Paying for food in travel month?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should feed her. You are her host family. That is part of the deal.

No it's not. It's part of the deal that you feed her while she's working for your family. If you are being generous and letting her stay longer, she's a house guest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should feed her. You are her host family. That is part of the deal.

She is feeding her... travel month AP just doesn't get to buy her own food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are being petty. As hosts, you are ambassadors for your country. People overseas have enough negative things too say about Americans and now you’re the lady who wouldn’t buy her granola. You’re petty and small. It’s really quite sad.

+1
I can’t imagine getting worked up over this, or feeling taken advantage of. I assume you had an ok relationship with her until this, it’s really sad to end on a sour note for $50 of groceries! Think of what you earn v your Au pair- I very much doubt you are effected by $10-15 a week, she might be... it would be nice if she offered to watch the kids here and there but you don’t know if she was going to or not, I’m guessing she would have been fine helping with them but now you’ve made everyone uncomfortable.

I think when life is generally good and you’re happy this isn’t something you’d give this much thought and emotion to, & a teenage girl would have to do a lot more to even be a blip on my radar. Food for thought.

+1000

It's rude to hand someone a bill, but the amount of money is so small that I can't imagine getting angry about it. If your au pair does not have an income at the moment, the $10 probably matters a lot to her while it almost certainly means little to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are being petty. As hosts, you are ambassadors for your country. People overseas have enough negative things too say about Americans and now you’re the lady who wouldn’t buy her granola. You’re petty and small. It’s really quite sad.

+1
I can’t imagine getting worked up over this, or feeling taken advantage of. I assume you had an ok relationship with her until this, it’s really sad to end on a sour note for $50 of groceries! Think of what you earn v your Au pair- I very much doubt you are effected by $10-15 a week, she might be... it would be nice if she offered to watch the kids here and there but you don’t know if she was going to or not, I’m guessing she would have been fine helping with them but now you’ve made everyone uncomfortable.

I think when life is generally good and you’re happy this isn’t something you’d give this much thought and emotion to, & a teenage girl would have to do a lot more to even be a blip on my radar. Food for thought.

+1000

It's rude to hand someone a bill, but the amount of money is so small that I can't imagine getting angry about it. If your au pair does not have an income at the moment, the $10 probably matters a lot to her while it almost certainly means little to you.

Whether or not this money means a lot to the family or not isn't the point. The point is that this level of entitlement is intolerable and I imagine this was just the straw that broke the camel's back!

[Anonymous]

i would be surprised if the bill for the grocery was more than $30 a week which is nothing to stress about. If you can afford an au pair, you can afford a couple weeks of grocery. let it go OP. she/he is def not taking advantage of you. They just want to eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i would be surprised if the bill for the grocery was more than $30 a week which is nothing to stress about. If you can afford an au pair, you can afford a couple weeks of grocery. let it go OP. she/he is def not taking advantage of you. They just want to eat.

She can eat what is in the house. She is not working for OP. It is the travel month and OP is allowing her to stay in her home. Paying for food in the home, shelter, utilities is plenty. She can pay for extras or help out OP in exchange for extras.