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Forum -> Household Management -> Budgeting & Bargains
Appropriate Amount for Holiday Gift for Cleaning Lady?



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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 12:41 pm
I have a full time cleaning lady - 9-5. I happen to be very accommodating to her schedule. Meaning, there are days she needs to leave at 12 because she has some unspecified "something" to take care of, plus she's a single mother, so there's a lot of times she has to leave early. I'm very nice about it, even though I really do need the help.

That being said - here's the question - I gave her 25.00 and a card for the holidays, and she seemed disappointed, maybe with the amount, maybe because I didn't give her a gift but rather money -
is 25.00 not an appropriate amount? If not, I'll give her another gift Friday.

What does everyone think?
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luvinlife




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 12:45 pm
I don't have set cleaning help but I'm under the impression that the amount may be too little??
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 12:53 pm
That's quite low for someone who works full time and hasn't just started with you.
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nyer1




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 12:54 pm
full time help , whether for cleaning or babysitting generally gets at least half to a full weeks pay. industry standard by most
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OOTBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 1:23 pm
I've always given around a week's pay.
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 1:25 pm
Well, I'm not going to give a week's pay because she really does miss a lot of (half) days, which inconveniences me a lot. But I'll follow the advice here and add the amount that would bring it up to half a week's pay.
Thanks, everyone.
debsey
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harriet




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 3:11 pm
I gave a little over half a week's pay.
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gold21




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 3:43 pm
Half a week's pay
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Maya




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 3:52 pm
I gave more than a full week's pay because I only have six hours a week, and she's really wonderful, but standard is a week's salary amount.

Does full time mean five days a week from 9-5, with the average of $10 an hour? That would be $400 a week, and you thought $25 was an appropriate bonus? Even if she skips out often and her paycheck averages $300 a week, that's still nowhere near enough.
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Maya




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 3:54 pm
If she inconveniences you with skipping out on a lot of days, you have to take care of that first by telling her she can't do that anymore, not punish her afterwards by giving an inadequate bonus.
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sky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 4:10 pm
I have a cleaning lady (in Lakewood) 3 x week, 2 hours = 6 hours. I gave her one day (2 hour) pay ($20)
She was very surprised and wanted to give me back half of it and asked for $10 instead (I obviously didn't). So I'm assuming people were giving her less, but I don't know how much.
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SRB




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 4:51 pm
Our cleaning lady has been with the family for several years thru many different family situations- she is very loyal but like op's she has something come up every week that effects her schedule. Over the years she has worked different schedules but currently she works 3days a week, 8 hours a day. Each year we give her a weeks pay bonus. This year it was a few dollars over that. Personally I would give a half weeks pay but my husband thinks we should give a full week... And we really can't afford it - but that's for a different discussion. She always seems happy.
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 5:28 pm
Maya wrote:
If she inconveniences you with skipping out on a lot of days, you have to take care of that first by telling her she can't do that anymore, not punish her afterwards by giving an inadequate bonus.


Yes, it is something I've been addressing with her. I'm thinking of the bonus in terms of a tip. Spoons, a restaurant in Boro Park has on their receipt this breakdown of a tip - if you thought your service was fair, this is what you should tip. If you thought it was good, this is what you should tip. If you thought it was excellent -this is what you should tip.

That's kind of what I'm thinking of doing here - since half a week's pay is within the norm - I'll tip her that for "good" not "great." I'm also going to give her a toy for her daughter.
debsey
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Maya




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 5:38 pm
debsey wrote:
Yes, it is something I've been addressing with her. I'm thinking of the bonus in terms of a tip. Spoons, a restaurant in Boro Park has on their receipt this breakdown of a tip - if you thought your service was fair, this is what you should tip. If you thought it was good, this is what you should tip. If you thought it was excellent -this is what you should tip.

That's kind of what I'm thinking of doing here - since half a week's pay is within the norm - I'll tip her that for "good" not "great." I'm also going to give her a toy for her daughter.
debsey

Interesting about Spoons. I've never seen that done. I've seen signs about what's standard and that more can be given if the service was outstanding.

Glad you reached a comfortable solution.
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debsey




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 5:40 pm
Maya wrote:
Interesting about Spoons. I've never seen that done. I've seen signs about what's standard and that more can be given if the service was outstanding.

Glad you reached a comfortable solution.



It's good to get feedback because I honestly wasn't sure what to do. I realized after reading what you posted that at least partially I didn't want to give her a good gift because I am annoyed about the unreliability, but now I realize, as you say, two separate issues here. Still, not gonna tip full week's wages (or rather, I'm tipping what she ends up getting since she so frequently leaves very early)
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