This Former Nanny Worked With A Wealthy Family For Years — Here's What The Life Of The Rich Is Like Behind The Scenes
Have you ever wondered what it's like to work for the wealthy? Today, you're in for a treat.
CBS
I recently spoke with an anonymous source who worked as a live-in nanny for a rich family for over four years, and they shared surprising insights and stories from their personal experience.
Here are some of their confessions about what it's like to work for the rich — and what the life of the wealthy can be like behind the scenes for some:
Note: And of course, any nanny's responsibilities and perspectives will be different. These points are from this nanny's firsthand experience!
1.For the most part, day-to-day duties were pretty "normal."
For this nanny, responsibilities would include nannying and housekeeping duties: assisting with meal prep (the wife did almost all of the cooking), laundry, cleaning, and caring for the family pet.
2.The couple of the home worked in the entertainment industry and lived in a quiet, upscale neighborhood. "They had a nice house. It was like the millionaire-next-door kind of thing," our source said. "A well-known actor lived only a mile away and would have celebrity friends over all the time."
The neighborhood was known for being a home to doctors, car dealership owners, and other affluent families who would have their own maids and nannies — and our source would make friends with other maids in the neighborhood. "Everyone worked walking distance from each other," they said.
3.Rich people can be a bit cheap. OK, like, really cheap.
For example, the family found a way not to spend on paper products. In fact, according to the nanny, they'd have stacks and stacks of paper towels and toilet paper that the husband "stole from work": "They never bought any — it was never on the grocery list," our source said. "He was hoarding long before COVID."
4.But some things were worth spending TONS of $$$ on.
"They were very frugal. They didn’t splurge on anything but food," our source said. "When it came to food, they had the best quality. They didn’t go on vacations, didn’t spend money on decorating their home — they basically spent it all on food."
According to the nanny, they were big on doing everything themselves. This meant almost never going out to eat and making food staples at home as opposed to buying them from a store — like bread, spaghetti sauce, and even dog food. "She was an excellent cook and baker," our source said. "They were very hands on, even though they had a busy schedule."
5.Clothes were also considered worth the splurge.
For this particular family, the nanny recalls having to make sure they had their clothes dry cleaned — even though they would "never step foot" in a dry cleaners themselves. They had a service where someone would regularly come to their home to pick up the family's clothes and return them.
Our source mentioned a funny moment that occurred during one of the regular deliveries: "One day, the guy came to deliver the dry cleaning and was going to sit on their antique furniture, but the wife quickly scolded him and said, 'Don’t sit on my good chair.'”
6.Apparently, not everyone can be trusted — even if they're your fellow rich friends.
According to the nanny, the husband and wife were polar opposites. The wife came off "demanding" and "spoiled," and she was "never afraid to yell at anyone." While the husband was more "down-to-earth," he was very paranoid when it came to his money and possessions. For example, when his friends came over for dinner parties, he would ask the nanny to follow them around to make sure they weren't stealing anything — even though they were well-off themselves.
7.For this nanny, working for the wealthy came with its fair share of challenges.
Our source opened up about the overwhelming and stressful nature of the job. "They came from a different world. The workload was demanding," they said. "They had a list of chores to be done, and if I didn't do it right, I'd have to wake up at night to redo them."
8.In fact, working for the couple came with making sure things around the house were close to perfect. "Every day, the husband would walk around the house with a magnifying glass and inspect the furniture to see if there were any nicks from vacuuming."
The nanny also recalled once having to wake up at 10 p.m. after going to bed just to repolish a brass faucet, since the wife thought it wasn't done well enough.
9.And yes, this nanny really did handle ALL of the household chores.
This family was used to having help around the house, so it was normal for them to never do any chores — apart from shopping for groceries and cooking. "They always had maids," our source said.
And as the only one working for them at the time, the job sometimes came with some verrrry tedious tasks — like cleaning their car or ironing someone's coat.
10.The family wasn't wasteful at all; in fact, they'd rather fix what they had instead of buying something new.
"They had these draperies that were a little tattered — you could see where it was worn and threadbare because they were so old. But I had to take the time to mend it by hand with a needle and thread because they wouldn’t replace it," our source said.
"And one time, someone chipped a glass bowl, but instead of throwing it out, the husband just filed down the sharp edges so he could use it again."
11.Even though they had the money, you wouldn't always be able to tell. "They didn't flaunt their wealth," the nanny said. "They lived very low-key."
According to the nanny, the wife drove a modest car, and the husband drove a very old car that was faded and had rust on it. "He would ride it to work every day and didn’t care," our source said.
12.Forget private jets and fancy yachts — for this family, their hobbies were fairly laid-back as well.
While the wife was a masterful chef in her spare time, the husband enjoyed carpentry. "She had cookbooks for every cuisine you can think of. And he loved to build things — desks, his own kitchen island — whether it was for the home or for friends."
13.Family drama was the norm. "Their life was so dramatic at times, their daughter even said I should write a movie about them," the nanny said.
"They would get into these raging arguments with each other and then sit down and have a nice meal together," our source added.
And it was fairly normal for family arguments to happen in front of the nanny. Our source mentioned one particular argument over curtains, where the father told their daughter to close the curtains at the end of the day, to which the mother responded, “Is she a pushover now? Why are you asking her to draw the curtains? We’re paying a maid to do that.”
14.They weren't the most generous with those who worked for them.
The nanny mentioned having to take care of everything in the household when his wife passed away and described the husband as being "cheap." But despite the increased workload, our source mentioned getting a pay cut instead of a raise. "He told me 'you’re doing less now' with one less person," they said.
There also weren't any Christmas presents during the holidays — but as a "gift," the nanny was told they could "take anything" from the late wife's remaining possessions — including her clothes.
15.And finally: For some wealthy people, the poor don't really cross their mind. "I don't think they cared about other people's problems," our source said.
"It wasn’t on their radar. They didn’t deal with poor people at all. It wasn’t part of their world," they said. "They were dealing with celebrities and people who were comfortable like them."
