This nanny job listing asks a little too much
Good childcare is hard to find—and a million times harder when parents’ expectations are completely out of whack with reality. A job listing for a nanny went viral on Twitter this week for its outrageous qualifications, which look even more unhinged when compared to the wage being offered.
Twitter user @drewtoothpaste shared the listing with the employer’s name blocked out. The ad begins innocently enough. “School is starting again, and that means we once again need a nanny! Please read ALL of these requirements.” Nothing unreasonable there so far — any parent entrusting their child to a new caregiver is going to have high expectations, and those requirements probably include things like being caring and trustworthy and dependable, right? Nope, wrong! The requirements are a bit more specific than that.
lunatic local facebook post offering $18 for 4.5 hours of work and demanding you bring your own food for their kids pic.twitter.com/oKh7SxmdmU
— drewtoothpaste.bsky.social (@drewtoothpaste) August 10, 2022
“You need to have a master’s degree or higher so that our 5-yo and 7-yo will be intellectually challenged. No, your ‘bachelor of english’ doesn’t mean you’re smart! Sorry!)” That’s the first big yikes moment of the job listing, but there are several more coming.
“You must be between 24-28 years of age to keep up with the activity level of our kiddos.” Obviously this parent can’t be worrying about whether their 30-year-old babysitter is going to break a hip on the job.
The ad also warns potential applicants not to expect housing with the position. “Yes, we have extra room, but the privilege is earned, not assumed.”
“We need you from 7am-8:30am and 3:00pm-6:00pm every weekday, and the pay will be $18 daily.” Assuming that’s not a typo (because it really seems like there’s a digit missing) that works out to a whopping $4 an hour. Which is obviously more than enough to pay off the student loans from the Master’s degree.
But that’s not all. “Plan to bring ‘snacks’ or other food for the kiddos because our cabinets will be locked during the day while we work. You will also need to bring educational materials such as workbooks as we do not keep anything like this at home. Thanks!” In case your eyeballs just fell out of your head reading this, that means the nanny is supposed to spend his or her $4 wage on snacks for other people’s children’s, and also on workbooks. At that rate the nanny would be losing money on the deal, and would need a second job to support this one.
Twitter users had some fun with the post, including some who sarcastically joked about being underqualified.
I was going to apply to this but sadly I only have a bachelor’s degree from MIT and I’m 29 years old :(
— debdrens (@debdrens) August 10, 2022
“the cabinets will be locked as we work”
so not only do these parents suck, but they trust an underpaid stranger with their kids more than their cereal
— the slime boss (@caylenb) August 10, 2022
The ad is so over the top you kind of just have to hope it’s someone’s attempt at satire, but sadly, I think we’ve all seen plenty of similar job postings where it’s abundantly clear that some people just completely lack respect for childcare workers.
Something that tells us this nanny seeker is going to have a tough time filling the role — unless there’s a big adjustment to the expectations, the salary, and the attitude.
