Maid Service

[Pure]

it does spread the money around.

i remember wondering about how a church could employ a maid/clearner, then I discovered that, as a refugee, she was quite pleased with the job, and, i think, proud to be earning.

if the wages are fair, and the working conditions, etc, and there are no under-the-table deals solely for your benefit, i don't see a problem. well, breakage, depending who you get.

 

[sincerely_helene]

it does spread the money around.

i remember wondering about how a church could employ a maid/clearner, then I discovered that, as a refugee, she was quite pleased with the job, and, i think, proud to be earning.

if the wages are fair, and the working conditions, etc, and there are no under-the-table deals solely for your benefit, i don't see a problem. well, breakage, depending who you get.

I have to address this from my own experiance, even though I'm of course not a refugee.

In my past to current, several of my jobs have been considered the "lowest of the low," but odd thing was that I never percieved it that way until those around me would point it out.

I was happier than a pig in poop cleaning houses, weeding, pulling leaves from curly willow trees, washing dishes, etc. Had I not been given so many looks of pity and comforting pats on the back from strangers and even my own family saying "don't worry, things will look up, you will find something better," I wouldn't have had the slightest idea that what I was doing was considered menial, degrading, or embarassing by a large percentage of society.

I go in for an interview to be a grocery store food demonstrator (sample person) next week, and though I am really looking forward to it, I haven't told many people simply because I don't want to endure those same ol' looks and comments again.

I realize I have digressed, but I just wanted it to be made known that even the Wal-Mart greeters, custodians, and housekeepers of the world take pride in their work. It can be a really downer when those around take pity on them for this.

 

[matriarch]

I agree with you all, nothing wrong with getting someone in to do something you can's stand. If you can afford it, go for it.

As for the 'menial' stigma, both my sons have university degrees, and have, thank goodness (for my bank account), pretty well paid jobs. But I've always told them, and mean it sincerely, I don't care what you do for a living, how low down the chain it is, as long as you are happy, and what you are doing is legal and harms no-one, that's fine by me. The youngest has an honours degree in modern history, and one weekend after hiring a van to move house, he fancied himself as a truck driver. I could see him at it, he's a damn good driver. He never did anything about it, but I would have supported him 100% if he'd chosen that road.

The whole 'status' thing about employment, pisses me off royally. It means nothing except to those who are impressed by what someone does and what they earn. Me, I do nothing and earn nothing, I walked out of my job 4 months ago, and don't regret it one bit. If I get to the state where I need to work I'll simply do some temping, or go to the local supermarket and see if they need some part time help. I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Provided I'm pulling my weight at whatever I do, and earning my wage, I'm fine.

 

[neonlyte]

I have a 'maid'. Most people here do, if they can afford it.

This lady worked until recently 3 afternoons a week, she's cut back to two because of her age. She's worked here for 23 years and I'm still not used to having someone come in to clean the house. Hence the house always gets 'tidied' before she arrives.

 

[impressive]

When I was pregnant with my 3rd child, I had a lot of back pain. That's when I caved and got a housekeeper. The professional services in the area wanted $60-80/week to send in two people & all supplies. Instead, I advertised in the newspaper for someone to work 3 hours/week @ $10/hour. (We live in a college town, and I got a TON of response.) Of course, I then had to provide the supplies (but that also meant I got to choose the products -- and with a kid with a squillion allergies & chemical sensitivities, that was key).

I've kept the service 'til this day (youngest is now 7). The housekeeper does the routine stuff. I do the seasonal/special cleaning. Well worth it.

 

[Liar]

I wouldn't feel guilty about hiring a maid service. Or a "household service person", to be politically correct. But I would be so embarrassed about the untidyness of my home, the way I always am when someone is coming over for a visit, so I would clean up the place before they got here.

Heh. Maybe I could get a discount.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm with helene on this one.

My last part time job, I was a janitor. And I really enjoyed it.

One of the things I liked best about it was that it was a tough job, requiring both a fair bit of physical and mental effort. Another was that I was doing a job many people regarded as utterly beneath them. They were 'too good' to do such 'menial' work.

I'd still be doing it, but I bumped up against the one thing I can't handle: management. Apologising to managers here, but I can never quite understand where management is coming from, or what they want.

 

[Halo_n_horns]

My wife and I do have a service come in once a month. Yes, just once a month. We clean as we go, but its nice that once a month to basically have an entire weekend to kill without the normal chores around the house looming over us.

The hard part about this is finding one that you like. It wouldn't hurt to schedule them to come in on your days off at first so you can see how they do and keep mental notes on things, like how thorough they were and how much time it took one, two or three of them to get the job done. We have one gal who comes in. She's here for four hours and has a regular list of things to do for us. The place is friggin' immaculate when we get home. We tip her well, and for Christmas she actually left us a couple of very nice gifts on the island in the kitchen. She also usually does a few little things that are above and beyond the usual list. She's one that we would fight to keep coming, and we actually have one one occasion.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

In my opinion, you're looking at it the wrong way Mck. Having someone help with the housework is a luxury. If you have no job, you probably can't afford it and should have time for it. You go to work, hopefully to earn the money to be able to afford some luxuries.

It's a basic tradoff in priorities. You've given up both free time and housework time, to be in the work force. It's a fair trade, but just fair, since the house still needs to be cleaned, you are essentially sacrificing even more of your free time. If you devote a little of the money you are earning, to have someone help with the house, then what you are, in effect doing, is buying back some of the free time you gave up to work.

If, you can work, get the house work done, and still have free time, you are realizing a net gain in quality of life time.

I think it's a great idea to buy back some of that time. It's the time of your life that makes life worth living and, imho, that's a good investment.

 

[lil_elvis]

No-brainer. Get the service and insist on the French maid get -up.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Poll to follow.

Here's my dilemma. I've been working full-time for the past several months, a kick-ass job where I'm actually getting paid pretty damned good. I notice, however, that when it comes to housework I'm being pretty lax. I've been considering hiring a maid service to come in and clean my house once a week, or possibly twice a month. Thing is, I'm feeling guilty about this.

Maybe it was the "do-it-yourself" values I was raised with, but part of me feels like such a loser for hiring someone else to mop my floors. Thing is, after a full week's worth of work, the last thing I want to do on the weekend is clean. I want to play, damnit!

So here's my question: If you could afford maid service, would you take it? Or would it be too big of a slam to your independent personality?

I'm calling FEMA to come and take care of things here.

 

[oggbashan]

We hired a cleaner once a week for several years while our children were small and I was working long hours commuting 2+ hours each way.

It gave us a few hours together and reduced the stress on both of us. It also meant that my wife could actually do her own thing outside the house when the children were at a nursery school. When she went back to work, the cleaner made the difference between coping and not coping - for both of us.

The fatal trap is to clean and tidy before the cleaner comes.

Og

 

[McKenna]

Just a few things:

I never looked at "maid" as being a politically incorrect term. It certainly never was meant as anything derrogatory on my part. I was simply going off the flyer I had hanging on my door when I got home a few weeks ago advertising a company called "Merry Maids."

That said, this is one of the first jobs I've ever had that wasn't "menial." I've taken more shit jobs than I'd care to admit, simply because I needed the money. I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment of not only graduating from university, but finding a job and negotiating a salary that places me in market value for technical writers in my area.

I really, really like the idea of buying back some of my free time. Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts on this! I believe I'll start looking around for a cleaning service this week. Now if I can just convince myself not to clean before the cleaning service gets here...

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Just a few things:

I never looked at "maid" as being a politically incorrect term. It certainly never was meant as anything derrogatory on my part. I was simply going off the flyer I had hanging on my door when I got home a few weeks ago advertising a company called "Merry Maids."

That said, this is one of the first jobs I've ever had that wasn't "menial." I've taken more shit jobs than I'd care to admit, simply because I needed the money. I'm pretty proud of my accomplishment of not only graduating from university, but finding a job and negotiating a salary that places me in market value for technical writers in my area.

I really, really like the idea of buying back some of my free time. Thanks to all of you for sharing your thoughts on this! I believe I'll start looking around for a cleaning service this week. Now if I can just convince myself not to clean before the cleaning service gets here...

Don't answer the door in what you have on now.

 

[McKenna]

Don't answer the door in what you have on now.

I'm wearing PLAID flannel pajama bottoms. And a t-shirt. We could be twins.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm wearing PLAID flannel pajama bottoms. And a t-shirt. We could be twins.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!

Fooled ya, I'm not wearing the flannels right now and I have on a long sleeve thermal....it's the arctic here, not good for plucking potatos.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

Here's who they are sending...

http://www.sellinc.com/Cook_CleaningLady_fv.jpg

 

[Guest]

Must admit, I came to this thread with images of Mck in a French Maid costume.

If I could, I'd be your maid Mck. But no costume for me. I could never figure out how to get those garters on. Took me years to figure out how to get them off.

 

[Bizkit_Writer]

Get a maid service, I can't clean worth shit and my cleaning lady does it fine!

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Here's who they are sending...

http://www.sellinc.com/Cook_CleaningLady_fv.jpg

And don't you dare tell her she's not a 'Merry Maid' or she'll rip your friggin head off.

 

[Munachi]

hm, i think if while living here (germany) or elsewhere in the "rich" world and able to afford it, i would have no problem hiring someone to clean a few times a week. it's be something i pay for so they do this work. not too different as if i pay someone to fix my computer if its broken or other things...

what i have been thinking about for a while, is how i'd act if i for example end up living in south america (which i have been considering a few times) - i have stayed with families there that had their "empleada de casa" and it was a very different deal - they usually either lived with the family, in some small room that most houses and apartments have just for that, or were there all day, every day. and of course in that case there was a clear hierarchy. not someone who was payed for doing a specific service, but also someone who was asked to do all kinds of things not related to her work (like, a friend's empleada was doing the laundry, while my friend wanted to write down something for me, and she shouted for the empleada to bring a pen), who is talked about badly in her presence at times... and that whole situation always made me feel uncomfortable - i was wondering if i will be drawn into similar behaviour if i have a full time empleada, or if the kind of education i got (in a place were no one really had those empleadas or would even think of getting one) would keep me from that...