WWYD- cleaning lady

SixOfWands

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:03 pm

amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:

Not really!!!
Where I live cleaning ladies take a certain rate, let's say between $13 and $15/h.
If hers takes now $13 I don't think it's fair that she should now get $16 regardless of how many hours she works for her!!!
It brings up the rate for every other lady in the neighborhood and she could decide to go up another $3 next year???
(Unless her lady is currently working under normal rate!!!)

So your husband, who is an excellent employee of 5 years, shouldn't get a raise because then the new guy who is just hired and who does a mediocre job might demand more money as well?

Genius

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:03 pm

Amarante wrote:

Who cares if she thinks she has the upper hand. I am not playing psychologic tactical games with my cleaning lady.

If she continues to be reliable; trustworthy and does the job as well as before, what difference does it make if she thinks she won and got a pay raise.

I am basing this in terms of what an incredible hassle it would be to attempt to find another cleaning lady like the one I have now. I don't have to tell her what to do except in terms of pointing out something that isn't regular to do on a specific day. I can trust her alone in the house. I can trust her with valuables. She knows where everything is and how to do it. I have trained her.

What is the point of getting rid of a long term reliable cleaning lady because of something completely irrelevant to her job performance?

The question it boils down to is if the woman is still reliable. This story gives reason to doubt it.

amother

cornflower

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:05 pm

You may end up paying $3 more than her rate if you hire someone new anyway. It's the market that determines the rate. I would personally do whatever it takes to keep someone good. If I'm already paying for cleaning help, a few dollars more an hour won't make much of a difference.

Amarante

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:05 pm

Genius wrote:

The question it boils down to is if the woman is still reliable. This story gives reason to doubt it.

No - there is nothing to indicate the cleaning lady is unreliable.

So far, the worst is that she is a clumsy negotiator and I am not hiring a cleaning lady based on her business acumen.

If she is no longer reliable after this, then OP can fire her but to fire her because she negotiated for a raise in a less than artful manner is only hurting OP who will now have to go through the hassle of finding a new cleaning lady.

Amarante

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:09 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

So your husband, who is an excellent employee of 5 years, shouldn't get a raise because then the new guy who is just hired and who does a mediocre job might demand more money as well?

This is not the first time I have read similar sentiments on cleaning lady threads where some imamothers grouse that others in their area are paying their cleaning ladies to much and it's not fair because then their cleaning lady will want more money.

I don't understand this sentiment as I don't want to be part of a monopoly to keep wages down for people who are working for me and doing a good job.

But then I am proud of the enormous influence Jews had on the labor movement in the US and my great uncle who was an official in the ILGWU would turn over in his grave if he found out I was exploiting labor. Smile

Genius

Sun, Dec 06 2020, 10:30 pm

Amarante wrote:

She lied. Either in the beginning of the story or at the end of it. I do not trust dishonest people. Doesn’t matter why they lied. I would understand if my husbands employer gets annoyed at him and refuses to give him a raise or sends him packing if he would do this. It wasn’t only sloppy negotiating.

amother

Mistyrose

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 9:50 pm

One second, in the years she has worked for you how many raises has she gotten from you? If none, the right thing to do is to give her the raise. Maybe she never asked before because she was scared of your reaction. In my comunity the going rate is $15, if you're paying her let's say $12, 12.50 matching the price would be the right thing to do. Now if you decide the joke was too much or the rise is something you cannot afford just let her go but keep in mind the next cleaning lady might not be as good as this one and probably will charge more if not the same amount your other cleaning lady was originally asking for.

amother

Plum

Sun, Dec 13 2020, 10:44 pm

That would weird me out.
I would not want her in my house. Personally, I’d rather compromise a little on the standard of cleaning and have a trustworthy person working for me. The way that was done indicates that she is either socially off or untrustworthy.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Dec 14 2020, 12:02 am

I bent over backwards to hold on to the cleaning lady I had for a few years because I hate having to train in someone new. I increased her pay, increased her hours, kept letting things go... only to have her not show up one day and that was that. I should have let her go 2 years earlier. Yes, it was a hectic few weeks while I was looking for help but at the end I’m really happy that she’s gone. I didn’t realize how much I disliked having her around until she was gone for good. At the end, all cleaning help is really replaceable and Hashem sends exactly what you need to keep your life in order. Don’t be afraid to let her go if you dislike her or the way she acts.

Rappel

Mon, Dec 14 2020, 7:35 am

So pay her, if it's worth it to you. She does good work, why wouldn't you want to reward that?

If you want, you can tell her that you didn't like the manipulation, and in 3 years time when she wants another raise, she should just ask.

meshiginamama

Sun, Feb 28 2021, 7:44 am

I wish we can all band together and stick up for ourselves! No more being at the mercy of these ladies. They can’t charge more than $15 an hour and then they can get a raise of $1 yearly if they are good. It’s not right how they see our desperation and use it against us!

mommy3b2c

Sun, Feb 28 2021, 7:59 am

meshiginamama wrote:

They can charge whatever they want and you can take or leave it. We leave in a free market economy. Cleaning ladies are people.

watergirl

Sun, Feb 28 2021, 8:08 am

mommy3b2c wrote:

They can charge whatever they want and you can take or leave it. We leave in a free market economy. Cleaning ladies are people.

Thank you!! Cleaning ladies are very much human beings and they are entitled to ask for the pay they feel they should get. The person who hires them is entitled to pay, find someone else, or clean yourself. I recently hired a cleaning lady for the first time in five years. She works for my friend and charges her $13 an hour. When I hired her, she told me $15 an hour. I pay her for 2/3 hours a week because I really need the help. It’s my choice. Can you imagine if schools decided to band together and stopped giving raises? Or if frum offices decided to band together and stop paying the ridiculously high salaries, lower them to the standards of non frum offices, and stop offering YT and “new baby” bonuses?

Also,

meshiginamama wrote:

Meshiginamama, welcome to imamother! This is an old thread you’ve bumped up. Smile

thunderstorm

Sun, Feb 28 2021, 8:27 am

meshiginamama wrote:

Would you want your employer to have that attitude towards you? They are your employees. Treat them the way you would want to be treated.