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A RENTAL GRANNY FOR ALL OCCASIONS
Ever wish you could talk to someone more experienced about your problems, or have her prepare you a delicious home-cooked meal? Well, such assistance is just what Japan’s OK Grandma is for.
Client Services is a Japanese company that specializes in a wide variety of domestic help, from house-cleaning to child-care and pet-sitting.
However, it is their unique services that really have people talking about them.
Client Services can have someone attend events on your behalf, apologize for you, or even quit your job, so that you do not have to deal with that unpleasant situation.
One of their most popular offerings is their OK Grandma option, which allows anyone to rent a female senior between the ages of 60 and 94 for a base fee of ¥3,300 (USD$22) per hour.
OK Grandma was launched in 2012, two years after the founding of Client Services, and it is still one of the company’s most popular choices. The more than 100 seniors employed by Client Services have rich life experiences and passions and believe that they still have a lot to contribute to society, from interpersonal skills to cooking or simply offering company to someone in need.
“The benefit of age is the ability to remain unfazed by small things,” the OK Grandma Web page says. “Their consideration for those who need it most, their housework and child-rearing skills honed over years of being housewives, their communication talents developed through relationships with neighbors and relatives, their rich life experience which has endured the good and the bad, and their friendly, warm presence are all irreplaceable strengths.”
With so many grandmothers to choose from, clients need only explain their needs, and Client Services will provide them with the right candidate.
Some Japanese grannies are veritable chefs, expert at traditional recipes. Others are wonderful house cleaners and babysitters, and some just have beautiful handwriting.
But you do not need to have a special skill to be a good candidate for OK Grandma. If you have the patience to listen and offer advice in matters of the heart or give younger people a more experienced perspective, you will have plenty of business.
“I want to break up with my boyfriend, but I canot tell him clearly, so I want my “grandmother” to come with me,” one OK Grandma client said.
“I do not have enough relatives for my wedding, so I want you to attend as a family member,” another person explained.
To rent a grandmother, clients have to pay the ¥3,300 base fee, plus any transportation fees, and they are responsible for the granny’s necessary expenses during the time they spend together.
Japan is no stranger to unusual people-renting services. In the past, we have featured Ossan Rental, a service that lets anyone rent a “middle-aged guy,” Debucari, a service that rents out fat people by the hour, and Wakaresaseya, a service designed to ruin or break-up romantic relationships, whether they are marriages or affairs—all for a fee.
But the rent-a-granny business seems much more positive, and we just wonder if Client Services would ever consider a vending-machine version of Ok Grandma.
SOURCE: odditycentral.com
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