When we hire someone to look after our pets or children, we hope they’d take care of them properly. While some sitters are natural nurturers, others use the lack of authority to do whatever they please. From taking money out of piggy banks to letting dogs on the sofa, these are some things that people saw when they checked the footage on their nanny cams.
#1 Bowl of Blueberries
I watched her outside playing with my dogs (she was dog-sitting). Our yellow Labrador and golden retriever puppy started munching the blueberries right now off our blueberry bushes. They know very well they’re not supposed to get into the blueberry patch. We watched our dog sitter run over to them and try to get them to stop. She then ran inside and ran back out with a bowl. She proceeded to race the dogs for the blueberries. It had to be one of the highlights of our trip. We came home to a bowl of blueberries in the fridge and two very guilty puppers.
#2 Pet Bunny
I have a camera to check in on my rabbit when I'm not there. The biggest surprises were mostly just how almost nobody followed my pet-sitting instructions. The one exception, ironically, was my brother who claimed to hate the rabbit and always wanted to get rid of it. I got an alert one day that my camera had detected movement while my brother was there taking care of him. So, I decided to take a peek. I opened the app connected to the camera and saw my brother walk into my room, lay on the floor, and start playing with my rabbit. It just warmed my heart.
#3 From the Dogs
I dog sit for some neighbors, one of which told me she has a camera for her dogs. You know those ones that dispense treats? I thought it was a strange essential oil diffuser until she told me what it was. I was being paid to play with them for an hour but she found out that I was actually staying for two or three hours. When she asked me about it, I think I said something like, "I'd want someone to do the same for my dog.” Ever since then, she leaves me treats in the kitchen and even got me a Christmas present "from the dogs."
#4 Still Remember You
I was the kiddo. My mom often tells the story of how she watched me give a big ol’ hug to my babysitter who just broke down out of nowhere after serving me lunch. Turns out, her dad had passed away a month back and it just wasn't a good day for her. I still remember you, Ms. Yancey. I hope you're doing just fine now!
#5 Those Aren’t Baby Wipes
Not me, but my aunt's friend set up a nanny cam because she noticed that every time she changed her child’s diaper, the child would start crying a lot more than usual. It turns out, when they watched the nanny change her diaper, she would use Clorox wipes if they were nearby instead of grabbing the baby wipes. They fired the nanny immediately and the father became a stay-at-home dad.
#6 Double Dare You
My parents hired a guy on Rover to watch their dogs and sleep at their house a few nights. They told him it was fine to have a friend or partner hang out during the day if he wanted. They got a notification from their doorbell camera in the middle of the night. The guy had invited his boyfriend over and they were taking turns walking further and further out into the front yard without clothing (like a dare or something). Guess they had a thing for it.
#7 Hiding His Money
I got a nanny cam to keep an eye out for my elderly grandfather, especially when the home aides were there. My grandfather started asking for lots of cash and couldn't remember what was happening to it. A broach that my aunt was supposed to get disappeared, then I heard reports of my grandfather being inappropriate with some of the home health aides. He was busted squirreling away his medication that he was supposed to be taking in his chair, giving money to an aide and harassing another aide.
#8 Caught Red-Handed
We didn't have a nanny cam, but my mom set up the camcorder when she suspected our babysitter was stealing…. and then caught the babysitter stealing. She returned most of the stuff when my mom threatened to report her to the police. I think she should still have reported her anyway. Se probably just went on stealing at other people's places.
#9 The Sweetest Old Lady
My family bought one to see our dogs when we leave on vacation twice a year. It's one where they can hear us and we thought it would be great (we hardly used it). We also asked our maid to dog sit for us while we were out. Once, when we looked at the feed, we saw the dogsitter there a solid 30 minutes early just petting the dogs and playing with them. She's since retired from working, but she was the sweetest old lady and we love her. Another time, my dad left a wad of cash on top of the washing machine (about $600) and she put a rubber band around it with a note saying he misplaced it.
#10 Man’s Best Friend
I house and dog sit for friends of my parents. The first time I did it, they mentioned they had a security camera by the front door that was motion activated and I didn’t really think anything of it. They were gone for a few weeks, they came home, their two giant huskies were happy, I got paid and all was well.
A couple of weeks later, my mom called me laughing and laughing. My parents had dinner with the friends I dog sit for and they showed a video to my parents from the front door cam. Apparently, all it showed was me sprinting full speed down the hallway, a dog toy in hand, the biggest stupid grin on my face, followed by the two huskies running and sliding after me… over and over and over again. I sit for them as often as I can.
#11 Monster Protection
I have caught her making pillow forts that are heavily resistant to the monsters that may or may not come out during heavy thunderstorms with my kiddo. She did this about 20 minutes after bedtime! She got my daughter to stop crying during a storm and even fall asleep feeling safe. I would do anything for that babysitter. Sadly, all I could really do was help her get into art school.
#12 How to Save a Life
My uncle told me this once when a babysitter was holding his daughter (my older cousin) when she was a baby. The baby was playing with her toys and she somehow swallowed a small piece of something. The babysitter performed the Heimlich, but for babies. She saved my cousin and her family was thankful. They have no idea where the babysitter is now, but she's supposed to be around her late 40's.
#13 Super Fired
I've been a pretty regular weekend nanny for an amazing family for four years now. They've cycled through a couple of different weekday nannies since I've been with them. There is only one monitor and it’s in the little dude’s room. Once, the mom showed me on the camera why they let one go. The little dude said, “Mommy said I don’t have to do that.” and the nanny snapped back “Well, it doesn’t matter, mommy is a witch.” She then dragged the kid out of the room by his shirt. Super fired.
#14 She’s Very Fluffy
We have a security camera in my bedroom for my free roam bunny so we can keep an eye on her. Well my dad, who’s 50, a big dude and acts like he doesn’t like pets, came over to visit one day while I was out. He went in my room and crouched down calling the bunny. He spent an hour trying to pet the rabbit and kept repeating in a soft voice, “I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to pet you and see how fluffy you are.” He just about soiled himself when I spoke through the security camera to tell him she’s very fluffy.
#15 Trying to be Sneaky
I wasn’t the parent in this situation, but the child. I had this nanny, or “yaya” as we would call it. The little camera that we had essentially became useless because she soon found out and kept unplugging it. It turns out, she was slowly stealing money from my family. Obviously, they found out and fired her.
#16 On the Move
We have cameras outside of our house. One day, my neighbor told me that he saw my bunnies roaming the streets a few times. I didn't believe him, so I took a look. One time at work, I looked at the cameras and saw the gate slightly open, so I rewound the footage. I go to work super early so I watched as my wife fed them, then got ready for work.
The bunnies peeked around the side of the house and waited to see my wife's car leave. Then they pushed on the gate hard enough for the latch to set free, then left one by one. Later, before I got back home from work, they would make their way back and close the gate. I never knew the gate latch was so weak, so I fixed that problem.
#17 The Maid
My mother once suspected our maid of stealing all of her silverware. I don’t know if she had any legitimate reason for thinking that, but she's just nosy to begin with. Anyway, the maid was indeed stealing the silverware. I think that little stunt ended up being overshadowed by my dad sleeping with her, though.
#18 Getting Leftovers
Well, this is a case that happened where I live. The woman used to work because her husband was out of the country. They had a two-year-old kid and hired a nanny to look after him during the day. Day by day, the kid started looking malnourished. So, she set up a spy cam. Apparently, the lady used to bring her kid and feed him all the food left for the kid she was supposed to babysit. Then she would feed the kid cheap biscuits. She was promptly handed over to the police.
#19 Carefree Babysitter
The family I nanny for told me that their previous nanny got caught doing loads of awful things. The couple of things that outraged me most were leaving their three-year-old daughter in the tub with water up to her chest for two hours every day while she sat in another room, unable to see said child. Additionally, she once ran an errand with the same kid and their doorbell camera caught her putting the kid in a car seat. But, she didn’t buckle her and peeled off. The mom said you could see the toddler trying to buckle herself in before they took off.
#20 Sadly Sitting
I was the child and there weren't any nanny cams, but my parents had left a small bucket of toys and things to keep me busy. They also hired a babysitter to watch me while they both had to take overtime at work and knew they’d be gone most of the day. The babysitter moved that bucket of toys to another room, put me in a crib and proceeded to go off and read or something. They then left me there for hours with nothing to do, only coming back to check on me or feed me. My parents came back to me just sadly sitting in my crib.
#21 Extra Portions
This was my (equivalent of) pre-k. All the kids were regressing in their movement ability and getting really overweight, so they set up spy equipment. Turns out, one of the people in charge of caring for us was doubling every baby’s food portions. They were also forcefully overfeeding them, but I don’t know why.
#22 Old Dogs, New Tricks
I travel the U.S. for work and am fortunate enough to be able to bring my two beagles with me. They have never been away from my side longer than the time I’ve been at work (they’re 10 and 13). I have a camera that I use to check in on them sometimes, mostly because my larger beagle is quite the ingenious guy. Opening doors, scooting chairs over places so he can jump up onto the counters, etc.
Last year, I was in Oregon and had to go home to Michigan for an emergency. I do not fly with them, I will only drive. So, I was in a pickle and reluctantly hired someone off of Rover that was willing to come stay over at my hotel room for three days. She was great, kept up on texting me about the dogs, said things like “tossing them a ball right now.” So, I would check in via the cam when I thought it was appropriate.
This woman was amazing. Not only was she playing with them enough to make them exhausted, she was even teaching them new tricks, making them use their brains to solve puzzles. She even got my 42-pound beagle to get up on her back so she could do push-ups (she was an avid cross fitter). I was extremely happy.
#23 Surprise, You’re on Camera
Friends of ours don’t have kids, but have dogs. They were going out of town and told the dog sitter about all of the cameras including the one outside. But sometimes, it picks up reflections and will actively notify them of motion. The dog sitter seemed to get it, but she forgot to convey that to her boyfriend who came out and walked around without clothes quite a bit!
#24 One Disturbing Thing
When we were growing up, my mother once put a nanny cam in my sister's bedroom. The good news is that not a lot of bad things happened. The only disturbing thing my mother allegedly saw was the babysitter crying while holding my sister. As it turns out, the babysitter just lost a child of her own the day before.
#25 The Game Thief
When I was around 12, my parents caught my babysitter on camera stealing my NES games. They confronted her about it and she kept denying it until Ninja Gaiden fell out of her pant leg. My mom took her into a room and made take out all the games she stole. She literally had games shoved under the strap of her bra on her back so that she could sneak them out of the house. Others were put inside the waistband of her underwear. She must've really thought about this for a while. Anyway, we got the games back and she was sent home without pay.
#26 Like a Girl
My indoor cameras are hooked up to the same unit as the outdoor cams. My husband was walking to his study and saw a giant huntsman spider. He screamed like a little girl and jumped away. Needless to say, I bolted to the computer to watch the playback on repeat for a few minutes. I laughed so hard I had an asthma attack. I think that was the first time he ever called me an expletive.
#27 Sleeping the Day Away
Not a nanny cam because this happened in the ‘90s and I don’t think we had them in Scotland then. But, my mom came home early one day because she had become suspicious of our nanny as my sister and I never slept after a day with her. She found both my sister and I in bed in the middle of the day. Turned out, my nanny had been dozing us up with child medicine to make us sleep all day so she could sit and do nothing.
#28 What Lovely Weather
I was the babysitter who was caught. It actually wasn't a nanny cam, but a security cam pointed to their back door. They caught me walking outside to enjoy a drink while the baby was down for a nap. Not my proudest moment but we're friends and they didn't care about it. They just thought it was hilarious when I started talking to the dog about how great the weather was.
#29 Nice Bum, Where You From?
My ex-girlfriend's brother and fiance had nanny cams for their three cats. My ex house sat for them one weekend and invited me over for all the afternoon delights and HBO. We bumped uglies all over their living room. We all went out like a week later and they said I had a cute butt. My concern was, why did they watch the footage until I lost my pants?
#30 Save the Awkwardness
I caught the babysitter making obscene gestures on our couch. The babysitter was my female cousin. I figured the best thing was to just say nothing and save the awkwardness. She did it a fair amount. I then mentioned our house cam by accident some months later and her face dropped. I realized what I'd said then casually threw in that I'd never checked it, again, to save the awkwardness.
#31 Tormenting the Baby
This isn't something that I caught a babysitter doing, but I remember I once saw a case on TV. Some parents went with their baby to the doctor because she cried a lot for apparently no reason. The doctor told them that she looked really stressed and asked them if they were doing something that could make her act like that. They didn’t. Then the doctor and the parents noticed some really tiny dots in the girl’s belly and they had no idea where they came from.
The babysitter told them that she had no idea but they didn't believe her and secretly put cameras to spy what she was doing. Turns out that she was crazy. She was poking the baby from time to time and doing things like shaking her cradle incredibly hard to torment her. Of course, they called the police, confronted her and she got arrested.
#32 A Weird Deal
My sister caught the babysitter drinking her breast milk. She had her suspicions because my nephew would go through twice as much milk when the babysitter was taking care of him. My sister set up the camera and caught the guy in the act. Apparently, the guy was some sort of fitness nut and read that that milk can be very beneficial. As weird as it sounds, my sister ended up working out a deal with the guy. She got him to drop the price of watching the kid in exchange for a bit of milk every now and again.
#33 Getting it Out
We hired a dog sitter over the Thanksgiving holidays to check on the pooch, feed the cats, get the mail, etc. She asked if she could bring her sister along for company. We said sure, no problem. The sister, we found out in conversation, attended a nearby hyper-conservative fundamentalist school. When the hired sitter took the dog out and the sister had the house to herself, she took the opportunity to scream the F-word at the top of her lungs a few times. Not a lot else. Just paced around the living room dropping high-decibel curses. You have to find some way to vent that angst.
#34 Notorious Babysitter
Once, I hired a babysitter that was sort of notorious for not being good (not dangerous but the type where she wouldn’t console the child if they were crying, punish them for doing small things, etc). While away, I was very suspicious, so I continuously was glancing at the baby cam. The babysitter was playing with him, singing songs and completely engaging him well beyond the way you would expect somebody who was considered a bad babysitter to act.
Essentially, what happened was the babysitter got hired by a crazy parent who didn't like her at all. Because of what happened, they spread a bunch of mumbo jumbo through the neighborhood. When I came home, I gave her a very large tip. From then on, she was the one I always hired whenever I needed a babysitter.
#35 Secret Room
I'm glad I stopped babysitting before cameras became a thing. A couple I sat for had adorable kids, but the dad had one room in the house devoted to a full model railroad set up. Dozens of trains, bridges, teeny villages, the works. After they went to bed, and during that long boring stretch before the parents came home, I'd just play with the train set. My only regret is that I couldn't toot the horns because the kids would have busted me.
#36 Not Following Orders
A colleague of mine saw that, when his eight-month-old baby cried, the nanny just ignored him and kept watching reality TV. She didn’t attempt to console him or anything, she just tried to hear the TV. There were a few other troubling instances too, like she'd say they went on a brief stroll but disappeared for hours with no explanation. She also didn’t follow the parents' instructions on how to put him to sleep and let him cry. My colleague realized that the baby was anxious and desperate every time the nanny arrived. It was heartbreaking really.
#37 Inappropriate Nurses
There are cameras around my grandmother's house to make sure that she was okay if anyone came by to check in on her. Well, my grandmother has dementia and is taken care of by nurses. Unfortunately, this one time, one of them attacked her. The nurse knew there were cameras and didn't care. She obviously got fired.
#38 Animal Lover
One of my exes and her mom had to leave town for a week and they had three cats. They also had a dog with diabetes. They hired someone just to come over once in the morning and once at night to feed, let the dog out and give the dog his medicine. They had cams and found that the guy stayed there all day just playing with the animals. He even got the timid cat to come out and cuddle with him. They showed me the videos of him arriving and all of their pets rushing to the door to meet him.
#39 Brushing it Off
I was the babysitter. I used to look after the daughter of a couple who played tennis with my uncle. They were super rich and went out all the time. The kid would go to bed at about 7, then I would sneak a bit of liquor from their well-stocked bar. I wouldn't drink it on the job, but I'd pour it into my water bottle to take to my next party. It happened on and off for about three years. One night, they must have changed their security system or something, and I got busted. They were very chill about it, seeing as I clearly didn't indulge while watching their kid, but told me they could get in trouble for supplying.
#40 An Intruder
I paid an employee to come over and let my dog out, feed her, and play with her while we were out of town. It was supposed to be one hour, tops. I ended up with footage of him staying the night, sleeping in my bed —unclothed — and bringing over another dog he was dog sitting for someone else, which he let sleep in my bed with him. The worst part was that my dog didn’t do well around other dogs she doesn’t know. My poor girl was up all night, stressed out by this intruder.
#41 Vacation Fund
Ours caught our nanny stealing money from our vacation fund. She also left our nine-month-old sitting on the counter as she walked away. Later that day, it caught a phone call about buying substances, how much, the dealer's name and a bunch of other stuff. Turns out, she had cleared out our four-year-old’s piggy bank of $115, took money and gift cards from my wife’s purse, stole my gold wedding ring (I wear a silicone one most days), and a bottle of hydrocodone. I provided the evidence to the police and she was caught. She was found guilty in January. She had only worked for us for a few weeks.
#42 A Kick Out of It
My aunt has security footage of their dog sitter without any clothes on, just chilling around their house. They found out she's a whole nudist. They still use her to watch over their dogs. But, they just get a kick out of knowing that some college girl just hangs out without clothing at their house when they go on vacations.
#43 I Hope You’re Comfy
I had a camera in my apartment to watch my dog while I was at work. One day, maintenance came by to fix the drain in the tub. Then he sat at my computer and started trying to log into it, looking in drawers, and generally invading my privacy. My camera lets me talk through it and I was watching this unfold live. "I hope you're comfortable in my chair, trying to access my computer. You should probably go tell the management to expect a phone call and a video email."
#44 Playing Make Believe
Our neighbor's pet sitter dressed up their pit bulls and hosted a dinner party for them while binge-watching Downton Abbey. She gave them each their own voice as well. The male sounded like Robert Kennedy with a head cold and the female like an Australian Queen Elizabeth. They spoke ill of my dog and ate a box of Ritz Crackers.
#45 Take Me Upstairs
It was actually our babysitter’s mom that was the problem. When our babysitter was over, who was a teenager, the mom would come over, knock on the door, and ask to use our bathroom. I remember answering and saying, "Okay, here it is" and showed her the closer downstairs bathroom. But she said, “No, I need to use the upstairs bathroom.” Turned out, she was stealing medicine from us.
#46 Oh, Kitties!
My parents foster kittens and have a live feed camera in the room where the kittens roam around. One night, a woman accidentally broke into our house and walked into the kitten room. The camera footage is just of her squealing over the phone to her boyfriend, “Oh, there’s kitties!” She then talked to the kittens in the most non-malevolent partied-out girl voice.
#47 All the Food
When I was around toddler age, I stopped having babysitters after my parents came home to me crying in my buggy that was left in the corridor by the front door. My parents then found the babysitter with another person, eating all the food out the fridge. My safety was one issue, but my parents were both out working, we couldn't afford to lose all that food. I think it stopped them from going out to have breaks too.
#48 Rules Out the Window
Not me, but when my friend and I went to the beach, her parents hired a dog sitter to come by every night. Their dog had an obsession with hiding old food in the couch and destroying couch cushions, so she was not allowed on the couch. They caught the dog sitter letting the dog on the couch with her and actually patting the couch to let her up there.
#49 On the TV
My mom used it to catch my dad receiving a special treat from the sitter. She’d suspected it for months but we didn’t believe her. Then she put it on the TV so everyone could see after my little sister's birthday party when just the adults were around. It turned out that after it all came out, the sitter was busted doing that to three other dads in the neighborhood. My dad ended up getting an apartment with her, but then she went away to college and he lives by himself.
#50 The Worst Babysitter
I caught my mother-in-law shaking my three-year-old for wanting to play ring around the rosy with her two-year-old sister. She also pushed her for asking to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and called her a “disgusting little pig” for having an accident. When I tried FaceTiming, she ordered my kids to ignore it and then tried claiming she’s old and technologically illiterate when I called her on it. We never asked her to help watch the kids before that and haven’t seen her since.
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