Archive for maid
Ladron en La Casa
Posted by: | CommentsA while back, I posted that our laundry detergent and a bottle of fabric softener had gone missing. Some of you suggested it might have been taken and to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to think about it because that would most likely mean it was our maid that was stealing. She has been absolutely amazing with the boys and we have had very few problems with her, so I really, really didn’t want to consider that as a possibility.
The Monday after I was frantically looking for the laundry stuff and after Irving had called her at home to ask if she’d seen it, our maid miraculously discovered the laundry soap at the bottom of a laundry basket that both Irving and I had checked. It was odd, but I thought maybe we’d just looked too quickly and missed it. The fabric softener didn’t turn up at all.
Then Irving got a call to go play a gig and when he went to iron his shirt . . . no iron. Anywhere. He went and scoured his family’s house because they have a tendency to borrow it. But they had two new irons and he couldn’t find ours anywhere. The maid said she hadn’t seen it in months . . . which could easily be true since we haven’t used it in ages.
And now, over the past week….
Deep Cleavage Horizon
Posted by: | CommentsReaders will recall that women here-locals and Gringas alike-use their bras for storage. I’ve been told it’s convenient and much safer than a purse, and so all manner of things, including currency, cell phones, credit cards and kleenex are often kept close to the heart. I still find myself smiling when a woman at the mercado will take my Q100 bill and disappear it into the dark chasm just above her belly button.
Anyway, the funniest thing happened the other day; the toddler was observing as the Wife was counting out money to give to Maid #7. Apparently he had witnessed this routine before and so when the money had been counted he demanded to be able to give it to Maid #7, who is really about 1/2 maid and 1/2 nanny to the precocious, rambunctious little boy. With money in hand he ran across the room to the waiting maid who had her hands out expectantly, but the toddler had other plans and ran straight for her chest where he rammed his clenched fist straight down her cleavage and deposited the money in some dark, safe place.
Everyone got a great kick out of it, and the toddler beamed in appreciation, now conditioned to hand over money in this delightful manner. Female visitors, you’ve been warned.
Don Marco, It’s Raining Really Hard, Should I Come to Work Today?
Posted by: | CommentsThe other day I got the strangest call, Maid #6 on the phone 10 minutes after 8 (her normal start time) telling me that it was raining really hard and asking if she was supposed to come to work that day.
Granted, I may have missed some detail here or there, but I wanted to say, “Are you planning to work the next six months?”, instead I simply said, “Fijese, today is a normal work day and you are already late.”
A few minutes later Maid #7 called (they are sisters, BTW), and said, “Disculpe Don Marco, I can’t come to work today because it’s raining so hard, I’ll come in early on Monday”. Yeah, well, she’s going to have to come in awfully early considering she had already promised to start four hours early for another day she missed and now she’s another eight hours behind.
When I was at the lake recently a friend commented that I was overpaying (Q1600 a month plus 5Q daily for the bus), and that my Maid would naturally see that generosity as a reason to take advantage of me on other fronts.
Every time I think I’m getting ahead, GuateLiving pulls me back in.
La Senora de la Tienda
Posted by: | CommentsReaders may remember past issues we’ve had with tiendas. Some time ago I issued a decree, “Thou shalt not engage in commerce with the tienda woman”, which the children were commanded to obey. Of course, within days the Wife was flexing her muscles by sending the children to the tienda when I wasn’t around. So we reached an agreement; Since Maid #6 or #7 are here from 8am to 8pm six days a week, one of them can always go instead of the children, increasing the likelihood that we’ll pay less than a 300% markup for whatever item is required.
Well, Maid #6 is a pushover and so she paid whatever the tienda woman charged, only bothering to comment upon her return with the luxury items such as an egg or a Coke that it was ‘muy carro’. I observed that Maid #7, who is a little older and probably carries a 20% higher IQ, might do better with the tienda woman, so she became the new tienda mule.
It didn’t take long to get some feedback. After the first trip, Maid #7 reported that the prices were very high, and she had negotiated a few things down and saved us like 4Q on a 15Q purchase. After the next visit, however, she returned empty handed, saying that the woman was charging too much.
Last Saturday night, in the midst of the rain and the wind, I sent one of the boys up the street to buy some Coke and a few treats for the kids, anything to keep them occupied since we had no electricity. The kid returned saying, “The tienda woman says that she will never sell to our Maid again, because she disrespected her”.
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Paid Time Off for the Maid
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday Maid #6 asked us what our schedule was for the holidays. I asked Santiago what the normal routine is for paid time off for domestic help. Here was his reply:
We give the maid half a day off on Thursday, and all of Friday off. You can require her to come to work on Saturday but we give her that day off as well, because she’s worked for us for so many years.
We like Maid #6 and so I was inclined to follow their example. This equates to about 16 hours of paid time off. Maid #7 has a slightly different work schedule, and so a comparable approach would have rewarded her with 20 hours off. Sure, we’re only talking about a difference of about 40Q here, but I’ve learned not to look at it that way and instead approach it from the standpoint of following the example set by those who say, “I know my people”.
So I told Maid #7 that she could work half the day on Thursday, take Friday off, and work half of her normal shift on Saturday. She’s been working for us for about 4 months now so I thought my offer was reasonable. She responded by saying she wouldn’t be working again until Monday, in other words, she was taking off Thursday, Friday and Saturday, or three full shifts.
She went on to explain that her other job, the one she works on Sundays, the only day she’s not here, requires that she work on days that are otherwise holidays for the standard shift. I remember when we hired her that she mentioned she worked on Sundays and holidays for this other company-I think they make boots-but it struck me as odd that she works full time for me and works one day a week for these guys and the other job is more important to her. Maybe it has a higher hourly wage, maybe she figures I’ll be gone eventually, but in comparison to Maid #6’s “Disculpe, Don Marco, que necessito?”, Maid #7 simply told me what the schedule would be. Maybe she wasn’t expecting that I would pay her for this time off.
What do you think? How should I have handled it?
Donde esta la camioneta?
Posted by: | CommentsThe toddler was waiting for Maid #6 this morning as he always does, and she didn’t show up at the normal time (8am). One of the other neighborhood maids walked by and explained that there were no buses today and so our maid probably wouldn’t come to work. I was puzzled by that and surprised/bothered that if there wasn’t bus service today that our Maid wouldn’t call to explain she would be late.
Well, she did arrive an hour later and explained that there is no bus service in Antigua today because all the buses “are in the capital”. The Wife couldn’t get any better explanation from her on what that meant.
Now, for newbies, you can’t accept this kind of behavior from your maid. I’m going to have to talk to the Maid and explain that it is her job to be here on time, whether her normal mode of transportation is available or not. Further, she must call if she knows she’s going to be late. (She has never once called, since that would require 2Q of saldo, although she did send her husband over here on a bike one time).
Sure, I know that she usually uses the bus to get here, and it might not be available today, whether that situation was foreseen or not, but as Santiago would say, “That’s not my problem”.
We already pay better than most, feed better than most, and generally treat our employees like we would if we were their employer in the US. It’s a mistake to be a softy and feel sorry for them because eventually they won’t respect you and once that’s gone, you’ve lost.
Update: Monica sent a link explaining that bus service around the region has been disrupted.
http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/sucesos/Paro-autobuses-impacta-provincia_0_229777156.html
Update 2: It seems the bus drivers from around the country are on strike, looking for the government to provide more modernization and reduce taxation. Apparently the buses all drove to the city to clog up the streets. Strikes have always seemed to me to be little more than blackmail via mob; if you’re not being paid what you think is a fair wage, then quit and go work for someone who pays more. If your employer can hire someone else to replace you, then wages are appropriate, if not, he will have to raise wages.
Maid #6
Posted by: | CommentsSome of you have been complaining that I’m not sharing Maid stories any more, and the truth is I don’t have many to share. We figured things out with Maids #1-5 and so now we have a fabulous young woman and we just don’t have those kinds of stories to share.
Well, until a few weeks ago. Maid #6 has been on time every day and hadn’t missed a day of work. In the middle of the day she took a phone call and got very animated on the phone. Apparently one of her two children had been taken to the hospital earlier in the day and the medicine the Doctor prescribed was going to be 300Q.
Our Maid is one of the better paid maids in town, but even at 1600Q a month they obviously don’t have any emergency savings. She asked to borrow the 300Q and said we could take it out of her paycheck. She also asked to leave right away. The Wife gave her the 300Q and told her to go to see her baby.
The next day she arrived on time and asked if she would be able to make up her hours at some point. We said no problem, and took the 300Q out of her next paycheck.
About two weeks later, she came to me with a long story involving lots of ‘fijese’ and obviously wanted some money. I told her to go talk to The Wife for two reasons; first, I want the Maid to understand she works for The Wife, even if she knows I am giving The Wife the money. (Don’t you FemiNazis think I control all the money; The Wife and I own everything jointly, it’s just that the job of hitting the ATM every other day falls to me). The second reason is that I couldn’t quite figure out what she was asking the money for and don’t really need any more drama in my life.
It turns out the Maid got a new floor for her house and needed 600Q to pay for it. I didn’t get all of the details from The Wife, but apparently the Maid’s husband’s friend had installed it for them and done the job cheaply as a favor but they really needed to get him some money. Now, perhaps this floor was an emergency of some sort and we didn’t get the details, but I was a little reluctant to loan the money when it was a household improvement and not a life or death hospital situation.
However, The Wife really likes the Maid and pointed out that the 600Q was less than two weeks pay and that she had effectively already earned half that and so she gave her the money. I really have no complaints about Maid #6, except I’m worried that the lending could become a habit; let’s face it, when you make 1800Q a month you’re always going to need money, and when you know that your Patron gives you money whenever you ask for it, it’s a temptation.
Last week Maid #6 got a phone call from her mother saying that one of her children had been taken to the hospital. She didn’t share many details but asked to leave and ran out of the house in a hurry. I suspect she would have asked for money but hasn’t paid off the 600Q for the new floor.
The next morning she didn’t show up for work, instead, her older sister showed up about 8:30am and offered to work that day in her sister’s place. On the one hand I was irritated Maid #6 didn’t bother to spend the 1Q to call me (or even try GuateCalling), but instead sent her sister to the house, with the explanation that she was at the hospital with her baby. On the other hand I was impressed as could be that she sent the sister and the sister actually showed up.
Of course, I want her to take care of her baby. I know how often my schedule is disrupted by unpredictable children, and Maid #6 has so far made up any hours and repaid any money she’s borrowed. However, after six months I’m starting to get the feeling that we’re slowly, gradually, slipping. Santiago tells me you simply can’t give an inch or you’re going to be dealing with new requests and changing rules all the time, and that the Maid wouldn’t treat a Chapin Patron this way.
What do you veterans think?
Update on Maid #4
Posted by: | CommentsThe last chapter in this little drama was Maid #4 asking for 2,000Q as severance pay for her 3 hour a day job that paid 800Q a month. Readers will remember that I took some steps to determine what the ’spirit of the law’ was. After all, I believe that civil laws are binding on men unless they are opposed to divine law, so no matter how ludicrous it might seem, I try to do the ‘right’ thing when possible. Most of the time.
My lawyer said I owed her 800Q and the consensus among friends was that this was ‘reasonable’. So I offered her the 800Q payment less the 300Q which I had loaned her. Her response was 2000Q.
I actually spent some time thinking about this and my initial inclination was to negotiate, perhaps to offer 1000Q and she if she started working her way down. But when the Wife found out about all this, she was furious. Apparently the anger had been building for all those months, with her being disrespected, the Maid showing up late and leaving early, and always taking a doggie-bag home after dinner. The idea that we would pay anything more than we had to was really offensive to her. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was guilty for a) having let the Maid behave in this way and b) Being willing to pay anything at all.
I apprised Santiago of the updated status and he said, “Don’t budge. If she wants to take you to court it will take her months, she’ll have to hire an attorney, and I’ll go with you so we can give them hell together”. That didn’t sound like my idea of fun, but I figured I would learn something in the process. Most importantly, I knew that Maid #4 needed the money because she was calling daily, sometimes 3-4 times a day, asking where her money was.
To use money as leverage against a poor person is offensive to me on the surface, but I thought I was being reasonable with my offer and willingness to comply. If the attorney had said I owed her 2,000Q, I would have paid. If it was 4,000Q, I would pay. As it is, I held my ground at 800Q.
One of the negotiating secrets I learned doing private equity deals was that you can often times close a deal just by putting the money on the table with the contract. When people see a check for $10 million on the table in front of them and it’s just a signature away, sometimes the details get resolved quickly. In my business we would often work for months, sometimes a year, to get a deal done, only to have one party playing hard to get over some little detail. Cash on the table plus a contract usually wins.
I did that once buying a car too, by taking stacks of $100 bills to the owner’s house and offering an immediate, cash, discounted price. People can’t stand to have money just sitting on the table in front of them and contemplate it walking away.
I phoned Maid #4 and told her I had the document ready for her to sign and the 500Q in cash and that I would meet her. She repeated her demand for 2,000Q but said she would be at the office at 9am the next day. We decided to meet at a friend’s office rather than the attorney’s so she wouldn’t be intimidated by the attorney. I thought it was possible she would show up with an attorney, friend, family member, accountant, or possibly the whole neighborhood, but I was committed only to getting her signature and handing the 500Q, not a renegotiation.
So, the next morning I’m at the office at the appointed time. After 20 minutes she had not arrived, so I left the contract and the money with my friend and said, “If she ever shows up, get a copy of her cedula and her signature before you give her the money”.
Well, later that day I get a call from my friend who says, “The woman is here but she doesn’t want to give us a copy of her cedula. She does want the money”.
That’s an easy one folks, because as we had already learned this woman had four or five different names and had given us different names over the course of the negotiations, so I didn’t want to risk paying 500Q and having her come back with a different name later to ask for more. The lawyer was VERY insistent about this, so much so that I figured it was a point I probably shouldn’t challenge. Apparently she didn’t want to give a copy of her cedula, so I hung up.
In the end she signed, gave us a copy of her cedula and took the money, and I’ve not heard from her since.
Lessons learned:
1. You must have a contract with your employee. The contract should specify their duties, hours, and wages.
2. You’ll need to pay minimum wage (1,000Q) otherwise you’re open to being taken to the labor department. It doesn’t matter that your maid only works 3 hours a week, the law says she’s entitled to minimum wage. Of course, if you’re like the wealthy Guatemalans, just pay her 1,000Q a month and make her work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Apparently that’s just fine.
3. You’ll need to build their bona catorce, Christmas bonus and severance pay into their paycheck so that you don’t have to worry about doing all that down the road and have it be a big surprise.
4. You must have receipts for every payment you make. The receipt should specify not only that they received the money, but that the money represents all the pay they are entitled to for that pay period. You don’t want it to be your word against hers, because you are a Devil from the North and we all know your word is worthless.
5. Don’t loan money, or at least not beyond the current paycheck. This might be hard if you’re a charitable person, but I’ve learned they will take advantage of you, see you as weak, and otherwise abuse you. I’ve already loaned money to Maid #6 in violation of this rule, but I took it out of the very next paycheck and made sure she understood this couldn’t be a regular thing.
6. If trouble is brewing, get “lawyered up” real quick. Litigation is a business weapon in the states, and you have to look at it the same way here. The other side will have to go through the effort and expense to retain counsel, which drives up the cost for them as well. If your pockets are deeper, you have the advantage, and since your employee has every other advantage on you, you need everything you can get. Time and money are your only self-defense options.
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