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Nannies Tell the Truth About Working During the Coronavirus
We are like items to them; they cant go without us.
Im a live-in nanny for an ultrahigh-net-worth Manhattan family. I have a degree in early-childhood education and decades of professional nanny experience. The family I work for is pretty high profile. These people could afford to keep a full staff on furlough for months on end with benefits, but they choose not to. Theyve had people quit on them because of safety reasons. They told them, Okay. Well, then, youre not getting a reference. How dare you let us down. But most of the people who they employ are foreign-born like me and would have a hard time sticking up for themselves.
During the week, I stay with them at their outrageously large Hamptons house, so of course they need an outrageously large staff. There wasnt really a conversation about moving up to the Hamptons with them; it was basically just This is how its going to be. For the first time since working there, I had a sort of Are you kidding me? reaction. Normally, Im a yes, maam type of person. And that quickly escalated to her screaming that I had better come in or else. But then she was like, Ill make it worth your while. I dont know if thats going to come to fruition.
Theres so many people coming in and out of the house. Theres a sports coach for the kids, and he goes to other peoples houses and works with their kids, too. And then they have the chef that goes to the grocery store every day. Theres people who come in to do hair blow-dries a few days a week, a manicurist, a personal trainer. The other housekeepers and nannies are like, This is really ridiculous. They havent asked any of the workers to stop coming in. Why dont they care? One of my co-workers, she has just been washing the clothes of the kids nonstop every time they come in contact with a new person. And if Ive ordered anything on Amazon, like school supplies, I quarantine the boxes in the pool house for two days. I get met with a lot of rolled eyes from my employers.
They dont seem to be worried, even though when I started coming into the Hamptons, I had a cough. The dad seems to be a germophobe. Hes freaking out all the time about my kids washing their hands, but if were FaceTiming someone and Im coughing in the background, hell say, Oh, its just the nanny.
They have been sending me and my co-workers back to Manhattan on weekends in a private car together. But the driver doesnt work exclusively with them, so theres other people that go in this car at other times. One of my co-workers has a big family, theyre elderly, and also one of my co-workers husbands is really sick and is one of the delicate people that should not be exposed at all. Our employers probably dont even know she has a family. Its not one of the things they would wonder about.
The dad sits on the couch all day on the phone doing business. But then he has the gall to tell people, Oh, its so hard being with my kids. Theyre doing all this homeschooling. And Im like, You havent done one thing with that! Its me! Theyve never taken care of their own kids for more than an hour.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/nannies-working-during-coronavirus.html
Im a live-in nanny for an ultrahigh-net-worth Manhattan family. I have a degree in early-childhood education and decades of professional nanny experience. The family I work for is pretty high profile. These people could afford to keep a full staff on furlough for months on end with benefits, but they choose not to. Theyve had people quit on them because of safety reasons. They told them, Okay. Well, then, youre not getting a reference. How dare you let us down. But most of the people who they employ are foreign-born like me and would have a hard time sticking up for themselves.
During the week, I stay with them at their outrageously large Hamptons house, so of course they need an outrageously large staff. There wasnt really a conversation about moving up to the Hamptons with them; it was basically just This is how its going to be. For the first time since working there, I had a sort of Are you kidding me? reaction. Normally, Im a yes, maam type of person. And that quickly escalated to her screaming that I had better come in or else. But then she was like, Ill make it worth your while. I dont know if thats going to come to fruition.
Theres so many people coming in and out of the house. Theres a sports coach for the kids, and he goes to other peoples houses and works with their kids, too. And then they have the chef that goes to the grocery store every day. Theres people who come in to do hair blow-dries a few days a week, a manicurist, a personal trainer. The other housekeepers and nannies are like, This is really ridiculous. They havent asked any of the workers to stop coming in. Why dont they care? One of my co-workers, she has just been washing the clothes of the kids nonstop every time they come in contact with a new person. And if Ive ordered anything on Amazon, like school supplies, I quarantine the boxes in the pool house for two days. I get met with a lot of rolled eyes from my employers.
They dont seem to be worried, even though when I started coming into the Hamptons, I had a cough. The dad seems to be a germophobe. Hes freaking out all the time about my kids washing their hands, but if were FaceTiming someone and Im coughing in the background, hell say, Oh, its just the nanny.
They have been sending me and my co-workers back to Manhattan on weekends in a private car together. But the driver doesnt work exclusively with them, so theres other people that go in this car at other times. One of my co-workers has a big family, theyre elderly, and also one of my co-workers husbands is really sick and is one of the delicate people that should not be exposed at all. Our employers probably dont even know she has a family. Its not one of the things they would wonder about.
The dad sits on the couch all day on the phone doing business. But then he has the gall to tell people, Oh, its so hard being with my kids. Theyre doing all this homeschooling. And Im like, You havent done one thing with that! Its me! Theyve never taken care of their own kids for more than an hour.
https://www.thecut.com/2020/04/nannies-working-during-coronavirus.html
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Nannies Tell the Truth About Working During the Coronavirus (Original Post)
demmiblue
Apr 2020
OP
underpants
(182,879 posts)1. Ohh goodie. 👀
Checking out later
hurple
(1,306 posts)2. What this tells me...
Is that they think they are immune to catching the virus from the lowly staff, and don't see the staff as "human" enough to concern themselves with giving it to the staff.
Karadeniz
(22,572 posts)3. Those people have a supremely boring life.