neighbors needing my cleaning lady on yom tov

amother

Sat, Oct 18 2014, 8:36 pm

Very often I get a knock on the door on yom tov. One neighbor or another wants me to send over my cleaning lady to turn a light on or turn something off etc.
I am always very happy to send her over even though I pay her by the hour and when she walks over she gets less done. This past yom tov it was more than one time.
These are my neighbors and I feel terrible saying no. But if I say yes she does not finish her work.
Anyone else in this situation?

amother

Sat, Oct 18 2014, 9:53 pm

Yes I grew up with a live in and twenty years ago this was unheard of. My mother always gladly said yes and sometimes people came from a five or six minute walk even 11 at night.

At one point the cleaning lady told my mother no more. It's not fair to them. Of course my mother tried to convince her to go but she herself hated it.

A neighbor of mine had the same issue and she used to tell people to pay the lady $5 after yom Tov it's not fair to them but here you are not paying by the hour.

An idea you can do is after she is done let her go to your neighbor and let the neighbor pay her directly for her time after she is finished with you.

I know where I live now a neighbor always has a baby nurse for six months after her baby and her policy is she Ss not send her nurse out.

Hugs and good luck.

amother

Sat, Oct 18 2014, 11:54 pm

Wow. I never thought of it this way.

My neighbor next door took her cleaning lady for yom Tov. On Erev Shabbos I asked her if her cleaning lady can come over just to close my gas. She sent her over no problem, and it was great. Took all of two minutes. Even less.
It definitely helped me otherwise I would have had to stand on my corner waiting for a non Jew to pass and they don't always want to come in. Now I hear it from the other side, so I guess I won't rely on my neighbors cleaning lady from now on.

As an aside, my mom lives next to a Shul that has police presence over yom Tov. On Shavuos one year the air condition wasn't working and it was really hot. So I waited outside hoping somebody would pass. After a good few minutes I remembered the policemen on the corner. I went over to them and asked them if they can please come to my moms house. People were staring at me for that half block, seeing a chasidish woman walking with two policemen. It was a sight. Anyway, my mom gave them some cake to enjoy and they were SO thankful. They said that they are usually stationed in a more dangerous part of town. They weren't used to getting good stuff from people. They said that they are used to getting shot at. And they could not get over how clean the house was ( and my mom is by no way a neat freak ). The houses they usally visit are gross and greasy.

It was just a funny experience.
Anon Cuz I have told this story to many people.

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 12:29 am

amother wrote:

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 7:41 am

amother wrote:

Your neighbor is next door so it only took a couple of minutes. In my case the neighbors who asked did not live close by and the cleaning lady had to walk to them. When several neighbors asks the time ads up.

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 9:46 am

Op in the future you can say sure you can have her after she finished working by me. You can even blame it on the cleaning lady herself that she doesn't like walking back and forth. Just tell your neighbor that she charges 10 an hour and she is leaving at 2 by me so if it takes half an hour you have to pay 5.

I don't think you have to pay for her time to help your neighbors.