We’ve all been there: A mistake made on the job that has you blushing for days. This week we asked caregivers to share with us their most embarrassing moments at work — and they delivered! Turns out, there have been a lot of diaper blowouts, awkward conversations with kids and unfortunate encounters with parents.
If you’ve had a particularly embarrassing moment on the job, share it below in the comments below. Or just read these 20 confessions and know you’re in good company!
1. It’s a nanny right of passage when caring for a baby boy.. The mommy came home as I was about to give a diaper change. The second it came off BOOM I was suddenly at the Bellagio. Pee on my shirt, the sofa, my shoulder! All the while, baby Nathan was giggling hysterically! I was mortified! But thankfully the mommy was nice enough to lend me a dry t-shirt! Incredibly embarrassing but definitely a nanny right of passage. – Cynthia in Hialeah, Florida
2. The most embarrassing moment I’ve had while on the job is I was having a sing and dance along with the 3 year old I was watching and my (then 7 year old) daughter. I was singing along to “Let It Go” at the top of my lungs and when the song ended, I heard applause from the neighbors outside! – Jennifer in Inglewood, California
3. I saw the baby trying to poop but he was struggling, so I kept checking his diaper every 10 minutes to make sure he had/hadn’t pooped so I could change him. After roughly an hour of going back and forth, he didn’t poop. I ended up forgetting about it because he didn’t show anymore signs of trying to push nor did he whine. I start playing with him and he gets a little fussy, so I pick him up and put him on my hip. All the sudden, I smell poop. (Let me be clear, I am veryyy attentive when I am with children so I have no idea how this happened). I go to put him down and feel something wet on my arm. I look at my arm, then my shirt, then the child …. Explosive diarrhea ALL OVER US. It was so embarrassing. I lived 45 minutes away (without traffic) so I couldn’t just go home. My boss told me to put on her sweatpants and wash mine in the washer, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that…. So, I walked around dirty the rest of my 11 hour shift. – Ashley in Charlotte, N.C.
4. I was caring for a friends little boy, we were walking through the mall that was about to close, I forgot to mention earlier that day I was wearing a T shirt, then before we left I changed into a shirt that had a scoop neck shirt. Well as we were walking these two guys walked by and at that moment the little boy says, Hey how’d your boobs get so big? I thought I was going to die. – Jei in Burbank, California
5. The little boy I used to watch was a pretty funny little guy and would always ask me questions then proceed to contradict my answer with super silly ones. One day he asked me how I thought his mom kept the floor so clean, my response: aliens come in while we’re at the park and use huge dirt and toy magnets. His response: well we have a vacuum……… done. – Samantha in Wellesley, Massachusetts
6. I took the two kids I nannied at the time out to the Library in town. It was a nice summer morning and the library wasn’t far, so we decided to walk there and back. Neither of them mentioned until we’d almost gotten home that I had a huge tear down the back of my pants!! Luckily their mom had a sewing kit and the day was saved! – Lauren in Milford, N.H.
7. This would definitely be when I was 12 years old babysitting for a neighborhood family… I put their dishes in the dishwasher and was so pleased with myself… only to have them come home to the dishwasher bubbling over because I had used soap that wasn’t meant for a machine!!!!! Whoops. Luckily, they were cool about it and I continued sitting for them. 🙂 – Jamie in Austin, Texas
8. I set up the kids pool and sprinkler one hot day. Then realized I didn’t have a change of clothes with me. The mom was under 5′ and very tiny so I had to borrow a pair of sports shorts and a t-shirt from the dad. I looked ridiculous!! – Donna in Wheeling, Illinois
9. One day I had my spare handbag full of toys searched over by a two year old who found a new panty liner I must of stashed in there and forgot about. I found it stuck to his bedroom wall when I put him down for a nap. LOL! – Mary in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania
10. It was Christmas and I was getting the Elfs ready to pull another prank on the kids. The silly little elfs used a black dry erase marker and drew a beard, a mustache and some very bushy eyebrows on my face…while I was sleeping! Of course the kids loved it….and of course, I forgot all about it. About an hour later the doorbell rang and The pool guy was here to service the pool….do I really need to say more? – Donna in Universal City, Texas
11. Once I was at a public pool with my nanny babies, which included a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and twins who were 5 months. I had the twin babies in my arms and was trying to give the 3 year old confidence to get into the pool and cheer them on when both twins decided to have blowouts and it got onto my clothes. There I was, at a public pool, with 4 babies, covered in poop. – Jocelyn in Damascus, Oregon
12. Many years ago while walking upstairs with a pile of my laundered clothes in my hands- because heaven forbid that I use a basket-, I accidentally dropped some clothes from the very top of the stairs. As the universe will have it, one of my underwear landed on my employer’s head! In that moment, I just wanted to leave my belongings behind and leap out of the nearest window. I nearly fainted when I heard the lady of the house cackling and ‘complimenting’ him on his new ‘floral hat’… referring to the underwear on his head. To make matters worse, she called him Mr. Thong Head for the rest of the day and did not waste a second to share the story with a couple of their friends. We all had a good laugh about it later on, but it took a couple of days plus getting rid of that underwear to stop having flashbacks of the incident O_O – Uchechukwu in Rahway, N.J.
13. So one time I was outside playing with Lilah a charismatic three year old. Her brother Jack was taking a nap. She wanted to go down the slide but asked if I would go down first. I politely obliged the request. Right before I went down the baby started to cry. I went down the slide. Immediately I smelled dog poo it was the end of winter so leaves were covering it. I promptly told Lilah, “Do Not come down the slide!” Then we went inside rushing to wash my hands all the while the baby is screaming. I still have dog poop on my butt. Lilah is grossed out but being an awesome helper but also asking what is going to happen with my pants. I tell her one thing at a time first wash my hands, then calm Jack down, then I will worry about my pants. I ask Lilah “How much poo is on there?” Her response,”A LOT!” Once it was all said and done I was just glad that I went down the slide first or that story would have been way different and way more hectic!! – Simone in Converse, Texas
14. The most embarrassing moment that I had on the job would have to be the moment I fell off of a hoverboard. I was playing with my kids, had never been on one and thought I’d give it a try…BIG MISTAKE LOL! I tried to jump off of the hover board and went hiney first onto a tiled floor OUCH! – Paige in Anderson, S.C.
15. Put dish soap in the dishwasher before we left for tutoring …came back to a kitchen full of soap suds all over the floor and water everywhere… Was only my second week. – Tineasha
16. Brought the kids home from an outing only to find “dad boss” had gotten home early..and had just gotten out of the shower – Sarah
17. My guy which was paralyzed from his waist down asked me to trim his hair around his thing. Lord no. I draw the line. – Kymberly
18. Having to you-tube how to change a diaper. It was gross and nasty and NOTHING a 13-year-oldshould learn how to do ON THE JOB!!! UGGGHHHH!!! – Juleeza in Augusta, Georgia
19. One time, I was using the bathroom, and one of the preschoolers I was babysitting busted into the bathroom and said “Look what I made” because he was showing his arts and crafts creation. It was embarrassing but he didn’t even realize the situation at hand because he was so excited about his art!! – Chelsey in Northridge, California
20. The most embarrassing moment I have ever had on the job was when the 11 year old I nannied walked downstairs naked and I had to carefully explain that it is not appropriate “even if we are all girls, and girls are powerful.” A similar conversation followed when she asked why she could not play men’s football and dress in the men’s changing room… HOWEVER, she could play co-ed football. – Fatima in San Marcos, Texas
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