Do you pay your housekeeper when you go away?

amother

Goldenrod

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 9:55 am

flowerpower wrote:

Nah. The cleaning lady will have another year vacation probably. By the time they both get the vaccine.... she’s one lucky lady! I know that I never got paid when families cancelled on me. That’s how it usually works being an independent contractor.

But wouldn't you be appreciative if they paid you, even though they canceled?

Or would you say, eh, when they need me, I'll tell them where to go.

HonesttoGod

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 9:56 am

My cleaning lady is paid hourly and comes 4 hours a week. I pay her for those hours.
If she cancels or if I cancel I don’t pay but when she came back after covid I gave her a big bonus (in addition to her x-mas gift/bonus) because I was able to and I felt bad that she couldn’t come.

amother

Silver

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 10:18 am

I am lucky to have a cleaning lady that I trust. I would no more expect her to not show up when I am ready for her to come then I would expect that of any other person who I had trusted. She needs the work and I am a good employer. She has never cancelled on me or played any other kinds of games. She is honest in all things.

In my experience if you treat people well, they treat you well unless they are pathological and then I sever the relationship and treat it as a lesson learned.

In my experience, cleaning ladies aren’t so booked that they can easily make up income if someone cancels. I couldn’t sleep well knowing that I had exploited someone and rationalized it as some people on this thread seem to be doing. Losing income would put a serious dent in her income and would probably make it difficult to pay for basics.

This is the text I got when I continued to pay my cleaning lady. Does this sound like someone who is plotting how to exploit me?

My mom wanted me to reach out to express how she feels in regards to the check you gave her.

She’s currently still in shock and is left speechless. She sincerely appreciates your kindness and generosity. She wanted me to thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts. She wanted me to tell you that she views you as angel that helped our family during this hardship.

Thank you so much miss ———

flowerpower

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:47 am

I had a cleaning lady that came once a week for over a year. I didn’t make her work hard, gave her her space, paid her a little extra many weeks and she got a good gourmet lunch. I told her not to come chol hamoed and said “I’ll see you next week”. Well, the next week she did not show up and she told me she got a new job already. So much for being extra nice.....

Good Friend

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 11:58 am

I have a maid 6 hours a day 5 days a week. We got stranded in the US for about 4 months because our country's border closed while we went the the states for a simcha. We paid her the whole time, but that's because we knew if we wouldn't she and her child would be on the street. We live in a country where labor is cheap- minimum wage is 400 a month, and it's unlikely that she found another job; there are way more people looking to work than people looking for employees.

She is very grateful, and stays late almost every day now to "just finish up the dishes" or whatever excuse.

amother

Goldenrod

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 12:01 pm

flowerpower wrote:

Did you pay her for chol haMoed?

mommy3b2c

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 12:04 pm

amother [ Silver ] wrote:

Why miss——-? Why doesn’t she call you by your first name?

amother

Pumpkin

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 1:06 pm

Your cleaning lady is not going to come back, and she’s not going to get vaccinated. We have been paying our piano teacher 75 a week to teach on Zoom. My husband and I both got the vaccine. The piano teacher, who is in her late 50s/early 60s, is like - eh, maybe I’ll wait until the summer, what’s the rush. She doesn’t want to come back if she can earn the same money without leaving her apartment. So trust me - there’s no way your cleaning lady will be back before Pesach, and also you will probably never see her again.

amother

Goldenrod

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 1:45 pm

amother [ Pumpkin ] wrote:

I'm pretty sure you're wrong. (But not by pesach, I don't think we'll be vaccinated by then).

But even if you end up being correct, I'll consider it a win. Because I won't have acted in a way in which I'm ashamed. Judging harshly, treating a worker badly or giving in to cynicism.

tichellady

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 2:04 pm

amother [ Pumpkin ] wrote:

This is a frum site. Frum people don’t disparage innocent people and judge them harshly.

tichellady

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 2:06 pm

flowerpower wrote:

This is your experience with one individual therefore we should assume that all people in the same field of work are exactly the same??? Do you not see how terrible it is to generalize like that?

amother

Papaya

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 2:11 pm

flowerpower wrote:

Maybe it’s worth it to pay next time for chol hamoed to hold onto good help.

amother

Silver

Fri, Jan 29 2021, 4:39 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

Why miss——-? Why doesn’t she call you by your first name?

Sometimes she does but she is old fashioned and so it is hard for her to not call me Miss First Name. I always refer to myself by first name only. Her son wrote this so I think he was also trying to be respectful. When I call her, I just say it is Hi it’s First Name Very Happy

I am the last person to insist on formalities but also don’t want to make a big deal by repeatedly telling her to just call me First Name.

She will call me Miss First Name. I wanted to clarify that she doesn’t just call me Miss. I took out my name from the text.

Just to clarify - she doesn't call me Miss Cohen but Miss Chani. I would feel strange continuing to say just call me Chani.

essie14

Sat, Jan 30 2021, 8:45 am

s c wrote:

If she cancels I don't pay but if I cancel I pay. Usually I dont end up paying because I manage to give her away to someone else for those hours or have her come another time instead.

Exactly what I do.
When we had to quarantine I found her other neighbors to work for.

amother

Smokey

Sat, Jan 30 2021, 12:25 pm

My old cleaning lady was very flexible and and if I went away she was often able to change her days. So she would come the day we left, and extra time the week before and after. I also hired her extra hours some weeks (eg erev yom tov) so it evened out. She always booked her summer vacation for the two weeks were away.

She has not come since march because of the pandemic. I have not been paying her but recently we came into some extra money and I would like to use some of it for that. (I know she is not on the street, and she doesn't rely on me to survive)

I have a new cleaner now who cancels on me on average once a week. So, no not sure if I would pay her if I went away.

For many years I have used money I didn't have to pay my cleaner, so I understand why its a struggle for many people to pay a worker who is not coming. Especially those people who have lost income due to the pandemic. And I have to say I really struggled without a cleaner for so many months. Especially erev pesach but just in general.

I think it is lovely to pay your cleaner if you can afford it even if she can't come. I think a cleaner who would ditch an employer who pays her even when she is not coming is an idiot. Even if the cleaner has found another job to fill that time you bet she would return to the super nice and generous employer.

Just a thought - you could ask her to pick up your ironing and return it ironed. One thing that can be done remotely.

banana123

Sat, Jan 30 2021, 2:39 pm

amother [ Goldenrod ] wrote:

I'm still paying my cleaning lady and we haven't had her come since March.

(She did come two times when we were away for a couple of days)

You guys are tzadikim. May Hashem bentch you with wealth and the ability to always be on the giving end.