Useless maids - just a vent to relax my mind

Op, I understand and sympathize..I have dealt with similar maids..now I'm not working but when I was working I suffered so much..1 maid was told to come at 6.30 or atleast before 8 am..as I would leave for office by 8.45 ..she would deliberately come just as I was getting ready to leave.would yell at me if I asked why she is late..I let her go and replaced with another one..she was punctual but would repeatedly take leaves and travel to native..would never inform me about the leave and then give some reason or the other..even subsequent maids were same..either they had attitude problem, or took excessive leaves while being punctual on other days or if they were regular they never maintained proper timing..few are prompt in receiving calls or calling if they take leave but many don't bother..I have few suggestions:
1. Keep 2 maids, split the tasks between them so that if 1 doesn't come other will do work.ask 1 to come in morning and 1 in evening..for example 1 coming in morning for sweeping mopping..other in evening for washing utensils, washing clothes etc according to your convenience.if one maid doesn't come give little extra cash to other maid to cover up that work..that is if the abscence is for 1-2days only..regular abscence not to be tolerated..
2. Be strict and tell them that one or two leaves only will be given per month, if they exceed u will deduct salary..do that one or twice then they will be careful.
3. Do not give them flexibility of timing ..if you want them to come at 8 am tell them 8 am and not later than that and you would deduct their salary and replace them if they are late..
4. Give them proper training on using mobile phone and show them how to make missed call..many of them know how to answer calls on mobile but don't know how to make a call or check their call logs to see if anyone has called them.
5. Better to use washing machine...only baby clothes and kids clothes to be washed by hand.

I am equally frustrated as I've gone through similar experiences and being in India means that we are dependant to some extent on them..but I have seen from personal experience that if we are strict and firm with them they behave to some extent and if we are lenient and friendly they take advantage..
You are pregnant hence make good arrangements for domestic helps and childcare..if elders have good support for housework they can concentrate their time and energies in looking after you.

 

Dear OP,

I can understand your frustration. As generic advised better to keep two maids for different tasks. It will help you to cover other tasks if one maid is absent.

I know you may not like my response, but still I would like to post my opinion here about your statement because i feel your statement is bit rude.

We cannot be judgmental about a person just based on their economical status. Do you think only poor people behave like this (without discipline & punctuality)? Yes we do inform our managers if we need day off, but do you think all these employees, who are well educated and rich in status are punctual and discipline and doing their work with commitment? I know people who take work from home option and spend most of their day on personal works, also there are people who take day off just giving a fake reason to escape from work.

So IMO it depends on the person's character and not because of their economical & financial status.

 

Sorry about your situation OP,

Your mind-set coupled with your pregnancy hormones is well understood. No worries. We all get mad at some points, because we are not saints, but humans.
But you must repent for what you have said, thought about poor people to claim your respect back.

Having said this, please try not to depend on maids as much as you can. Consider them as a luxury, not as your basic need.
If one such luxury is not available, that won't affect our life so much.

Your mom and you can somewhat do the chores, which are basics to run the house. Get other family member like your dad for some help.
Let the moping and bathroom cleaning wait till the maid comes back.

I don't think that you guys can't clean the vessels and sweep the floor daily. It is not a rocket science. That too for a small family like yours. Learn to do that without depending on a maid.

Try using a washing machine for washing. If it is an auto machine, it is easy.

Maids won't inform to the employer because of so many reasons
- They may not have mobile phones recharged/talk time
- They may be scared to inform
- Scared to lose the job
- Got a special work offer (just a weeks's job which pays a lumsump), and they don't wanna lose that.

Listen... We inform to our boss, because we are confident that we don't lose the job. We know that we are entitled to take leave, and do whatever (a part time business too)

If they have the luxuries like us, they wouldn't be our maids at the first place.

 

[QUOTE="kcb, post: 3798096, member: 221606"? I know people who take work from home option and spend most of their day on personal works, also there are people who take day off just giving a fake reason to escape from work.

So IMO it depends on the person's character and not because of their economical & financial status.[/QUOTE]
Yeah these things are quite common in office..many are supposed to work from home but do not even bother to stay online in office chat or communicator or reply to mails..they'll not do any work and if questioned they know how to manage it..almost 95% of my previous colleagues in my past work experience never used to reply to mails or chats when they were " working from home" and often their w.f.h days would coincide with cricket or football matches! There were senior people in my previous workplace who would spend 5-6 hours at office and not spend any time on doing work, would instead delegate all work to junior people and spend time surfing net and hanging around in cafeteria doing professional networking!

 

Get a washing machine to handle dirty clothes.If maid doesn't come for a day,you can do a slight sweeping of the floor on those days without mopping before leaving for work.If dishes gets piled up,you and your husband can help with the cleaning after coming from work.

Make sure to have your plan B's ready if maid doesn't show up.

Lastly,your thoughts affect your child.So don't think negative about any one.Let it go.

 

Few additional suggestions..1. Maintain good friendship with neighbours so that if your maid takes planned vacation for many days you can approach neighbouring ladies and can request their maids to come those days by paying some extra cash to the maids and giving them some small gifts, tiffin, eatables etc ..
2. Better to use utensils smartly so that there are less vessels lying in the sink..even if the maid doesn't turn up you can quickly wash them..for example, small tumblers, spoons, cups, plates etc used for eating can be rinsed and washed immediately after eating the food items..also wash n reuse, like if u use 1 Kadhai for cooking a sabji , then transfer the sabji to a smaller box or vessel , rinse the Kadhai once with water and use it again for cooking something else or doing tadka etc..using small size cooker or pan for cooking small quantities also makes utensils easier to wash than bigger utensils, especially as less number of people are there at home.

 

Archana, here is the story of one maid and why she is illiterate and poor. Maybe you should get to know the story of your maid.

If there was a term to justify my feelings for all the maids, it would be animosity, extreme hatred. But she was a little different. Over the days, I found that she never screamed or yelled. I barely heard her voice throughout the day. She never rose up her head to watch who passed through the freshly mopped floor. The payment was the only thing she spoke for, that too very softly. Astonishingly, she had dissolved my disregard towards the housemaids. Thus, one fine day, I asked my mother about the reason of her being different from others we had yet. It was pretty different than what I had expected.

My mother told me that she was the daughter of one of the other maids who died of a disease, a few years back. Her mother had toiled hard to get her the basic education. Her father had died long ago. The only dream that her mother had was to see her complete her education. The same year, she was married to a man who was earning in some coal mine. Naturally it was not a choice but was a result of the pressure from the society. Her spouse denied her any further education and thus she had to quit. Her spouse died after two years of their marriage of some accident in the coal mines. She had two children to look after and hence she started working as a maid.