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WARING: to all those that hire cleaning help
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dorothy




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 1:58 pm
Obviously, everybody cleans their floors differently. Excuse me for saying, but this spanish woman was obviously assuming that this woman was trying to be cruel to her, which is not necessarily true.
I personally, would never make my cleaning lady do anything that I would not do myself. In some cases I would clean on my hands and knees. And there is no reason that she shouldnt do the same.
I try very hard to treat them really well. So that she will be happy to work for me and never turn her back(like stealing etc.) Although there is never a guarantee.
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sequoia




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 2:14 pm
Doesn't a swiffer do the job?....

I dunno, we have cats and it gets pretty dirty what with hair, claws, litter, etc, but swiffering seems to get everything clean... or clean enough for me, anyway.
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granolamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 3:04 pm
MeThinks wrote:
Mama Bear wrote:
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.

Why would a mop ruin the floor more than a rag? Unless it has no hair left.


ime, the mop gets the hardwood floors too wet. water ruins wood floors. I use a slightly damp rag on my hardwood floors and have very politely asked my cleaning lady to do the same. she actually prefers it because she can sit as she works.
and I have that bona stuff and the mop it comes with, my floor guy told me it leaves buildup and over time will ruin the finish.

this really isn't about the mop. its about how we treat our hired help. the NYtimes ran an article last year, I think it was, erev pesach, about the degradation the (mostly polish) cleaning women felt when hired by ultraorthodox women in williamsburg. I think the problem is that we get so caught up in the pesach cleaning we lose sight of the kiddush hashem potential.
personally, while I know its within my right to ask, I don't ask my cleaning lady to do every corner of the floor so it sparkles. I touch up when I get a chance, or I don't. my house is clean enough, and my cl thinks very highly of orthodox jews (she's told me so).
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Clarissa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 3:30 pm
As far as the wood floors, we've had ours refinished over the years, and my floor guy says mopping is fine. He recommends using well-diluted Mr. Clean.

I do not ask my cleaning woman to do everything I do myself. I have certain things I'm comfortable asking of another person, and certain things I wouldn't ask, simply because it may feel either degrading on some level or just not within the range of what she would do on an ordinary cleaning day. I do think other people coming into our home are not expected to get down on their hands and knees and do floors, even if we think that's fine for us to do. I do occasionally do parts of my kitchen floor by hand (because of their location) but I would never ask that of someone else.

I never, ever ask my cleaning woman to empty my kid's dirty diaper holder. Some things are for family to do for themselves, in my opinion. I also don't ask her to deal with anything related to our mousetraps, when one has had a visitor. We use live traps and they're a pain to wash, but I don't feel it's right to ask that of her. I also don't usually ask for anything that requires climbing a ladder, although occasionally something has come up. In those cases, I make sure I'm here.

When something out of the ordinary needs to be done, I always tell her that she should feel free to skip something she usually does, to make the time to do it.
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gryp




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 3:45 pm
I just think that if the word is out among the cleaning ladies that Jewish women don't treat well, we may be in some trouble.
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sarahla




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 3:48 pm
this thread is very interesting...unfortunately I cant read throught everything but I do agree with a few pp...
1) if you yourself dont scrub the floor on hand and knees dont ask cleaning lady to do it. My parents always tought me never to ask your employee for something you yourself wouldn't do. I did wash my floor like this when I was pregnant, and well into it when I was nice a big, so I wouldn't consider it degrating to ask my CL to do it- and if she had a problem with it she could tell me and I prob wouldn't make her do it if she thought it was degrating but I would tell her " I do it myself, thats why I would ask you"
2) im sure no one is beating their CL and USA is a free country, you're not happy with your job you live!!! Sorry its harsh but they are pleinty demands for CL help and frankly at $10 its well/fair paid...esp in today's economy.
Personally when I had a CL she would work the whole time b/c thats what she was here to do.
I treated her very well and she ended up stealing from me in the most sneaky way.. I was disgusted by it.
I learned my lesson, be nice/respectfull , not over nice b/c everytime the same things happened (you offer food/drinks, give coupons and CL then ended up stealing)

I read a few post about agency...im looking for a CL now so if anyone knows a good/reliable agency in NJ please pm me Smile
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hipstamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:05 pm
O.K. I had to take a deep breath with this one. My mother was the uber-clean "floors sparkling, walls shining, windows blinding clean" type of woman. I have NEVER seen her wash an entire floor on her hands and knees.

What I have seen her do is clean under the fridge and stove on her hand and knees. And she didn't do that every week either.

When I had hardwood floors I used this:


A wet mop will damage hardwood floors. What you do is use whatever wood cleaner is recommended for your floor and buff with the terry mop picture above. The main thing is to sweep and vacuum really well before you "mop" your floors.

I'm disgusted by the attitude of some of the people.
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OOTBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:15 pm
I'm not clear about WARNING in the title -- is it a warning to ask Hispanic cleaning ladies to wash the floor on their hands and needs or is it (as it should be) a warning to treat your cleaning help properly.

Many many years ago, I was advised by a very wise friend to show the cleaning lady what I wanted done and to let her do it however she chose (assuming of course that results were satisfactory).

I have always done that, and sometimes, when seeing odd methods, I've kept my mouth shut.

I've kept cleaning help for a very long time, and my house is spotless.
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hipstamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:39 pm
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?


I hope you treat your cleaning lady with respect. My husband used to do factory work. The conditions were harsh and he worked his butt off but he was treated like a human being. We are barely squeaking by as is... I couldn't treat a worker of mine as a slave... I am thankful and humble enough to be grateful to be able to afford a cleaning lady in the first place!

I think some women get carried away with how they treat cleaning help... I think that some women treat their cleaning ladies like slaves even though they are paid employees. Honestly, nasty attitudes can fuel anti-semitism and vice versa. Why can't people extend judging favorably to non-jews. (I refuse to use the word non jews because many people use it like a slur word these days...) Shouldn't we go on a case by case basis?
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hipstamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:39 pm
OOTBubby wrote:
I'm not clear about WARNING in the title -- is it a warning to ask Hispanic cleaning ladies to wash the floor on their hands and needs or is it (as it should be) a warning to treat your cleaning help properly.

Many many years ago, I was advised by a very wise friend to show the cleaning lady what I wanted done and to let her do it however she chose (assuming of course that results were satisfactory).

I have always done that, and sometimes, when seeing odd methods, I've kept my mouth shut.

I've kept cleaning help for a very long time, and my house is spotless.


It's a warning to treat your cleaning ladies with respect!
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Clarissa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:50 pm
It doesn't just fuel anti-Semitism and resentment, but a sense of humiliation on the part of the cleaning woman. I used to work at a company (in a decent job) where the bosses were suspicious, negative, watched us like hawks, thought nothing of stepping on our dignity. I can't tell you how they were reviled, and how careless some people were at their jobs just because of the sense of degradation. When I left that job I felt like I was escaping from prison.
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Clarissa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:51 pm
One more thing. A spotless house is great, but a difficult boss demanding a spotless house might find out, over time, that the methods used aren't quite what one would hope. I once met someone who ran a cleaning company, and there were tricks of the trade some of her workers used that weren't things I'd want done in my home.
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hipstamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:54 pm
Clarissa wrote:
It doesn't just fuel anti-Semitism and resentment, but a sense of humiliation on the part of the cleaning woman. I used to work at a company (in a decent job) where the bosses were suspicious, negative, watched us like hawks, thought nothing of stepping on our dignity. I can't tell you how they were reviled, and how careless some people were at their jobs just because of the sense of degradation. When I left that job I felt like I was escaping from prison.


I know you were skipping down the street when you left LOL

I don't know how a decent a job could be when employers treat people like that? I don't care how much money I'm getting... my dignity is priceless! (((HUGS)))
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cookielady




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 4:57 pm
Once I worked somewhere, where the boss always referred to me as the "stupid maidel." It's hard to believe I stayed as long as I did (10 months.)

Even without that experience, I am sure I would be careful about how I treat people working for me.
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Clarissa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 5:07 pm
hipstamom wrote:
Clarissa wrote:
It doesn't just fuel anti-Semitism and resentment, but a sense of humiliation on the part of the cleaning woman. I used to work at a company (in a decent job) where the bosses were suspicious, negative, watched us like hawks, thought nothing of stepping on our dignity. I can't tell you how they were reviled, and how careless some people were at their jobs just because of the sense of degradation. When I left that job I felt like I was escaping from prison.


I know you were skipping down the street when you left LOL
Years later, I met someone who had also worked there, on and off. We had barely known each other, but we hugged like prison escapees, meeting up on the outside.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 8:41 pm
I pay my CW $15 an hour. She has never stolen so much as a penny from me. I know that because she collects all the random change from around my house and puts it in a bowl.


I pay her in advance for the number of hours I want worked, but she frequently works longer. We don't speak the same language, but I consider her a friend.


I insist that my kids thank her for cleaning their room and picking up their toys.
(anon cause everyone knows about my co-dependant cw relationship)
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realeez




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 9:13 pm
granolamom wrote:
this really isn't about the mop. its about how we treat our hired help. the NYtimes ran an article last year, I think it was, erev pesach, about the degradation the (mostly polish) cleaning women felt when hired by ultraorthodox women in williamsburg. I think the problem is that we get so caught up in the pesach cleaning we lose sight of the kiddush hashem potential.


I have always treated my cleaning ladies nicely but I can write the counter article on how some of my cleaning ladies (never used a Polish one) have treated me horribly even though I have rounded up the $, given holiday bonuses/gifts, gave them good food and drinks and good stuff at that, and always phrased requests nicely, etc.

Here are some examples:
* I was really sick for a few weeks (as in I needed 2 weeks of IV meds and wasn't supposed to do anything for over a month) and lost a lot of weight. Then when I started gaining back to normal, my cleaning lady punched me in the stomach and said "Hey, you are getting so fat!" Then when I tried to calmly explain that I was seriously ill (which she had seen), she started laughing hysterically.

* The one who wore my husband's warm crocs (plus without socks) Puke

* The one who was instructed not to do laundry at all and put dh's wool Shabbos suit in on hot!

* The ones who have canceled last minute for various excuses such as "I have my period," "Even though I know you have always used me at a specific time, another person asked if I can come then so too bad for you," etc, etc

* The one who I found through an agency that had a minimum 3 hour per day rule and the lady showed up halfway through that time but couldn't stay and I told her she has to explain to the agency that I had wanted her for 3 hours but she couldn't stay that length of time and she told me I can just pay her cash privately and she won't tell the agency she came at all! shock
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OOTBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 9:16 pm
realeez wrote:


* The one who wore my husband's warm crocs (plus without socks) Puke


I think you and my DD must have had the same cleaning lady, except that in her case it was her 11 year old DD's crocs!
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granolamom




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 10:27 pm
listen, I have my books-worth of nasty cleaning lady stories too.

I know full well that the NY Times isn't unbiased, and thats the point. we are being held to a higher standard and oftentimes non-Jews are all too happy to point out our shortcomings without trying to see the other side of the story. this is not new.
but when you go the extra mile to treat your help with dignity and respect, and there's nothing negative they can possibly conjure up to say about you, that's got to be a good thing. fair? maybe not. but no one ever said the world judges Jews fairly.
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Clarissa




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Jul 05 2009, 10:29 pm
granolamom wrote:

but when you go the extra mile to treat your help with dignity and respect, and there's nothing negative they can possibly conjure up to say about you, that's got to be a good thing. fair? maybe not. but no one ever said the world judges Jews fairly.
Why isn't it fair that we should have to go the extra mile to treat our cleaning people with dignity and respect so there is nothing negative they could say about us? Seems like ordinary good behavior to me.
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