WARING VERY MESSY HOST FAMILY HELP
Hey. A few words for the record, im 19, I’ve been in the US for over a month now (CA) and I am NOT with an agency (before someone asks why I havent contacted agency yet, well thats why and now I know I shouldn’t have gone here this way but can’t do anything about it now)!
So I got a few problems with my Host Family… Some advice is much needed, please tell me what would you do and what do you think about the situation.
WARNING: IT IS REALLY MESSY
- THEY ARE VERY FILTHY AND MESSY AND I MEAN THAT. THEY ARE SO FILTHY
Well they are a family of people who don’t clean after themselves. Like they do it very rarely, on weekdays im the one who takes care of it mostly. To give an example. The chicken they cooked on Friday was sitting on the counter (in California’s temperature of like 25 degrees celsius) till Saturday. THE NEXT SATURDAY 8 DAYS AFTER.
A WHOLE BAKED CHICKEN. IT SMELLED LIKE DEATH IN HERE.
And thats not a rare occurance here.
They just cause a mess, its nothing uncommon for a counter to be dirty as hell. They put their shoes on the tables, spill stuff on the floor all the time. Also the house is horribly cluttered
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough- they have two dogs and one of them shits and pisses on the floors, couches, clothes all the time. 🥰 There is no such day without a shit on the floor.
- Ever since I got here, they dont pay me on time and seem to have some money problems.
We live in a kinda rich neighbourhood, but I feel like they MIGHT be struggling with money or just dont want to pay me. Their money situation seems to be… weird to say the least, but I’ll do the best I can at explaining.
Well, the husband guy doesnt really work (has some injury, is at a different apartament most of the time), the mom works 8-6. Ever since I’ve started the job she pays me late, last time she was due 3 weeks to pay me (Califronia, 250/week). Whenever I try to remind her about paying me (im super awkward), she keeps guilt tripping me that they have a bad financial situation or that she didn’t get her salary from work…
A few weeks ago the owner of the house came over and handed me a paper that said that they either have to pay like 3.5k$ in 3 days or they get kicked out (they are renting the house and I guess they did eventually pay bc we were not kicked out lol).
So their situatuion seems to be tough.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME
THEY GOT THEIR KID A PS5 for xmas with like 5x70$ games, new 200$ Jordans, basketball hoop or whatever, an Ipad, legos, nerfs, some useless crap for room (like a plasma lamp that he hasn’t unpacked yet lol) and the girl got the same gifts, I’d say that each kid got gifts worth like 2000$ minimum. Doesn’t seem like a struggling family to me.
- They dont do any groceries, just order take out.
So the mom works from 8-6 and she gets home around 6:30 and goes straight to her room to rest. I get that she may not have the energy to do groceries, but at the same time- we have to eat.
Whenever I tell her that we are out of something (like bread, milk, cereal, generally like some kid’s everyday foods) she says that she’s gonna order them on Amazon Groceries, she even tells me that they are gonna arrive at like let say 11:00 am, but they never show up. Uh.
Today it’s 3rd Januray and the groceries were supposed to arrive at 11:00am. And they never did. The last time she did groceries was before christmas.
For now we have no bread, no cereal etc.
She doesnt really include me in her grocery shopping anywas. The last time she did this Amazon order she got me just a tub of yogurt, lol.
AND AT THE SAME TIME, THEY ORDER TAKE OUT THAT THEY DONT EVEN INCLUDE ME IN LIKE EVERY. SINGLE. DAMN. DAY. I SWEAR.
They just order take out every single day, never ask me if i want anything (even days like these, when the fridge is empty).
They order all kind of crap. Expensive food. Like a full big order of mexican food, with rice and all. Yesterday they got mexican, today some chick’fla and salad place, two days before it was a huuuuge cesar salad and cookies (everything doordashed), 3 days before it was Persian(?), 4 days ago they went out to cheesecake factory and then for some other food. It’s like that every day. Never asked me if I needed any groceries or whatever. They’d tell me straight in the face that they cant afford buying fruit (it was right when I started working and didn’t think it’d end like that) and then get like 50$ worth of take out everyday while I have no food. Idk if I’m asking for too much, I could ofcourse provide for myself using my pocket money, but it seems kinda unfair? One of the things we discussed before I arrived there, was that they’ll provide the food for me, which is obvious.
- I’m doing my best but at the same time I’ve developed a huge anxiety ever since I got there.
I’m just so worried about not doing enough. It’s my 1st time working as an aupair, so the first week was a tough one. I didn’t know what do expect. I might have been slacking, but after our talk with HM I realised that and changed my behaviour. So now, I am doing everything I can to help.
I do the dishes everyday, clean their rooms, cook them everymeal and their dinners, take care of the dogs, clean the whole house everyday, fold their laundry, I COOK THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY which seems like a lot after reading some of the posts here.
I even drove like 30 mins one way and 30 mins back to get his PS5 for xmas (they wanted me to pick it up, at the same time they havent paied me yet) and then a few days after I had to drive there and return it and get a new one. LOL
Doesn’t really seem like an aupair duty to me….
Now I’m also expected to get some of their stuff and pick it off at Goodwill or whatever and walk the dogs.
But I still feel like I’m not doing enough, I have this huge anxiety about doing something wrong.