This is the epitome of why I have nothing but disdain for the rich...

[Virginia Dare]

granted there are some socially conscious rich people out there, but just read this article, it will make you want to puke.

It's chump change for Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his wife, Tanya. But a Montgomery County jury yesterday handed a victory of sorts to Juliette Mendonca, the Snyders' former nanny: $44,880 in overtime pay, after two days of testimony about the inner workings of the Snyder household.

Mendonca was hired in April 2003 to work weekends watching the Snyders' three young children, joining a staff that included a full-time day nanny, two housekeepers, a house manager, chef, driver and personal assistant. Six months later her duties were expanded to include nights, and she continued that schedule -- nights and weekends, at $18 an hour -- until she was dismissed in November 2004 in a salary dispute


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031400121.html

[bryant69]

1. I don't know - most people, wealthy and poor, are assholes

It's just that the wealthy have more power to express their assholery.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Virginia Dare]

2. I read an excellent quote by Bruce Springsteen once..

he said something to the effect: I've lived in the richest neighborhoods and I've lived in the poorest, and there are assholes in both places.

[earth mom]

32. NO-The difference is that rich assholes think their sh*t doesn't stink.

:grr:

[Hamlette]

3. this is a joke, right? You hate rich people because they pay their weekend nanny $162,000?

over a 20 month period and the nanny sues them for $9 million!?!

I read this story and see the nanny as evil, as hating rich people so setting them up to get her lottery ticket.

She was paid $162,000 over 20 months when the couple thought they were being ripped off they offered her a salary of $70,000 per year to be the weekend nanny!

This makes rich people evil? I'd LOVE to make $70K as the weekend nanny!


Exactly how is it you think this makes rich people the evil ones in this story?

[Virginia Dare]

6. Nothing to do with the nanny's lawsuit..

it's with their whole attitude. Tanya Snyder couldn't be bothered with taking care of her kids because she was too busy building their multi-million dollar mansion, which by the way borders public lands on the Potomac River, land on which they illegally took trees down so they could improve their view of the River. But that's another story.

Her argument against the nanny's that she was forced to take care of other people's kids as well was that it couldn't be true because "everybody I know has a nanny", in other words, I don't associate with anybody who has to take care of their own kids.

You don't find this attitude disturbing?

I know it's been going on for thousands of years, but the whole snobby "I can't do anything for myself because I have enough money to pay people to do it for me" attitude really gets under my skin.

[The2ndWheel]

12. It's not really an attitude

"I can't do anything for myself because I have enough money to pay people to do it for me"

That's what specialization is all about. It's not that they can't(maybe they can't), but they don't have to. Maybe that leads to can't.

Like you said, it's something that has been around for thousands of years. As long as we keep agriculture around, and as corporations like Monsanto gain more and more control over food, you might want to get an anti-itch cream of some kind. You'd be making someone else not have to be with their kids with such a purchase, so it's a crazy ass loop.

[Hamlette]

21. I don't find it disturbing in the least

I would find it much more disturbing if this mother, assuming she is as evil as you say she is, took care of her own kids.

I had a "nanny" because I worked.

My husband and I used to laugh, nervously, and say: "I feel guilty coming home from work, baby Hamlette receives much better care from the nanny than from us."

I guess that makes me evil.

Are all people who have nannys evil? Are all rich people evil? Are all poor people good? Should all parents care for their own kids? What if they have to work? What if they want to work? If it's okay for them to hire sitter because they want to work outside of the home, why is it not okay for them to hire a nanny because they want to build a house? Where do you draw the line?

It's easy to say "If I were rich I'd give all my money to charity and live in poverty" but the fact is, you don't know. The only think money can buy is time which has tremendous value in my book.

I know far more generous, kind, loving, giving rich people than I know evil rich people. It is what drives me crazy about the left: you say you hate bigotry and engage in it yourself. Criticize the person, don't make sweeping generalizations about a class/race/religion.

Oh, yeah, and I still think this 50 year old weekend nanny is much better off making 97$K a year (or $70 as the offered salary) than most people I know. So, the way I see it? This might have been a good evil rich person story had they not paid the weekend nanny $97,000 a year.

I'm still on the rich person's side in this story.

[Virginia Dare]

22. You toss around the word evil..

did I use that word? I used the word disdain. They seem to have disdain for the rest of us, so I stand by it. They paid her well, so they figured they could use her any way they liked. I have disdain for this attitude, which in my experience seems to permeate among the super rich. This was just another example that affirmed that in my mind.

Have you ever been close to anybody super rich, I mean in the stratosphere of where the Snyders are. Have you ever directly worked for them? If you haven't, it would open your eyes, trust me. I've known some very nice uber rich people, but it was always very clear that I wasn't "one of them".

Yes, we all engage in bigotry to some extent, just because we're on the "left" doesn't mean we're perfect, we're all human after all.

[Hamlette]

23. ok, distain, you have distain for the rich

If someone paid me $97,000 to be their weekend nanny I would do what they wanted including tending other children and sleeping over. If I did not want to do that, I would quit my job and find another. (I've been at my job for 30 years, not 20 months, and don't make that kind of money and while I like my job, its not nearly as much fun as tending the neighbor's kids would be.)

Know the super rich? Yeah. I know several who are worth, by my best guess, between $10 and $400 million. They are each and every one wonderful people.

I've worked for the super rich...someone perhaps closer to the $10 net worth range...maybe more when you consider the value of her island in Canada. Among the most giving, kind, wonderful person I know.

Of course I don't expect you to believe me. Which of course is the very nature of bigotry. Your mind is made up without knowing the facts.

I know what you are saying but I don't see this as a good example (without knowing more facts). What I have seen in my life is the difference between some republicans and most democrats. The republicans of which I speak feel entitled and the democrats feel grateful. It has nothing to do with money. If this woman was one of the entitled I would not like her but from the article it sounded like the nanny was the one who felt entitled. Entitled to more than $97,000 for being the weekend nanny.

I'd be more sympathetic if she hadn't made so much money or didn't have free will or we lived in a country where she couldn't just go find another job any time she wanted. She had only worked for this woman for 20 months, it's not like she had invested her life in the family. I think it is also very telling there is not one mention in the article or your post about how the nanny felt about the kids. To me it sounds like she didn't like them very much and considered caring for them a chore. You don't like the work or your boss? Move on!

[Virginia Dare]

25. You say my mind is made up..

and so apparently is yours, so need to further respond.

[Hamlette]

27. I didn't say your mind was made up, you did, read the title of your thread

you said "I have nothing but distain for the rich." How in the world can a thinking person conclude your mind is not made up about rich people?

One horrid side effect of the Bush administration is it seems to have turned more people on the left into bitter haters. We are becoming just like the right. I still can't bring myself to believe that's the price we have to pay to win.

[Virginia Dare]

29. Well, yes you did

Of course I don't expect you to believe me. Which of course is the very nature of bigotry.

Your mind is made up without knowing the facts.


There are no facts here, only opinions, yours and mine, and they're different.

[Hamlette]

30. I'm a bigot because I don't believe you when you say you have nothing but distain for the rich?

I believe you. What I don't believe is there is any reason to believe all rich people are worthy of your distain.

That makes me a bigot?

Whatever.

[earth mom]

33. Ever heard of exploitation?

It matters not how much the nanny was paid, but how her employers wanted her to do whatever they told her to do without breaks, food or overtime pay which is in violation of the law mind you.

Also-I thought I'd seen it all here on DU, but to see people like you defend the rich who have used, abused, and exploited this country and it's people to the point of near destruction is just the absolute worst! :puke:

[JDPriestly]

4. Why bother to have children if you are going to leave them

with a nanny 24/7? Do they just bring the kids out part of the as decorations at Christmas?

The whole point of having children is to raise them, to enjoy spending time with them as much as possible and watching them grow.

Maye these rich people just had children in order to have someone to take care of their money after they die.

[Virginia Dare]

7. EXACTLY!!!!! n/t

[LibDemAlways]

5. I used to know a woman whose retired in laws were loaded and

who employed a fulltime "maid/cook" - actually a series of them because no one ever lasted long. They would work the poor individual (always an older woman) to death - making her responsible for all the housework in an over 4000 sq foot home, shopping, and cooking. She'd have to work holidays, including Christmas. They provided no health insurance and were damn unsympathetic to medical problems that arose. One Thanksgiving my friend was taking a plate into the kitchen and found the woman in there crying. She apparently had a bad toothache she couldn't afford to do anything about and had asked for the next day off to try and locate a low cost dental clinic but had been told "no." Meantime, the "employers" had the finest medical care, a large vacation home on the beach, drove Jaguars, belonged to country clubs.....you get the picture. Just disgusting.

Yes, there are rich and poor assholes, but rich assholes who exploit the poor are in a category by themselves.

[Virginia Dare]

9. Yes, I spent a couple of years working for a very rich individual..

when I was right out of college. Once you're on their payroll for any job, they expect you to be part of their "personal staff". Even though I worked in his office as his assistant, he also expected me to take care of his daughter when he and the wife went out of town. Of course he didn't put it to me that way, but I inferred it. I was also expected to do personal favors for some of his clients as well.

I feel entitled to judge the lifestyle somewhat. The priviledges that are gained by being around that much money don't outweigh the degradation in my opinion.

[LibDemAlways]

19. It's a mindset. My friend's in laws truly did consider themselves

"better" than other people and therefore entitled to everything they had - much of which was inherited to begin with. On her wedding day, the father summoned my friend (who had grown up in modest circumstances) into his study to inform her that even though she was marrying into the family, she'd never truly be a part of it and that she could continue to call her new in-laws "Mr and Mrs. X."

There are assholes and then there are mega-assholes I suppose.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. So, the real question? Who's going to play the maid in the movie?

[Virginia Dare]

10. Might be an excellent career come back role for Britney Spears?

[gollygee]

11. There are bad poor parents too

I have no idea why they needed to have a nanny around every single moment of their kids' lives. But whatever.

Still, the nanny was making pretty good money. It sounds like a fair verdict though - she worked more hours than they paid her for so she got the OT she deserved.

It sounds like something out of The Nanny Diaries.

[Selteri]

13. Can't we drop all this prejudicial lumping together of people?

You hate the rich, some other person hates the Muslims, another the Jews, yet another hates the poor. Where does it end when you label people by a single aspect about them? There are a lot of people out there, rich and oor who are good, decent people and there are also a lot of arseholes who care only about themselves and couldn't see compassion if it kicked out their front teeth.

PS My parents hired a part time nanny for the first year after I was born to help out about 10 hours a week, it was expensive to them; but, they needed the help, does that make them evil?

[Virginia Dare]

15. Point to me where I used the words hate and evil?

was it a generalization? Yes, it probably was. Fair enough. I apologize to all socially conscious decent rich people for my unfair rant.

And of course there are many upper middle class people who employ nannies, that is not who I was referring to.

[atreides1]

17. The Merry Minuet

They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain
the Whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like Anybody very much.



But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lucky day
Someone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away



They're rioting in Africa
There's strife in Iran
What nature doesn't do to us
Will be done by our fellow Man

[A Simple Game]

20. I agree with you 100%. n/t

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. I used to feel that all rich were like this

until I found out the story of David and Penny McCall:

http://www.geocities.com/ayeshahaqqiqa/heroes.html

[Virginia Dare]

16. Definitely not all...thanks for pointing that out...n/t

[paparush]

18. If former nannies can't sue their lordly masters for overtime pay...

then the terrorists have already won...

[gravity]

24. They seem pretty generous

Hiring a nanny for $70k a year. Especially after being paying $168k in 20 months

The Nanny is the one who is really greedy trying to sue them. She is the one taking advantage of them.

[rman]

26. *exceptionally* generous.

Maybe we're supposed to think this is typical...

[regularguy]

28. There's nothing wrong with rich people that can't

be fixed with a more progressive tax system.

[leftofthedial]

31. the rich are parasites

they steal everything they own

they are a scourge that needs to be removed

[Alexander]

35. Yep, John Kerry is a "parasite" who stole everything he owns.

:eyes:

What's next, calls to behead anyone who has money?

[leftofthedial]

36. that was last week

the french took out about 17,000 aristrocrats, which has given them 250 years of democracy (interrupted only by being conquered by fascists).

with our population, we'd need to "behead" about 196,000 to achieve similar effect.

[Alexander]

34. So do you have "disdain" for Kerry and Dean, too?

After all, they're rich - which seems to be the only qualifier you gave.

Maybe if you had said "most" rich people, or the ones you tend to run into, etc., people wouldn't be accusing you of having a negative bias against people with money.

But either you didn't quite type what you meant, or you really have some serious issues with people just because they have some money.