Update & A Question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Housework and guaranteed are handled differently in different shares. OP- you need to learn to take responsibility for negotiating upfront. There is no universal you should be getting X entitlement and you need to think through what is important for you.

There are very few fantasy jobs that involve no housework, high pay, guaranteed hours with families taking off weeks and weeks of vacation, unlimited PTO etc etc. You negotiate, compromise, and come up with a mutually acceptable offer. This doesn't always mean that both sides are thrilled with what they are getting/giving but both sides have agreed in good faith and there are no further expectations of what you should or shouldn't get.

PP, this is misleading.

No nanny here has suggested that they feel entitled to unlimited PTO, weeks and weeks of paid vacation, or even high pay (whatever you mean by that). What IS standard are guaranteed hours, child-related housework (trending towards none in a share, to be fair to both parties), and a living wage. An employer who can't be satisfied offering those things has no business employing anyone in their home.

If nannies are legally hourly employees then I don't get the guaranteed hours. I don't pay my nanny guaranteed hours. She works, she gets paid. Also, what's a living wage? Many people work for min wage. Is that a living wage? If not then maybe those people (nannies included) should get the education and degrees so they can have a career which pays a better, living wage?

You can find the calculations for your city's living wage at: http://livingwage.mit.edu/ (and no, PP, it is not minimum wage)

Nannies are classified as hourly employees by law because they are covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA was designed to protect workers by entitling them to overtime pay from which executive and other such positions are exempt. As others have said, I suppose if you don't want to offer guaranteed hours you'll find a nanny desperate enough to leave you the power to screw around with her weekly income, but should you decide to take a 3 week vacation and not pay your nanny, I suspect she'll have a new job before you get back. The point of offering guaranteed hours is that you are ensuring the nanny's availability when you need her. Obviously.

And as PP has said, education is not just handed out in this country. Even at a state or community college, the money required (tuition, lab fees), the resources (transportation, books) required, and the time required can be prohibitive for people struggling to improve their situations. So...please don't be flippant and suggest people should just go to college and everything would be better and it's their own fault if they don't, because usually it's not.

Finally, I have a college degree. I make more than twice my city's living wage. I'm also a nanny. There is no reason nannies can't earn enough to support themselves and contribute to society, the only actual barrier to that is employers like you who look down on people who earn less than you do. Including, apparently, the woman helping to care for your children? You should be embarrassed to be so small minded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Housework and guaranteed are handled differently in different shares. OP- you need to learn to take responsibility for negotiating upfront. There is no universal you should be getting X entitlement and you need to think through what is important for you.

There are very few fantasy jobs that involve no housework, high pay, guaranteed hours with families taking off weeks and weeks of vacation, unlimited PTO etc etc. You negotiate, compromise, and come up with a mutually acceptable offer. This doesn't always mean that both sides are thrilled with what they are getting/giving but both sides have agreed in good faith and there are no further expectations of what you should or shouldn't get.

Few "fantasy" jobs? Is that what you call it?
Wow. Just wow.
You must be amazing to live/work with.

[Anonymous]

Why do you need a $400 stroller? You could have gotten one far cheaper. I would not buy one in less it was for our use too.

[Anonymous]

OP it sounds like a bad job but it makes sense you need to stick it out on good terms until you find another. To your questions - it is very common for families to offer a few paid vacation and sick days and also very common to guarantee hours that roughly correspond with the typical number you are expected to work each week. It is also really uncommon to expect a half hour unpaid break since obviously you still need to be there in case they wake up. I would argue that the last is likely illegal but the first 2 are just crappy compensation. Given what your have reported and your lack of hours guarantee and lack of a full contract I highly doubt the employers will be ok with you taking paid days off. This does not make them right or good MBs - but if your goal is to leave quickly and on GOOD terms then you need to be realistic about what these crappy employers will accept.

[Anonymous]

I bought the stroller because Family A's suggestion was for me to use an Ergo to carry one child and push the other in a single stroller they didnt have a single stroller at this point and Family B and Family A were going back and forth about who would be the sole owner of the single stroller. At this point Ive been in the house for over 6 months without getting out for fresh air. The babies started walking, the walls kept closing in, the basement area was off limits because it was unsafe for the children to be there and blah blah blah. In short I was going NUTS in that house and I didnt want to be walking around in DC's hot summers with a baby on my back and pushing the other.

If the parents were willing to purchase a stroller I would have used whatever one they decided on of course. Since I purchased I considered the resell value of strollers using craigslist, Amazon reviews, ease of use, Family B's suggestion, and the suggestions from a couple nannies/moms on the first thread I posted on. I love it the babies love it and I'm just happy to not be stuck in the house.






"OP why are you still at this job? You come on here every couple of months to complain, vent, and seek advice. "

I came here to research nanny share contracts and happened upon an active thread dealing with a similar issue about 4 weeks ago. I posted a portion of the nanny share contract draft that the families wanted me to sign. A poster asked me to update after we had our sit down to discuss. I appreciate the advice that Ive been given thus far even the ones that aren't necessarily in my favor. As I said before I have financial obligations that preclude me from just quitting my job before securing a new one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought the stroller because Family A's suggestion was for me to use an Ergo to carry one child and push the other in a single stroller they didnt have a single stroller at this point and Family B and Family A were going back and forth about who would be the sole owner of the single stroller. At this point Ive been in the house for over 6 months without getting out for fresh air. The babies started walking, the walls kept closing in, the basement area was off limits because it was unsafe for the children to be there and blah blah blah. In short I was going NUTS in that house and I didnt want to be walking around in DC's hot summers with a baby on my back and pushing the other.

If the parents were willing to purchase a stroller I would have used whatever one they decided on of course. Since I purchased I considered the resell value of strollers using craigslist, Amazon reviews, ease of use, Family B's suggestion, and the suggestions from a couple nannies/moms on the first thread I posted on. I love it the babies love it and I'm just happy to not be stuck in the house.


"OP why are you still at this job? You come on here every couple of months to complain, vent, and seek advice. "

I came here to research nanny share contracts and happened upon an active thread dealing with a similar issue about 4 weeks ago. I posted a portion of the nanny share contract draft that the families wanted me to sign. A poster asked me to update after we had our sit down to discuss. I appreciate the advice that Ive been given thus far even the ones that aren't necessarily in my favor. As I said before I have financial obligations that preclude me from just quitting my job before securing a new one.

I'm sorry OP, but I agree that you shouldn't have gone and bought a $400 stroller. If you had even gotten to the 6 month mark of not being able to get outside, then that should have been your clue that you needed a new job right THEN! I think the 3-4 month mark without them either not buying a stroller or not trusting you with taking the kids out (whatever the excuse was), would have been WAY more than enough time for me to realize that the position was just not going to work out. Just something to consider for the future. By the time you got around to trying to deal with it, it had gotten way past the point of simple fixes. It's basically a "take it as it is or leave it" position now. You should have been looking for something long ago and then you would have already been in a new one.