i worked as a private teacher last year and it was so funny. i had a contract with the biggest company in that market (do not EVER work with them. its a scam. literally.) and i also found students in my (poor, mostly made up of first/second generation immigrants from south asia and africa) town.
and well. wasn't it illuminating.
the agency i worked for sent me only to rich people's homes in paris. and nice neighborhoods, too. i went to a flat literally across the street of the salle pleyel, with the only shops around being mariage frères luxury tea and a caterer who LITERALLY had caviar branded as their bestselling product. the flat itself was almost 400 square meters big. for context i live in a 35 square meters flat in the poor suburbs and it's a miracle i can afford it because rent is half the price of the market. there were TAXIDERMIED ANIMALS in that flat, a collection of gems, etc. while this was the wildest home i've worked for, this was not an exception at all.
i was a literal servant. which honestly was pretty funny because i felt like a 19th century poor but educated girl working as governess in a rich family. the kids were nice generally, but what was REALLY cracking me up was their parents. i once arrived for my first lesson there to the mother having her hair done in her own kitchen. she laughed a guilty laughter and said "sorry, but i just can't stand hair salons! so i asked my usual hairdresser to come here. it's very practical! sorry i can't greet you properly, help yourself to a glass of tap water!"
the parents made it obvious i was here to serve; but at the same time, that i was a luxury item, yet a necessity - god forbid their precious offsprings failed their national exams! obviously i'm white and college-educated which really helped. but definitely we didnt belong to the same world. i had literally a father tell me, the first time he called me to fix an appointment date, he "wasn't sure what métro was closest to his home". in PARIS. dude was so used to having a chauffeur he doesnt even TAKE public transportation. and i lived almost 2 hours away. in public transportation.
mostly since my skills were seen as "valuable" and "rare" (contrary to a cleaner's, which honestly take more work and dedication and skill...) and because i was white, they didn't feel like outright disrespecting me. it was a weird relationship. like really weird. a client once took me and the girl student to lunch in a 5 stars restaurant down their street to get in my good graces. she paid more than 150€ for a meal her granddaughter barely touched. i was like, thanks! but you could just have GIVEN me the money instead and i'd have brought homemade pasta and salad and some cake we could have eaten in your kitchen and it would have been better. because i went home half sick from that meal, not having eaten in 3 days (because no money!) and could have literally paid half my tuition with that money. you know?
on the other hand, my students' families from our town were literally the sweetest people i've ever encountered. i was paid more (the agency paid me 11 to 13€ an hour, while the families paid 50€ an hour. those families gave me 20€ an hour). and i became a family friend. they lived in nice flats, but that were social housing, or in modest houses. the only awkwardness i felt with the parents was when we couldn't understand each other because of language barriers. they were glad to have me around to help, but i wasn't a servant, rather i was similar to a social worker.
and those kids of color, with working class parents, ACTUALLY needed me! like i was useful, contrary to those rich white kids from paris whose parents were just anxious about the exams (in france only private schools are expensive, so you can't really pay your way into the sorbonne like you can into harvard for example, so they wanted to make sure their kids got good grades at their final exams). like man. it was crazy
