Do you allow your cleaning help to BLAB on the phone?

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 10:46 am

My Spanish cleaning help has small kids, so I understand that she needs to carry around her cellphone. But what about BLABBING on the phone when she cleans?? It gets me so nervous.
Don't think I didn't already tell her that it's okay for her to talk for a few minutes, but that while she is working - doing dishes - ironing - it is not right! She could do that in her own house.
Maybe she works for me for 9 months and sees ME talking and working sometimes so she thinks she is my equal or something. But even I admit that when I talk and work the results are not the same as when I concentrate!
But she continues to blab. When I am home. And when I leave the house, my kids say she blabs even more!
What attitude! Rolling Eyes

PS. Blabbing openly is still a bit better than hiding in the bathroom every 1/2 hour to blab. (I had a couple of those doing that!)

Clarissa

Sun, May 31 2009, 11:47 am

When our working women friends talk to us from work on the phone, or when we call our husbands, would that be considered blabbing on the phone? I'd think it would be more acceptable at a job like cleaning, which doesn't require all that much concentration.

Yes, my cleaning woman often SPEAKS on the phone. Yet my house winds up clean, every time she comes. So if she wants to chat with her children or her mother or whoever, it's fine with me. I can't clean without tv or music or whatever, before I get so bored I fall asleep in a basket of dirty laundry.

The most shocking thing about your story is the possibility that she considers herself your equal. Make sure to remind her that she is not your equal, nor can she ever aspire to be your equal. She should realize her station in life when she's washing her toilet, and remind her if she forgets it.

Â¿Crees que eres mi igual, que la limpieza humilde persona? Yo soy la reina!

marina

Sun, May 31 2009, 11:51 am

Let me be more clear. There's nothing wrong with her chatting on the phone while she is helping you.

Your attitude of "maybe she thinks she's my equal or something" is disgusting. She is your equal. In fact, she's better than you because she can probably clean up the mess she makes herself and doesn't have to pay people to do it for her.

Your whole post is an abomination. Have a nice day.

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 11:57 am

I can't say I treat my c.l. disrespectfully. I am always polite to her and try to thank her at the end of the day. She has free reign to all my drinks and she can eat good normal lunches. However, when she blabs on the phone she is so loud that it really invades my privacy!! Sometimes I have to ask her or tell her something, and I actually feel like I am INTERRUPTING her!
Hey! Then she does the same thing to me. When I am on the phone, she has NO QUALMS interrupting me! Rolling Eyes

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:02 pm

marina wrote:

Wo! ABOMINATION? That is pretty harsh.
You don't know me for beans. I am not some kind of snob. As a matter of fact that is why I am having trouble - b/c I don't open my mouth! I am very nice to my cleaning help, but I expect a little respect too.

Seraph

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:07 pm

marina wrote:

I think what the OP means is--- No one is paying the OP to clean, so she can dawdle if she wants to. But when someone is getting paid to do a job, you expect them to give their full attention to it.

marina

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:08 pm

Okay, maybe you're not an abomination, sorry just got carried away with my rhetoric there Smile

But your initial post comes across as very snobby. I can't imagine how it would be a problem if she talks on the phone while she cleans. If she is loud, ask her to keep it down. I don't see the difference between other people who might be talking on the phone while doing you a service- taxi cab drivers, constructors, landscapers, etc.

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:16 pm

marina wrote:

Okay, maybe you're not an abomination, sorry just got carried away with my rhetoric there Smile

It's not that I tell her NEVER to use the phone. I told you I am okay with what is necessary. But when you talk on the cellphone and wash dishes - especially delicate dishes - it is definitely hard to be careful as your head is tilted and off balance. When I work in the kitchen and I get a call on my cellphone I tell the other person (usually my married kids) to call on the land line as the cellphone is very hard to balance when you are using your 2 hands.
Since this lady started working is Sept., she has chipped and broken several dishes! (And no. I don't take it off her pay!)

Thank you Seraph for that bit of understanding!

Clarissa

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:20 pm

OP, I really think you need to read your original post and look at how it comes off, especially when you say how she might actually think herself your equal!

This is a typical imamother situation. OP comes up with new info after people respond. In your case, you mention the delicate and chipped dishes. If you're concerned about carelessness during dish washing, tell her that you're concerned, and ask her not to talk at that time, so she can concentrate. These people are people. I used to have a boss who timed us in the bathroom, and timed our personal calls. General atmosphere of prison-like misery.

Be open about your areas of concern. But she is your equal, and talking on the phone when cleaning isn't such a problem, as long as she's doing a good job.

By the way, I never have charged a cleaning woman for anything that's been broken. Nor has a boss charged me when something I was using at the office broke. If she breaks too much stuff, replace her if you want.

Also, you mention that she interrupts you. I'm guessing it's to ask cleaning questions. It's up to you if it's okay for her to ask questions. If she's talking too loud, ask her to keep it down.

Last edited by Clarissa on Sun, May 31 2009, 12:22 pm; edited 1 time in total

MyKidsRQte

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:21 pm

It would bother the daylights out of me if my cleaning lady sat and talked on the phone all day. Not because I think she's a lesser person than me, only because I know that I do a 1/2 job when Im on the phone, or it takes me triple the amount of time otherwise.

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:29 pm

Clarissa wrote:

I am a member here for just a half a year! I guess I have to learn my lesson that my first post has to be clear and well detailed!
I read over my post and I see how someone who can't read my mind, can interpert it negatively!
Thanks for your advice! Smile

Clarissa

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:33 pm

FWIW, although I've liked and appreciated my cleaning women, I've certainly had issues (usually minor) with all of them. And I don't like having an outsider in my home, even for three hours every two weeks. But I try to remember that as strange as it might be for me, it's more strange for her, cleaning my things and trying to stay out of my way, asking questions (in order to do things as I want them) but not so many questions that she gets annoying.

Raisin

Sun, May 31 2009, 12:57 pm

At one point my cleaning lady was spending a lot of time on the phone. It did bother me a little but she still seemed to be doing a fine job. She was going through a family crisis at the time so I didn't say anything. Once the crisis was over she doesn't talk that much on the phone.

If she is good otherwise and you don't want to lose her, maybe leave it.

And, I don't think I would want a taxi driver who spoke on the phone either.

mommalah

Sun, May 31 2009, 1:05 pm

I think you should take out the whip and put her back in her place. How dare she think she's your equal when she's actually your slave! You need to regularly remind her that she needs to be subservient to you. I find that withholding bread and water and an occasional whip should our eyes G-d Forbid meet quickly put her in her place. Do you make her wear a patch of her arm reflecting her national origin as a badge of her inferiority?

Ok, all joking aside, as an employee of yours she should not talk on the phone. Make it clear you are paying her for her time and she is wasting it by talking on the phone while she is employed by you. And if you really feel that she is inferior to you and not your equal I hope your actions toward her don't reflect that as you would be making a major chilul Hashem.

ora_43

Sun, May 31 2009, 3:05 pm

If you've noticed problems with her job performance, why not mention that directly? It seems strange to bring up the phone use, which may or may not be connected to the other issues (chipped plates, slower work, etc), instead of just talking about the real problem (the chipped plates). IMO.

I'm probably biased... Personally I think cleaning just doesn't take much mental energy, especially not when you're really really used to it, and I've never noticed that I'm slower or clumsier at simple tasks like washing dishes while talking on the phone. Given that cleaning is such a difficult job already, I'd be reluctant to make it even more boring + thankless without a really good reason, ie objective evidence that the phone is leading to worse work (objective = more than "it's hard for me so it's probably slowing her down too"). Especially since job satisfaction is also linked to performance.

But ultimately she's your employee + it's your call... if the talking on the phone bothers you that much, ask her to limit herself to a certain number of minutes on the phone and no more

koalamum

Sun, May 31 2009, 3:39 pm

mommalah wrote:

And if you really feel that she is inferior to you and not your equal I hope your actions toward her don't reflect that as you would be making a major chilul Hashem.

I agree with you. I am very careful not to make a chilul Hashem.
But when I say she is not equal, I don't mean low down inferior. I just mean employer/employee.
Take a look at Seraph's interpretation. She got it right! The woman is getting paid and I am paying. I think employees in an office also have to respect their bosses and not misuse their time there. Of course there is the human factor, but everything should be within limits!
As far as taxi drivers....I was once in a taxi on the highway and while he was not on the phone, he was eating his lunch. Well. He did end up crashing into the car ahead of him. Thank you very much!