I think I have seen this on here before, but can you maybe do a PSA? I have a lot of staff I use on as needed basis and not many full time staff. We have a nice home and nice things. But it seems people are coming at me from every direction to ask for things or get "dibs" on things. My four year old daughter just got a really deluxe motorized vehicle to ride in the yard. We hadn't even used it once before one of my occasional sitters who was helping for the party said, "When she outgrows that, I get dibs on that." It would be funny if she was joking, but she was dead serious.My son played t-ball last year and this year moved to little league. He no longer needs his tee or bat, so the housekeeper tells me that her nephew wants to play t-ball, could she have the t-ball stuff? In the beginning it was very easy for me to say yes, but now all of these requests make me angry. In response to this, I said, "what about '4 YO daughter'?" and she looked at me and said, "no, you buy her pretty pink stuff." My daughter isn't even playing t-ball. Is it so wrong that we would want to keep a t and t-ball bat around so she could play with it? This is getting ridiculous and I am afraid it is making me very bitter. Yes, we have a comfortable life, that is not the issue. When we are done using things, I always pass on clothes and toys, I just don't like having a waiting list or the people around my children eyeing up our possessions with such salacious greed. I use a car service to go the city for a regular appointment and have a regular driver. The appointments ease up in the summer, so I don't use him as much. Last weekend, the doorbell rang and there is the driver on the doorstep. He brought me a jar of jam and wanted to introduce me to his children. I was as gracious as I could be, although I was getting ready to head out. It wasn't just the jam either. He said, "see my children are big, like adults, when you clean out your winter closet, we will take jackets and coats." Is there an underground network of pilfering domestics? What is this madness? Don't people understand that this wears away at my natural desire to look for people close to me who could use the things we no longer can? I wonder how other employers handle this?
