that you were coming to work for me.”
“Are you saying I can’t stay with you then?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“But where will I stay?” Bernadette sounded outraged.
I rubbed my temple in frustration. “With your cousin? In a hostel? I don’t know. And anyway it’s none of my business. If you prefer I can leave your case in the porch for you so you can collect it sometime tonight at your own convenience.”
“All right then. Suit yourself.”
Click. She was gone. I stared at my phone stunned. My head was spinning. Good God, the stress of it all was getting to me. I sighed in exasperation. I could feel a migraine starting. Why was it so bloody difficult to get a good au pair? Come on! I slumped down on the sitting room sofa and put my head in my hands. I felt defeated and worn out, and if I’m being honest, a bit foolish too. That girl must have thought I was an awful eejit if she thought she could get away with behaving like that.
Then John began to whimper. A sudden strong pong told me that he needed his nappy changed as soon as possible. I looked over at him and saw that he had also puked a bit down his nice new top. Seriously, if it wasn’t one thing it was another. There was never any spare time as a mum. Not to even mention the mountain of washing and ironing to be done. It was all beginning to get on top of me.
Later that evening, after John and his favourite teddy had been put down in his little wooden cot and a few lullabies had been sung, I poured myself a large glass of red wine and sat down at my computer. It was time to go back to the drawing board. Bernadette had arrived to collect her case. She had come in a taxi, and removed it wordlessly from the front porch. I honestly found the whole thing very odd indeed, but it was a blessing that she had shown her true colours early on, and not in a few weeks’ time when it might have been too late.
Maybe it was time to approach a proper nanny agency. Perhaps I should splash out on a fee for peace of mind. The only problem with agencies was that they had lots of strict rules like having to pay holiday pay and offer free flights and offer the use of a car and all that malarkey. With funds at an all-time low, I was barely managing to keep the roof over our heads without having to fork out a fortune on employment agencies too. I decided to renew my ad on the internet one more time. Yes, it would mean having to read many, many
more practically illegible CVs, but I couldn’t just jack in all my hopes because of Bernadette turning out to be a few raisins short of a fruit-and-nut bar. I logged onto the employment section of the website and renewed my ad. Then I started reading a few of the other ads so that I could compare them to my own. It was pretty fascinating stuff. Lots of families seemed
to be making fairly heavy demands on their would-be au pairs. There was one ad from a family with five children, looking for an au pair who would be willing to do housework as well as help the children with their homework, and they expected some poor girl to do it all for a hundred euro with just one and a half days off a week. I thought that was pretty outrageous. For the same money I was offering two days off a week, a free travel pass and my girl would only have to help one mother look after one child. I didn’t expect my future au pair to do much housework. Apart from a few errands down to the local grocer’s and keeping little John’s clothes in order and some light ironing, she wouldn’t be asked to do much at all. I believed that an au pair’s interest should lie with the child and not cleaning. After all, how could somebody truly look after your child properly if she was on her hands and knees scrubbing floors? I just couldn’t believe some the ridiculous demands being made by some of the families. They were looking for slaves, not au pairs!
I was tired now. I was fighting to keep my eyes open. It had been an exhausting,
“Are you saying I can’t stay with you then?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“But where will I stay?” Bernadette sounded outraged.
I rubbed my temple in frustration. “With your cousin? In a hostel? I don’t know. And anyway it’s none of my business. If you prefer I can leave your case in the porch for you so you can collect it sometime tonight at your own convenience.”
“All right then. Suit yourself.”
Click. She was gone. I stared at my phone stunned. My head was spinning. Good God, the stress of it all was getting to me. I sighed in exasperation. I could feel a migraine starting. Why was it so bloody difficult to get a good au pair? Come on! I slumped down on the sitting room sofa and put my head in my hands. I felt defeated and worn out, and if I’m being honest, a bit foolish too. That girl must have thought I was an awful eejit if she thought she could get away with behaving like that.
Then John began to whimper. A sudden strong pong told me that he needed his nappy changed as soon as possible. I looked over at him and saw that he had also puked a bit down his nice new top. Seriously, if it wasn’t one thing it was another. There was never any spare time as a mum. Not to even mention the mountain of washing and ironing to be done. It was all beginning to get on top of me.
Later that evening, after John and his favourite teddy had been put down in his little wooden cot and a few lullabies had been sung, I poured myself a large glass of red wine and sat down at my computer. It was time to go back to the drawing board. Bernadette had arrived to collect her case. She had come in a taxi, and removed it wordlessly from the front porch. I honestly found the whole thing very odd indeed, but it was a blessing that she had shown her true colours early on, and not in a few weeks’ time when it might have been too late.
Maybe it was time to approach a proper nanny agency. Perhaps I should splash out on a fee for peace of mind. The only problem with agencies was that they had lots of strict rules like having to pay holiday pay and offer free flights and offer the use of a car and all that malarkey. With funds at an all-time low, I was barely managing to keep the roof over our heads without having to fork out a fortune on employment agencies too. I decided to renew my ad on the internet one more time. Yes, it would mean having to read many, many
more practically illegible CVs, but I couldn’t just jack in all my hopes because of Bernadette turning out to be a few raisins short of a fruit-and-nut bar. I logged onto the employment section of the website and renewed my ad. Then I started reading a few of the other ads so that I could compare them to my own. It was pretty fascinating stuff. Lots of families seemed
to be making fairly heavy demands on their would-be au pairs. There was one ad from a family with five children, looking for an au pair who would be willing to do housework as well as help the children with their homework, and they expected some poor girl to do it all for a hundred euro with just one and a half days off a week. I thought that was pretty outrageous. For the same money I was offering two days off a week, a free travel pass and my girl would only have to help one mother look after one child. I didn’t expect my future au pair to do much housework. Apart from a few errands down to the local grocer’s and keeping little John’s clothes in order and some light ironing, she wouldn’t be asked to do much at all. I believed that an au pair’s interest should lie with the child and not cleaning. After all, how could somebody truly look after your child properly if she was on her hands and knees scrubbing floors? I just couldn’t believe some the ridiculous demands being made by some of the families. They were looking for slaves, not au pairs!
I was tired now. I was fighting to keep my eyes open. It had been an exhausting,
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