When the Going Gets Tough, Some People Lay Off the Nanny

WSJ ^ | 12/11/08 | MIRIAM JORDAN

[Kimmers]

Over eight years, Dolores Jacobo earned her place as an integral member of an affluent Malibu, Calif., household, where her workplace is a six-bedroom, nine-bath beachfront home with a private movie theater.

Hired to be the nanny of twin 3-month-olds, she stayed with the family after the girls started school. She transitioned from pushing strollers to shopping for groceries and ferrying the family's golden retrievers to grooming appointments. Her employers, she explains, "have busy lives" that include volunteering at school, going to the gym, visiting the chiropractor and getting various beauty treatments, like facials, manicures and pedicures.

Later this month, however, this household chief operating officer will fall victim to downsizing. She says her employers tearfully informed her that her $1,000-a-week position is being eliminated. "They told me they had to cut expenses 75%," says Ms. Jacobo, whose employer declined to be interviewed. "I am heartbroken."

The weak economy is wiping out a symbol of the wealth boom: the megananny and other high-end help.

The luxury of household help, often in the form of immigrant labor, blossomed with the thriving economy. Some nannies came to oversee entire households. Now, the dive in the value of stock portfolios and real estate has caused even prosperous families to review their finances and make new plans. People unaccustomed to doing their own housework are dealing with dirty laundry and mowing their own lawns.

[Kimmers]

Part of me is saying, "Good, finally the parents are taking care of their own children." Then I get to thinking about the kids. The nanny may be the only source of stability and love in their lives but the mom at the end of the article would rather have her botox than keeping her kids life stable.

In the end, the kids still lose and mom still looks good.......

[CE2949BB]

People unaccustomed to doing their own housework are dealing with dirty laundry and mowing their own lawns.

Mwahaha! I love it!

[Zuben Elgenubi]

"I try to have Alba come once a week," says Mrs. Sirof. She says she feels "horrible" about laying off Ms. Monterrosa. But there are some perks she isn't willing to give up. "Nothing deters me from my Botox treatments."

Priceless.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I can’t even imagine how ‘the haves’ live. And if I’m lucky, I’ll never have to live that horrific (to me) life. :)

[varyouga]

Normally a lively child, daughter Addie became sad and withdrawn. A doctor Mrs. Sirof consulted suggested renewed contact with Ms. Monterrosa. "I try to have Alba come once a week," says Mrs. Sirof. She says she feels "horrible" about laying off Ms. Monterrosa. But there are some perks she isn't willing to give up. "Nothing deters me from my Botox treatments."

Uhg. Just when I think people hit the bottom of the barrel, they plunge into a more rotten barrel underneath it.

[AmericanInTokyo]

I wonder if we will return to the Ozzie and Harriet All American days, where we could see that nice junior high kid mowing neighbors lawns for a couple of bucks a pop or boys and girls visibly out on Saturday mornings doing "chores" for Mom and Dad, or kool-aid stand being run, or local teenage girls given trust and baby sitting, or friendly, zit-faced high school kids you know from the local football team who's families have been in the community for years the ones to be heard on the drive-thru loudspeaker IN PERFECT, DECIPHERABLE AMERICAN ENGLISH say "May I have your order, please" at the local Wendys, or Dad out putting up a fresh new coat of paint on the house instead of a bunch of illegals from Guanajuato pissing in the bushes during breaks and showing up as DUI mug shots in local papers.

People in the USA "outsourced" IMHO waaaay too much from their lives and became empty shells in their community--a lot of it was work to "undocumented" (maybe not the nanny in the article I realize); I do hope people come back to their communities and start doing the housework and neighborhood work THE PEOPLE used to do themselves, and get these illegals the hades out of our country and back home where they belong improving their own communities. I can dream, can't I?

[ataDude]

“Nothing deters me from my Botox treatments.”

It’s not that tough... yet.

[billhilly]

“People unaccustomed to doing their own housework are dealing with dirty laundry and mowing their own lawns.

Mwahaha! I love it! “

Man, can you relate to being seventy and having to mow your own lawn? Get real. Bubba, Jose or Rashid may be driven to crime if I am unable to provide meaningful employment to them.

[GladesGuru]

“Man, can you relate to being seventy and having to mow your own lawn?”

A close friend is 86 and does mow his own lawn. No, he won’t let me do it, either. HE is still an active surveyor whom I occasionally help on some jobs. Well,honestly, I am more company than real help.

Lastly, two years ago, we drove to the Sun-N-Fun fly in and he walked my legs off looking at the parked planes, until we found a Waco which was similar to the one he once owned.

Yeah, I’m decades younger, too.

If he is correct, about the active living longer, eventually, urban Libtards will be a much smaller part of the population.

;-)

[Tainan]

“Nothing deters me from my Botox treatments.”

My money says she also voted for 0bama.

[GovernmentShrinker]

If I was Ms. Monterrosa, I’d refuse to come and visit the child until mommy gives up the Botox treatments. And if mommy refuses to give them up, make sure the child knows that’s what’s delaying Ms. Monterrosa’s visits. Poor kid might as well know if mommy values her Botox treatments more than her daughter’s emotion well-being.

[GovernmentShrinker]

My money says she was “too busy” to bother with voting (but probably tells her friends she voted for Obama).

[dbrew2u]

Yes Sir..you can dream. And I and millions of others will dream right along with you. If you don’t mind ?

[Kozak]

I wonder if we will return to the Ozzie and Harriet All American days, where we could see that nice junior high kid mowing neighbors lawns for a couple of bucks a pop or boys and girls visibly out on Saturday mornings doing "chores" for Mom and Dad, or kool-aid stand being run, or local teenage girls given trust and baby sitting, or friendly, zit-faced high school kids you know from the local football team who's families have been in the community for years the ones to be heard on the drive-thru loudspeaker IN PERFECT, DECIPHERABLE AMERICAN ENGLISH say "May I have your order, please" at the local Wendys, or Dad out putting up a fresh new coat of paint on the house instead of a bunch of illegals from Guanajuato pissing in the bushes during breaks and showing up as DUI mug shots in local papers.

WHEN

[gussiefinknottle]

these are the people who have benefited from illegal immigration
and allowed california to be overrun with illegals. as long as they could
afford it, having cheap labor suited their lifestyles. i wonder now
how they will feel about their taxes paying for the illegals now that
their money is gone.

[HighlyOpinionated]

Around here, the first thing to go is nails, second is hair cuts. No nanny within an hour’s drive.

[oldteen]

I can dream, can’t I?
_____________________________

You absolutely can! And what a fine dream it is. Think I’ll join ya.

[backhoe]

She says her employers tearfully informed her that her $1,000-a-week position is being eliminated.

Good God! That's what Docs & CEO's make around here...

[Nea Wood]

Great post!