Cheeky Job Ad Goes Viral, But the Real Story Is a Town in Crisis

A job advertisement for a housekeeper that’s “smarter than a fitted sheet” has attracted international attention to an outback mining town struggling amid a lacklustre start to its peak tourist season.

Coober Pedy’s Radeka Downunder Underground Motel manager Mike Lowe said he never expected his ad for a housekeeper who could “tell the difference between ‘clean’ and ’bloke clean’” to go viral – viewed by more than 500,000 people since it was posted to social media on Thursday.

The tongue-in-cheek ad called for a housekeeper who was “tougher than Coober Pedy dust and smarter than a fitted sheet”, had a “personal grudge against dirty bathrooms” and could “spot a fingerprint from 20 metres away”.

Among the essential qualifications required for the gig were skills to “keep the famous underground motel looking less ‘abandoned mine’ and more ‘bucket-list accommodation’, ‘operate a vacuum without fear’ and ‘possess the rare ability to find things that guests swear they left “right there”’.”

“Experience?” the job asked. “Great if you’ve got it. If not, we’ll teach you everything except how to fold a fitted sheet. Nobody knows how to do that.”

Mr Lowe said the ad was viewed from as far away as the UK, with thousands of job hopefuls applying from “every corner of Australia”. Keeping with the jocular nature of the ad, some applicants sent videos of failed attempts to fold fitted sheets.

One hopeful listed their skill as a “professional napper” while Mr Lowe said several appeared to be “running from something and have chosen Coober Pedy as their hiding place”.

He said it had taken three-and-a-half hours to sort through the applications he received, with a 64-year-old Adelaide woman – a frequent guest of Radeka – winning the role and making the nine-hour drive to relocate to the opal mining town at the weekend.

Mr Lowe, who admitted his sense of humour was “much darker” than the ad portrayed but had sought to stay “Facebook safe”, hoped his recruitment drive would draw tourist attention to his motel and the outback region.

He said the recent fuel crisis had crippled Coober Pedy, with a dismal number of visitors to the region at Easter – typically the start of outback Australia’s peak tourism season – which only improved with this month’s 50th anniversary of the Finke Desert Race.

“(Coober Pedy) is really, really struggling – I know businesses that are down 100 grand ($100,000) just from (decreased tourism because of) the fuel crisis,” Mr Lowe said.

“But there’s so much (for tourists) to do here. The biggest thing is, of course, the opal mines but there’s so many interesting people here – even if you just sit and people watch, it would blow your mind. And the restaurants and food are phenomenal.”

Mr Lowe said while his unorthodox approach to recruitment had ruffled the feathers of a few locals, he was not perturbed and did not rule out a similar approach if tourism picked up and he required another housekeeper.

“The amount of views (the ad) got was ridiculous,” he said. “I hope it puts Coober Pedy back on the map – whether (visitors) stay at the Radeka or even if they stay somewhere else, hopefully people are curious now to come to Coober Pedy because it’s a special little spot.”