All of us joke around about the silly or annoying parts of our jobs — it’s just part of being a working person. But when you post these jokes to social media, there’s always the risk that your employer will see them and not share your sense of humor.
That’s what happened to one woman who works as a nanny. Her simple joke on TikTok about her job ended up having drastic consequences — ones that many online feel she should have seen coming a mile away.
The nanny made a joke about how the rich children she cares for are super picky and hardly eat.
TikToker and nanny Anelga went very viral with a video giving a glimpse into what the job of nannying is like. She worked for a family in Winnetka, Illinois, a very wealthy suburb of Chicago — it’s home to the grand house from “Home Alone,” in fact — and Anelga couldn’t help but laugh about one particular aspect of the job.
“One thing about Winnetka children? They have all the money in the world, but they cannot eat if their life depended on it,” she said before describing a situation that will be all too familiar to parents and other caregivers.
“I am with these Winnetka children five days a week,” she said. “What are the options I have to make them for dinner? Hot dog with strawberries. Chicken nuggets and fries with strawberries. Quesadilla with strawberries.”
Yep, that sounds about right! “If you gave these kids a plate of rice, they wouldn’t know what to do!” she went on to say, “50% of their diet is ketchup.”
Anelga finished her video with a spin on an old adage: “I’m gonna tell my kids when I grow up, ‘You better eat up… there’s kids in Winnetka that are starving!'”
The nanny got fired after her video went viral because the parents thought she was complaining about her job.
Anelga’s video was funny, relatable, and pretty universal these days, right? As my brother once put it about his three little ones, “Our monthly blueberry budget alone could pay off my student loans in a year” — and, of course, most of those blueberries end up in the trash because his kids don’t eat either!
However, the parents of the kids Anelga cares for definitely did not see the humor. In a follow-up video, she revealed that she’d been fired after the parents of the kids she cares for saw her TikTok.
She was shocked by the parents’ reaction. “Was that really mean?” she asked. “I’m really not trying to be disrespectful, I’m truly just saying, like, ‘the kids eat the darndest things’… It’s not a judgment on your character.”
But the parents seem to have taken it that way, even though she clarified that she didn’t even mean it as a complaint, let alone an insult. “Please, like, eat hot dogs, eat ketchup,” she joked, “I’m happy to do this for you!”
People online were not at all surprised by her termination.
Listen, two things can be true at the same time, right? It is absolutely true that Anelga’s observation was par for the course and a harmless, relatable, lighthearted joke. As one commenter put it, “I’m a Winnetka mom and when I saw it last week I laughed out loud.”
But it’s also true that pretty much anyone could have seen this coming a mile away — most of today’s parents rarely have much of a sense of humor about their kids, after all. “Winnetka children got Winnetka parents,” another commenter wrote, which pretty much sums it up.
Lots of viewers of Anelga’s video said they saw this coming a mile away. One person who grew up in the area explained it perfectly. “When I saw the video I thought ‘Oh, this won’t end well,'” he wrote. “Those parents will and often do defend the worst behavior of those kids. They’re perfect, and can do no wrong.”
Some lessons just have to be learned the hard way — the lesson in this case being that many, maybe even most, parents aren’t going to share your sense of humor when it comes to their kids. Sure, they need to lighten up, but posting about it probably isn’t going to do the trick!
Anyway, if anyone in the Chicago area is looking for a nanny with a sardonic sense of humor and a lighthearted approach, we happen to know of someone who’s available! As Anelga put it in her video, “Anyone need a nanny? I make a mean hot dog.”
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
