corpho

{There was an image here that mildly related to cameras and being photographed unawares, hence the rambling spiel below. I try not to soapbox out of the blue if I can help it.}


I often used to freak myself out by assuming that there were hidden cameras watching me in various places. Mostly when I was a nanny (!!!) I assumed that my employers had at least one camera in the house. I used to watch a lot of Dateline-type "news magazines" so I was paranoid about a naughty-nanny-being-caught-on-tape scenario. I new the mom couldn't stand me, but she was like a drill sergeant and I thought her expectations of her kids' activities during every hour of the day were ridiculous. I hated the parents for warping their otherwise bright and sweet kids into money- and status-hungry princesses. If one girl got a PC, the other one would throw a fit until she got her own laptop with a DVD drive (this was years ago). The elder daughter wanted a makeup artist and hair stylist at her 12th birthday party so she could have a fashion show with her friends. I couldn't face that shit (I was supposed to be there as a servant) so I called in sick that day. I was fired not long after that. The mom once freaked out on her daughter and me because I didn't make the part in the girl's hair straight enough, so the mother was going to do it herself, the right way. There were many Crawford-esque moments such as that. Being fired after the girls left for their very expensive summer camp was a blessing! I sought that job out of sheer desperation. I had moved to New York and was living off of credit cards (that I'm still paying off). There's nothing more disturbing, to a person like me at least, to be all up in a strange family's business. People really act like slobs when they pay other people to do their dirty work. I have very strong feelings against nannies. I feel like parents do need help if they are working or are disabled in some way, but having a stranger doing what you're expected to do as parents is not something I feel comfortable with. New York is rife with career families that have nannies, so I've seen on a first hand basis many kids that are basically raised by someone other than their parents. Their parents become merely cash machines and education-choosers in their eyes, I think. The parents feel guilty for not being around so much, so they just give the kids anything to compensate for that.

But I don't plan on having kids, so why should I care all that much? Blarrghhhhhhhh. Basta.