Nanny Thief

Sorry, I've been away. I've missed you! I was covering the film festival for Maclean's magazine.

And a completely weird thing happened to me, and not in a good way. I'm still in shock.

I travel back and forth from Calgary to Toronto all the time. Nanny Mimi, who is like my sister, used to travel with me. But now she's getting married and it's unfair to ask her to travel so much. I mean, she wants to spend time with her future husband and plan her wedding.

So when I go to Toronto I have a part-time nanny, who lives in Toronto. Who I really, really liked.

She was friggen stealing from me!

I realized there were a few things missing, namely a Prada purse, a brand new Roots purse, a pair of Puma sneakers, in the last few weeks. But I thought, 'OK, this is weird. But maybe I really am that disorganized."

In my heart, I knew I wasn't that disorganized. I loved my Prada purse. It was new-ish, a gift from the Fiance. And I knew I left it *right* there on my bedroom dresser.

I'm pretty busy too. So when I'm running around and can't find something, I just don't have the time to really look for things.

But then there was a film festival party. I had just bought a new Theory dress two days before this nanny came over. The tags were still on the freaking thing.

As I was racing around to get ready, I suddenly couldn't find the dress. I knew, at that moment, that she was stealing from me. I mean, I had just bought the dress two days earlier. I had hung it in my closet. Like I said, the tags were still on it.

Even in my totally disorganized state, I knew that I wasn't that disorganized.

I called the service which had first set me up with his nanny. I felt awful, because I was 99 % sure the nanny was stealing from me, but there's always a nagging doubt left that maybe, just maybe, the things were somewhere in my place.

And I know people are hard off and I feel for people who are. And who likes to accuse people?

I wasn't wrong. The head of the nanny service called the next day after I told her things were missing. She had told this nanny that I had had a camera in my place and saw her taking things. The nanny gave her back my stuff. Thank God.

Not only did I get back three designer purses, I also got back my jewelry box. Yes, the nanny had stolen my jewelry box!

I wouldn't have even known it was missing until I was going to look for something, like, um, the pearl earrings that were in it, the gold bracelets, my grandmother's engagement ring.

I'm fucking pissed off. I treated this nanny so nicely. And I'm not just saying that. Really. I gave her a ton of extra money for her mother, who needed a heart transplant in the Philippines (Who even knows if that is true?)

If it was dark, I would pay her $40 cab rides home. I gave her a ton of clothes that were old. I really really liked her.

I actually not only feel completely used, but so fucking stupid.

The head of the service told me I have to decide if I want to press charges. Which I do not.

I just can't believe it. I mean, if someone wants something that bad, then fucking take it. Or at least that's sort of how I feel if I leave ten dollars lying around, or you take toilet paper, a box of Kleenex, some food. If it means that much to you, and you need it, than take it.

But I don't believe that now. I believe that people should NOT fucking steal. Also, this nanny lived with her sister in a house. She may not have so much, but she definitely has a lot more than a lot of people.

I just want my things back. The Tag watch, I want it back. And who knows if I will ever get it back. Who knows what else is missing that I won't realize for a long time? I mean, I don't exactly keep inventory of MY things.

The weird thing is, this nanny wants to talk to me, to apologize, I guess. I don't want to hear it. I just want to move on.

I want to forget all this badness. I'm so grateful that The Dictator is OK. I suppose, too, that just because this nanny was a thief doesn't mean she wasn't taking care of The Dictator. Or at least that's what I need to believe.

I still believe in the goodness of people. Because I need to.