Shanghai Woman Needs 'Obedient' Nanny With 'Low Self Esteem': No Respect For Fellow Human?

A lot of us who watch period dramas would wish to be treated like royals, have our own staff to do our bedding, and lead a queen-like life. While it simply remains one of many fantasies, one woman in Shanghai seems to want to make her fantasy a reality.

This woman in the Chinese city is on a quest to find a "personal nanny" for herself. She is very specific about the list of qualities that she is looking for in the nanny. She wants someone who is "observant" and "does not have strong self-esteem." The nanny is expected to anticipate her employer’s needs, such as putting on her shoes for her when she stretches out her feet and undressing her when she shakes her head.

The nanny has to be ready to provide a "kneeling service" as the "servant girls did in ancient times." This woman is even specific about the physical appearance of the nanny—she expects someone who is taller than 165 cm, weighs less than 55 kg, and has a "clean-looking face." Heights of stereotypical beauty standards! The nanny is also expected to have a minimum qualification of a secondary school certificate and the ability to dance and sing well.

Shanghai Woman Needs Personal Nanny

Doesn’t it look like this woman has somehow gotten psychologically stuck in the 14th–15th century? While it might even sound funny, this woman seems to be pretty serious. She is paying a whopping 140,000 yuan a month. That’s above 16 lakhs in Indian money!

This amount is as much as what a keeper of Buckingham Palace would earn, according to a report by Hello Magazine in 2020. In Shanghai, nannies are usually paid about 6,000 yuan per month. This woman already has two non-live-in nannies who work 12-hour day and night shifts each and are paid 140,000 yuan per month.

The job listing was published by a Shanghai-based housekeeping service. According to Hongxing News, among other things, the daytime nanny is required to put on the woman’s socks and shoes and wait for her by the door when she returns home. The night nanny is expected to wash and massage the woman’s feet and prepare fruit and water on her orders.

With many netizens joking and criticising this, the question arises as to whether the woman is really serious or if this was supposed to be a joke. It’s 2023, and who would expect a maid to put on their socks and shoes for them, dress them up, and serve them at the snap of their fingers?

The president of the Chengdu Housekeeping Industry Association, Wang Xiaobing, said as long as both the employer and the employee agree upon the terms, laws aren’t broken, and the legal rights of an individual aren’t violated, it's allowed.

But aren’t maids fellow human beings too? Don’t they have self-respect and dignity? How can someone expect their maid to have no self-esteem and serve them "on their knees?" Back in ancient times, queens had their personal aides and helpers do everything for them in the blink of an eye. But aren’t we way past those times? How is it fair to even expect another human being to "serve" another?

Whatever the job, it’s a basic right of the employee to be treated with respect and humanity. Regardless of the pay, it’s unacceptable for the employer to expect their staff to have "no self-esteem." We are way past the royal era, and today’s world is about humanity, among many other things. Hopefully, someone talks sense into the Chinese "Queen" and brings her down from her pedestal! Wishing "her highness" a speedy comeback from her fantasy world.

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Image Credits: Polo & Tweed

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