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Home / Lifestyle

Reddit shames mum over outrageous requests in babysitter job ad

By Shireen Khalil
news.com.au·
28 Jul, 2020 07:55 PM4 mins to read

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The mother's demands were met with outrage online. Photo / 123RF

The mother's demands were met with outrage online. Photo / 123RF

A mum's job advert seeking a babysitter to work 12-hour days for as little as $110 a week has sparked outrage online.

The Canadian mother-of-two posted her "unreasonable" demands on social media which has since been screengrabbed and shared on Reddit attracting thousands of comments.

On top of wanting her future babysitter to work 60-hour weeks for minimal pay, the unidentified woman caused further fury when she demanded they pay for their own background check, provide her children with vegan organic food, and be available to work weekends with no notice.

The listing also asked for a babysitter to watch her two girls, aged 2 and 6, from 6.30am to 6pm during the week – 12 hours a day.

The mum said she would pay C$100 ($112) for the services.

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"After six months, if we are still conducting business, wages will go up to C$150 ($168) a week," the post continues to read.

"No you cannot sleep at my condo. No you cannot have friends over. No you cannot study/watch YouTube/be in your phone while on duty."

A mum's job ad has been shared on Reddit with shocked users mocking her list of demands. Photo / Reddit
A mum's job ad has been shared on Reddit with shocked users mocking her list of demands. Photo / Reddit

The woman's advert has been met with backlash on Reddit from users stunned by her requests, with one describing it as "slavery".

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"Someone needs to tell her that slavery is unconstitutional," one person said.

"At first I read the post to mean $100 per day and even that was ... $4.35 per child per hour. "And you have to buy them vegan organic food on top of that. But $100 per week??? Where is your concern for your kids' safety?" another shocked user wrote.

"I will never understand how people could leave their children in the care of someone who is willing to accept $1.66 an hour," a third person added.

Some questioned if it was real. Photo / Reddit
Some questioned if it was real. Photo / Reddit

"I always wonder if these people ever find anyone to watch their kids," a fourth wrote.

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When some users questioned if the post was "real" a Toronto local said, "Trust me when I say it's not a troll."

"There was a lady in my community that was wanting a sitter four days a week from 7am to 5am (Monday to Thursday) for three kids," another woman explained. "She was going off on people about how she's a single mother and needs help when she was called out on the ridiculous hours/expectations for childcare. She deleted her post later."

It's not the first time a parent has been questioned over their unreasonable babysitting demands.

Last November, an anonymous woman was mocked for a job ad she posted on Facebook.

The post was posted on Reddit, where users were horrified at some of her 14 demands which included them needing to "ideally be a Trump fan".

"In exchange, I will be offering $10/hr under-the-table cash," her ad read. "It's like making $15/hr normally but without paying tax."

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The woman, who has a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, also required some snacks to be paid for.

Last year another parent left online users stunned over some of her requests with the job ad posted to Facebook. Photo / Reddit
Last year another parent left online users stunned over some of her requests with the job ad posted to Facebook. Photo / Reddit

"Why would the babysitter be required to pay for the kids' snacks?" one Reddit user asked.

"At $10 an hour, that could be like doing an hour of work for free!"

While another wrote: "It always astounds me that awful people think others actually want to look after their kids and would be happy to be there under all of those circumstances."

One confused user said: "Wait, she wants them to have no previous problems with the law, yet wants them to take cash and evade taxes?"

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