A TikTok dad created a mock interview for a stay-at-home position, and it’s an eye-opener
It all started with a gross TikTok video of an ungrateful husband yelling at his partner that she’s been “riding on his income” for 10 years. Michael Vaughn, known for his videos highlighting things like mental load and the unfair division of labor in heterosexual partnerships, decided to stitch it, and in his video, he did a skit of a mock job interview for a stay-at-home parent position. To say it’s eye-opening would be an understatement.
@world.shaker #sahm #stayathomemom #marriage #relationship #relationships #parents #parenting #kids #fairplay
♬ original sound – World Shaker
“Thanks for coming in for the interview. I was just hoping to review the job description with you,” Vaughn says. “Just go over some things.”
As the mock interviewer, Vaughn continues, “Alright, so you’ll be on call all week long.”
As the person interviewing for the stay-at-home parent role, he clarifies, “So I’m on call 168 hours a week?” Stay-at-home parents already know the answer to that question.
Interviewer Vaughn continues, “And you’ll handle everything going on in the home. You’ll handle the cleaning, so things like vacuuming, washing the floors, making sure the counters are clean, picking up after the kids and myself. You also need to handle the dry cleaning, washing the clothes, drying the clothes, folding the clothes, and putting them away in their respective rooms. All the food, so you look at the pantry and figure out what we’re missing, you come up with the grocery list, do the grocery shopping, and prep all of the meals, just to make sure that I have something to eat. Oh, and you would also handle everything with the kids—like if they get up overnight, you get up overnight. If there’s something going on at school, you take them to and from school, you arrange all their activities, if they need to go to the doctor, you make the appointment you take them to and from.”
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Switching back to the role of the potential stay-at-home parent, a skeptical-looking Vaughn asks, “What about sick days and vacation days?” And here we go…
“Yes, you will be handling all sick days with the kids, and when we have a vacation, you’re going to organize it, take care of them, make sure that they’re loaded up and all their stuff is packed. Oh, and you’ll also be packing my stuff.”
At the end of the video, the interviewer is asked what he’s going to do to contribute to the household. Aside from taking out the trash and mowing the lawn (“when you remind me”), he proudly states that he’s going to “work.” As the interviewee, Vaughn makes the smart choice that he should not put his career on hold for this deal, and the interviewer panics, pointing out that it would cost over $150,000 a year to hire people to do all the work a stay-at-home parent does (though even that estimate seems low). Interesting.
Stay-at-home parents are doing the furthest possible thing from “riding” someone else’s income. Here’s hoping the dad in that original TikTok sees this video.
