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WARING: to all those that hire cleaning help
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amother


 

Post Sat, Jul 04 2009, 11:57 pm
I just wanted to let you all know what happens backstage... I speak fluent spanish and recently I was in a car service, and since the driver seemed decent, I asked him if he knew of someone that was looking for a cleaning job. At first he got excited and right away he volunteered his wife, but then, seeing that I was jewish, he got all nervous and wished to take back his words because, he confessed me, that "people like me" have previously treated his wife disgracefully... apparently more than once the house-keeper was asked by the jewish homemaker to wash the floors with her hands while kneeling instead of using a mop. She got really humiliated and refused and wanted to go, but the woman didnt want to let her go until this mexican lady said that if she didnt let her go she would call the police.

my dh would kill me right now for saying this because he says im too naive and I shouldn't listen or believe to anything the non jews say but either way, in case its true, I wanted to warn to avoid a chillul Hashem.

I think that its not such a big deal if she mops the floor with the mop- either way there are kids running aroudn the house with candy or other stuff that ends up in the floor an hour after she leaves, so I dont htink skweeky clean floors are worth the chillul Hashem.

Dont be so hard on them, they are people with feelings, and although they may not say it to your face, to mine they have, more than once and more than one. so if not for them, treat them well for our sake and for Hashem's sake.
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Cdlf




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:02 am
I am looking for a new cleaning lady and called the spanish agency last week and one of the questions she asked me is "do you own a mop?!" Apparently it is a common thing for women to ask the cleaning help to wash the floors on their hands & knees. When I repeated this to somebody she told me that her cleaning lady comes with knee pads!
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:04 am
Really? Servants have feelings?

Wow. I bet no one's thought of this before.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:05 am
I wash my floors by hand, no mop.
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Mama Bear




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:07 am
hardwood floors get scratched from mops, therefore homes with parquet floors are washed by hand.

My floors are so scratched to begin with, so I let my cleaning woman use a mop. but fresh, shiny, recently scraped floors, get ruined from mops.
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mommalah




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:10 am
My landlady in bp's cleaning lady routinely washed the floor on her knees with a rag. The woman didn't seem to mind. She also didn't seem to mind the $4/ hr they were paying her...what ticked me off is that dh told me that when he was living there prior to us being married he would hire her on occassion to clean his then bachelor pad the landlady made him promise not to pay her more than $4/hr so as not to spoil her.
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homesweethome




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:14 am
My cleaning lady comes with knee pads and when I wash the floors I also do it on hand and knees.
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Pickle Lady




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:14 am
I am getting sick to my stomach reading this.
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pecan




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:16 am
Interesting, I've tried to get my cleaning lady to use a mop, but she says she prefers doing it on her hands and knees.
It always bothers me to see her like this, but she says this is how she prefers doing it.
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bubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:18 am
I buy the type of mop my CL likes. Even when I had my brand new floor laid, it never crossed my mind to have it done by hand. shock That's nasty!
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traveler




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:21 am
Sometimes my cleaning lady chooses to clean the floor with her hands and a rag, but I hardly ever see her doing it anymore. I own a great wood floor cleaner "BONA" and it comes along with a MOP Smile

I try to treat her the best I can, but after all her job is to clean. I think I do the best I can - always try and pay her, her weekly salary even if she missed an hour. Always buy her the foods she likes for lunch, I want her to treat me and my family well and so I try to treat her how I would want to be treated.
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micki




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:23 am
I used a clenaing service for a while that they aONLYY cleaned on hands an knees.
I told them I have a mop, he said, nope, they only do it this way.

they had a whole system- it made me uncomfortbale at first, but then I got used to it
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Falafel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:28 am
I dont want to get bashed, but I will be honest:

sometimes a floor just does NOT get clean using a mop!
I am not saying all cleaning ladies need to be on their hands and knees, some don't mind it (as mentioned in above posts), but no one needs to be forced, chas v'shalom.
I think if the baalas habayis gets on her hands and knees then it's not as if she's asking her CL to do something that is 'beneath her'. again, if the CL doesn't mind I dont see it as a problem.
if she DOES otoh, then we have a problem.

anyhow, yes, I can't imagine asking my cleaning lady to clean my floor on her knees, but yes I sometimes do it myself because it is just cleaner that way.


(and who says the baalas habayis asks her to do it every time? maybe once a month or every few months? maybe just for pesach?)
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zz-ez




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:30 am
The Polish ones don't mind getting on their hands & knees. They're used to that in Poland, I guess.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:35 am
I dont understand whats being done wrong here. They are paid workers and not slaves. I work in a factory and get $8 an hour believe me I dont sit for one minute. I pay my cleaning lady $10 , Yes I expect her to do the floor by hand thats what she is being paid for. My husband works for a roofing company. Wave to him this week when you see him working on the 90+ degrees weather for 60 hours a week. He needs to put bread on the table thats why he works. How come no on pities him?
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Purplehair




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:42 am
I'm the cleaning woman in my house. Sometimes my children get that "coveted" position.
I couldn't clean on my knees, so how (why??!!) would I ever ask another person to do such?!
Just because a person is paying someone else doesn't meant that they are allowed to expect them to do something demeaning. If they want to wash the floors on their knees, gezuntaheit. But don't expect them to do such.
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de_goldy




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:51 am
amother wrote:
I dont understand whats being done wrong here. They are paid workers and not slaves. I work in a factory and get $8 an hour believe me I dont sit for one minute. I pay my cleaning lady $10 , Yes I expect her to do the floor by hand thats what she is being paid for. My husband works for a roofing company. Wave to him this week when you see him working on the 90+ degrees weather for 60 hours a week. He needs to put bread on the table thats why he works. How come no on pities him?


why amother?

and maybe if your husband was being asked to lick the tiles to make them stick to the roof, then there would be some sort of similarity.

I am disgusted by this thread and this post in particular.
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willow




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 12:56 am
I don't have a cleaning lady but since I do think the floors gets cleaned best by hand that is what I imagine I would want a cleaner to do. If I do it by hand why is it degrading to pay someone else to do it?
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acccdac




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 1:00 am
2 comments that I wanted to make:

1) I have one section of my house, kitchen with linolium floors, and I have the housekeeper clean it on her hands and knees once a month, cause that is the only way it gets cleaned.

2) I dont think the original post was about whether or not its okay to ask a cleaning lady to clean your floors on hand and foot I think it was about treatment of the housekeeper. I have see time and time again where people treat their housekeepers as property verses as employees. They insult their housekeepers and treat them like slaves. I grew up in a household where we had a live-in and everytime we ate out for dinner, so did she (we brought her back food). We gave her a hug after she gave us a nice and unecessary gift for our bat mitzvahs. People seem to forget that they are humans just like us and they are allowed to choose what they want to do in a job, and if they want to quit becuase they feel like it's degrading they can. If they want to leave you for your next door neighbor because she's treated better there she can. She doesnt belong ot you. All you are is an employee and if she doesnt like you she'll leave and loose out on your money and find someone nicer to pay her.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 1:15 am
why amother?

and maybe if your husband was being asked to lick the tiles to make them stick to the roof, then there would be some sort of similarity.

I am disgusted by this thread and this post in particular.

GROSS Its discusting how you compare these two.
I have a cleaning lady once a month and the other 9 times I wash the floor I do it on my hands and feet. So NOW do you feel bad for me? I wonder how clean your floors are./
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