The unnamed teen had been looking for work since last November and was thrilled when the job centre finally sent her an offer last week. But serving drinks at a nude bar at one of Bavarian city Augsburg’s biggest brothels, the Colosseum, was not exactly what she had in mind.

The trained housekeeper told the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper she was “totally horrified” at the suggestion as was her mother, who screamed after reading about the 42-hour working week, with shifts on mostly evenings and weekends.

Augsburg’s job centre told the newspaper that they knew they were offering positions in a brothel but were careful to ring potential applicants to talk about the job before sending a letter, to see if they were suitable and explain the job.

This had not happened in the young woman’s case though, which director of the centre Roland Fürst told the newspaper was a mistake. “We would never offer jobs in prostitution,” he stressed, but added that “we knew the establishment was operating in the red light district.”

That the centre had not spoken with the 19-year-old on the phone first was, Fürst said, “something that should not have happened.” He added that “we are very sorry.” Eight other potential brothel employees received phone calls.

After apologising to the woman, the job centre said it would no longer be offering work at the Colosseum and would try to check more carefully the companies who advertise through the state-run office.

The Local/jcw