Meg Whitman's ex-nanny speaks out

[Liberal_in_LA]

Whitman's ex-nanny believes housekeeper
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

San Francisco Chronicle October 4, 2010

(10-04) 20:43 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Jill Armstrong says she has good reason to accept Mexican housekeeper Nicandra Diaz Santillan's tale of working in the household of GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman - because Armstrong herself was a domestic for the former eBay CEO.

"I totally believe" Diaz, Armstrong, 59, of Mountain View, said in an interview with The Chronicle. "I know the family. I know what it was like."

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'Had enough'
Armstrong said she quit after about two months because of the demands and difficulties of the job.

"I had enough," she said in an interview, describing trouble getting paid what she believed she was owed, and challenges in dealing with household chores and in supervising Whitman's two young sons.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/05/MNJB1FO3BR.DTL#ixzz11VxYbf8J

[Cleita]

1. Apparently Armstrong was legal so she could quit

after two months because the household preferred slaves, which they found in illegal immigrants. There's a big discrepancy in how domestics are often treated, even the legal ones, and the rest of the work force. I think our lawmakers need to address this. The situation is ripe for abuse of women who have to do these jobs.

[jgraz]

2. I love how they call Armstrong's claims "unsubstantiated"

You mean aside from the undocumented housekeeper who says the same thing? :rofl:

[truedelphi]

3. You never know what someone is really like, in the depths of their souls,

Until you work inside their household.

One reason for the continual employment of Latino people as domestics, is that their illegal status means that they are willing to bear the brunt of the long awful work days, continual denigration on a physical and verbal level, lack of sleep, privacy and also low wages.

A friend of mine interviewed for a full time, 24/7 position taking care of a rich family's elderly aunt, and had she taken the job, they would have paid her $ 48 a day.

Rich people in the Bay Area often pay their household help terribly. And then the rich people that do pay a living wage, will often charge rent for the sleeping quarters, so that a tiny room filled with the client's junk is rented to the worker for $ 600 a month (State law prohibits charging more than something like $ 228 a month, but that doesn't stop so many rich people who "know they don't have to follow the rules of an intrusive government.")

And for anyone wanting a hilarious and also tragic look into the lives of nannies, I recommend the book "The Nanny Diaries."

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Just for the heck of it, I'd like to say that 'rich' does not explain

their lack of humanity. That is, it is possible to be rich and also fair. I say that because I know several people with household staff who are great employers, pay well, and are very kind. The rich who act like Meg do that not because they are rich, but because they are like Meg. It is not their money, it is themselves that makes them that way. Meg could have nothing, she's still be Meg.

[truedelphi]

5. Unfortunately, the Corporate Model of success often allows

people who lack humanity to succeed far more than those who are honest and forthright.

I don't mean to paint everyone with a broad brush, as I do have several friends who are decent people and rich, but to be rich often means representing that harmful products are A-okay, that harmful business practices are fine (Just sign on to the purchase contract of this house, with its ARM mortgage, and don't worry, be happy, today is June 2005, and there is no way the price could ever go down, it is always going to go up.) and on and on.

More industries are tainted with deception, and risk to those who participate than ever before. For instance, back in the eighties I had several friends who were involved with banking and they were honorable people, but honorable people in the banking world will not survive in this day and age.

And it seems to be getting worse rather than getting better. :-(