To Think This Must Be The Worst Au Pair Job In The World?

[HoneyStepMummy]

www.gumtree.com/p/jobs/live-in-au-pair-st-john-wood/1022335782
I mean who wouldn't want to share a couch with someone else's kids, iron, cook, clean, and babysit for 12 hrs a day for $120 a week??? This must be a joke, surely???

I have an acquaintance who has just got out of this type of arrangement, she's from a poor country and was just desperate to be here (though was legal) and the family she worked for had her working 12 hours a day. Luckily after meeting other people we told her this was outrageous and she is moving to another family for more money and less hours. I really think this ad is disgusting- it's also written in such an imperious way, 'you must' 'you should' can you imagine what these people would be like to work with (given they are also completely ignorant of employment law).

I replied.

Oh wow, it looks so much more attractive now!

For fucks sake, what is wrong with some people?

No boisterous is still there but they have changed and said it will be cramped

Guess they got the emails then

What they are saying is still illegal isn't it though as they are expecting someone to handle a newborn?

Why do people like that even have children?

Did anyone get an answer from them?

I see they have changed the ad now, so that the person won't have to cook for the whole family, sleep on a couch and only has to work up to 40 hours a week - isn't that still too many for an au pair (is there an enhanced au pair)? Basically, they revealed themselves in their first ad and are now covering up.

And taken the "pay" off!

Edited to lure people, although how many with 2 years experience are going to go for that?

I thought this has to be a spoof or an ad for a Phillipina or other poor desperate illegal immigrant.
There is nothing legal about what they are suggesting. Live-in au pairs and nannies have to have their own room. They can also only work 35 hours a week and do light housework and a little child care. They cannot have sole charge of a child under 1 year old ( or is that two?)
If they're sharing a room with the kids (newborn & boisterous toddler) I presume they'll be getting up with the kids on the night?
But hey ho, that's the price you have to pay for getting to stay in Sinjun's Wood which is 10 (plus 30) minutes from Oxford Street!

I wish that this was a criminal offence too. Au pairs are not for under 3's FFS. nor are they allowed to work more than 25 hours a week. The government needs to set bloody limits on people being able to take advantage of young foreign girls

I didn't put my actual email address on, I'd be too scared they'd hunt me down and kill me.

They seem the mental type tbh.

It's still illegal, the hours are too long and there's no private room. Expecting someone to sleep in with the children, they wouldn't do it, why expect someone else to do it? Unbelievable and no-one is fooled by their sudden remembering that actually mum will be around and all they will have to do is some light dusting.

Sorry, 25 for an au pair, 35 for 'au pair plus'

'Why do people like that even have children?'

Because they feel their genes are so superior they must reproduce.

Obviously, I think the job is absolute shite as well, but I have to say I'm surprised that so many people are so genuinely aghast at the thought of people working long hours in crap conditions for next to nothing.

We in the UK are so very lucky to be in a position where we can be aghast at that. This is normality for many many of the working age humans on this planet.

"We in the UK are so very lucky to be in a position where we can be aghast at that."

That's why it's so horrifying to me. People are taking advantage of the fact that there are people desperate to leave their own countries and earn something and they are offering pittance yet somebody will be so desperate that they take it and the family living here will be gaining so much yet not paying what is deserved (in this country) for the work.

An au pair is not a nanny or a housekeeper. An au pair is a young foreign person who wants to learn English in a safe family environment while helping said family with babysitting and light housework.
If these people cannot afford a place to live but insist on having a slave help then they need to have the kids share with them and the au pair gets the other bedroom.
Tossers!!

Yes I agree- it is so shocking because it is so exploitative. Here, where we have so much to exploit our position like this is so much worse than low paid jobs in less developed nations.

And particulaly shocking within the context of 'family life'.

I just googled the mobile number, and an ad of theirs on Gumtree in February required an au pair 'urgently' (assuming that someone had had enough and left...) So the replacement has done a few months, has now had enough, and has left too. These kids will have a constant stream of 'au pairs', as Samina won't provide conditions or pay to make someone stick around. Pisses me off for all concerned (except the parents, obviously).

Yes, the mum sat at home for a year, too fecking lazy to look after her children.

Again, imagine thinking so little of your kids.

Yup, I know someone whose au pairs rarely last more than 3 months. She may get them cheap but I assume the cost to her child's emotional stability is quite high.