Interviews with the SAHM

[Anonymous]

I am looking for a weekend job to supplement my full time nanny job (which I love). I have had two interviews set up so far with stay-at-home-moms who just want some help on weekends and for date nights. The first interview, the potential MB, who set the time and place of the interview, was 20 minutes late to arrive back and her own home (she did call) and the second potential MB, who also set the time and place of the interview, simply didn't show up back at her home at all. She did call once I got back home and apologized. She said she thought we were meeting the following day. Since we did our correspondence on care.com it was easy to see that she got it wrong.

WTF? Obviously as a nanny I have always worked for women who work out of the house and have never issues like this before. I saw both as red flags and didn't accept their offers but still... Are SAHMs more scatter-brained than WOHMs?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't say they are more scatter-brained, but I think it's fair to say that for many of them, they haven't had to develop systems to juggle complex schedules the same way many WOHMs do. You'll find WOHMs who screw up like this, and you'll find SAHMs who are totally on top of it and punctual. But on the whole, WOHMs do generally need to have an existing way to manage appointments/meetings/reminders.

[Anonymous]

Generally, in my experience, yes - SAHMs are more scatterbrained and less considerate of another working-persons time. They have so much free time, I guess, that they don't see time as a valuable to someone else.

[Anonymous]

SAHMs are flakes. Since their time is worthless they assume yours is as well.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't necessarily say they are more scatterbrained per say, I think you just had some crummy luck here.

Are you sure you want to work for a family where the mother is at home? Perhaps this is a sign that it isn't a gret idea.

[Anonymous]

IME, SAHMs with up to 3 kids are less concerned with being on time. Now, all the SAHPs who I know that 4+ kids are super about keeping to the schedule, and while they might be about 5 minutes later than they expected due to traffic or something else, that usually means that they're on time, since they all build in at least 10 minutes extra to deal with the kids.

I won't work with a SAHP that has 1-3 kids unless there are twins or triplets, as the few times I've interviewed, it was obvious they wouldn't respect that I am an adult and that I am applying to help with kids, not be the housekeeper and do occasional date nights. Any SAHPs with 4+ kids have wanted minimal housework and more focus on helping keep the kids on schedule, which is fine with me.