Babysitting can be hard work, no doubt about it, from tempering tantrums to wrangling whining toddlers into bed for night-night. While interpersonal skills, childcare experience (and lots of patience) are often prerequisites, no tattoos or social media accounts are a little less common.
These are, however, important criteria for Tammy, a mum-of-four in the US whose ad for a part-time babysitter has gone viral for its shocking list of demands.
All prospective applicants must have a "minimum education" of a master's degree to be eligible to look after her four young children - aged two, three, five, and seven - according to the ad. They must also be a "great cook and an avid cleaner".
While the childcare role is part-time - 12pm to 6pm five days a week - applicants must also be willing to pick up "occasional" weekend work and are also expected to run all of Tammy's day-to-day errands.
Applicants must not drink, smoke or vape, and tattoos and piercings are also a no-no. Additionally, Tammy stipulated that the successful applicant will not be allowed to have any social media accounts, writing: "I don't need my kids seeing that."
Candidates must have five professional references and undergo both a drug test and background check, the ad stated.
The kicker? Tammy is only offering the successful candidate US$200 a week - or NZ$331 - which amounts to just $6.66 an hour (NZ$11). In the US, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 (NZ$12) per hour. The minimum wage in New Zealand is currently $22.70 an hour.
"Babysitter needed ASAP," the ad reads. "I need someone to watch my four kids from noon to 6pm Monday to Friday (occasional weekends).
"This job pays US$200 (NZ$331) a week (must have own transportation to get to and from while also running all my errands)."
Tammy's ad was met with swift backlash after a passerby shared a photo of the printed ad to Facebook, with many condemning the mum and her "insane" demands as "entitled" and "audacious".
"Now I'm not a math whiz but six hours a day, five days a week is 30 hours of work. And $200 - divide by those 30 hours - equals $6.66 an hour," one said, with a second noting: "$6.66 per hour... McDonald's pays more to flip burgers."
Another slammed the mum's "audacity", adding: "Might be able to have those requirements if paying $1500 per week."
"She actually thinks someone with a master's will work for $200 a week?!" a fourth agreed, with a fifth weighing in. "I'm sorry but I make $400 A DAY with a high school diploma."
Others questioned the veracity of Tammy's ad: while some argued there was no way the demands could be serious, a few suggested that there could have been a typo with the compensation offered for such extreme criteria.
"Husband probably said, 'You can only stay home if we can't find a babysitter.' Challenge accepted," one joked, with a second agreeing: "Her husband told her she needed to go back to work, and she said she would as soon as she found a decent babysitter. So she ran this ridiculous ad in hopes to never actually find one."
"I can't wait to use my master's degree to babysit four kids for $200 a week! Said no one ever," another deadpanned.
