"Commute by Car 3 Times a Week... 8,000 Won per Trip"
Mom Cafe Job Post Controversy... "Are You Hiring Slaves?"
A post by a parent offering a weekly wage of 24,000 won on the condition of picking up their child from school three times a week has sparked controversy.
On the 1st, several online communities and social networking services (SNS) featured a post titled "A school pick-up helper job post criticized even in mom cafes." The post was a capture of a job listing posted in a cafe where parents gather (commonly called a mom cafe).
According to the post, the author A, who posted the job listing seeking a "school pick-up helper," stated, "I am looking for a helper who can pick up my child attending middle school at dismissal time and escort them home."
The issue lies in A’s excessive demands for the school pick-up helper. To become the helper for A’s child, one must be able to work three times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and use their own car to pick up the child. A added, "The distance from the school to home is about 10 minutes." The helper who meets all these strict conditions is paid 8,000 won per trip.
Netizens who saw this story reacted with comments such as, "Are they really asking someone to use their own car to pick up and bring back a child just to earn 8,000 won?", "Are they treating school pick-up like a delivery service?", "If something happens to the child, they’ll have to pay a much bigger amount, so what is this?", "Why does a middle schooler even need a school pick-up helper?", "They seem to take other people’s labor for granted," "The gas money won’t even be covered," and "It feels like they’re looking for a servant."
On the other hand, some netizens responded, "8,000 won seems reasonable," "There aren’t many jobs these days where you can earn that much for 10 minutes of work," "It seems like a decent part-time job," and "All you have to do is pick up and drop off the child, so what’s the problem?"
Meanwhile, this is not the first time a job post demanding excessive conditions from school pick-up helpers has caused controversy. In March, a job post offering an hourly wage of 13,000 won required the helper to pick up the child, give them a bath, feed them, and do the dishes afterward, which drew heavy criticism. The poster B added, "I prefer someone with flexible hours who can take care of the child on days when the child is sick and cannot attend daycare," which further fueled the controversy.
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