Errant staff...

Our missing nanny has re-appeared. After one day of absence with no call, we phoned her daughter Gulya who did not know where she was and was surprised to hear that she had not come to work. Then we called her sister with whom she often stays the night - she also had no idea. So we called Gulya again who said she would go after work and try and find her and make sure she was OK. 

It was our daughter's birthday that day, so I was busy making our eight-year-old's request tea of macaroni cheese followed by apple and raspberry pie with cream. Then we took the new bike for a spin down the lane, and when we got back, Baktiyar the driver said he had called Gulya again and she was on her way to her mum's house to find out what was going on. This is after two days and I was beginning to think that perhaps she had had an accident. 

Then half way through the macaroni cheese we got a call to say that Allia would be coming to work the next day. 

So obviously she had not been very ill, or had a bad accident. 

Well, she came in the next day with Gulya in extremely sheepish fashion. Our soon-to-be 50 years old nanny had disgraced herself. Following Women's Day on March 8, she had been visited by an old school friend and some other people who had persuaded her to have, as the Scot's would put it, a wee dram.  And then another wee dram. And the following day she thought she was having kidney failure and was in a terrible state. As a muslim she does not normally drink at all, and frankly, she looked pretty rough as she re-appeared. 

Her daughter, sister and everyone was thoroughly fed up with her.  And then she told me what had happened, and I have to admit, if she hadn't looked so pathetically ill, I would have been almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. As it was I was still pissed off with her for causing us all worry, causing Gulya inconvenience and causing me total disruption of two days of plans. If it wasn't nearly the end of the ski season, I would have possibly sacked her on the spot, but I don't have anyone lined up to take over from her. And she looked so genuinely repentent and sorry for being such an idiot, promising that nothing would ever happen like this again and begging for forgiveness, that I didn't.

I did, however, ask our Saturday lady who comes to look after Connie if we are heading up to the slopes, if she was interested in working for us. She isn't as she has other days with other people and I think likes the variety (or we don't pay enough, not sure). But she has friends, and lots of our mates' nannies have friends so I suppose it would be easy to replace her. 

My husband thinks I am mad not to have given her the boot. As far as he is concerned she has totally written herself out of the script. But our nanny in Thailand had to odd bad time too (especially around bank holiday weekends when she just could not be arsed to come in afterwards), but overall was a good person and we stuck with her. I am not sure. I think we will give her one last chance, and if she does anything else totally stupid then I will let her go. 

She has come in today (Monday) again talking about how totally sorry she is, and that the whole weekend she got grief from her family for being such a moron. She has offered to work the three day spring bank holiday to make up for her time she unofficially took off, which I am happy to take since the kids have Monday off school and we will try to catch the last runs at Chimbulak before the snow melts. 

Blooming nora!