger to himself and us.  I remember sitting out there while he screamed and ranted on about how I shouldn't be there and how he wanted his mummy and swearing left, right and centre.  Finally after about 45 mins to an hour all was quiet.......he had fallen asleep.  THANK GOD!

I was very much in shock, very much wishing I had never taken this job but above all felt very sorry for these poor children.  I don't think I slept a wink that night in fear that the boy might smash up the rest of  the house or creep out and run away.  The next day the mother called to see how everything was.  I told her exactly what had happened and she acted surprised......."that doesn't sound like my son"   "my son doesn't swear"  "my son would never intentionally smash a window".......  denial ain't just a river in Egypt lady!!!! 

And so the longest week of my life began!  It was really pretty bad at the beginning, more rantings and ravings and swearing and fights but I think when he realized that I wasn't a push over, when I wasn't backing down and I meant what I said, he started to break down his walls.  By the end he had definitely warmed to me and was respectful and we got along pretty well. I couldn't help but think that these poor children were somewhat neglected by their parents....I mean who leaves their children for over a week with someone they have never met let alone introduced to their children?  I also found out that they had gone through quite a number of nannies and au-pairs over the years, you couldn't help but feel sorry for them but I still couldn't wait for their parents to get home.

The icing on the cake of my stay was on the very last day while driving their BMW a lorry/truck smashed into me on a round-a-bout (that's a circle in the U.S.)  well I guess it couldn't get any worse really.  As soon as the parents got home they thanked me, paid me and the father drove me to the nearest tube station......it was over!  HURRAH!

And that completes the worst job I ever took!

Any nannies got any equally bad or worse story?  I'd love to hear them!