Need Advise On How To Handle My Maid

[JamJam]

Have you tried turning her on and off again?

 

[citygirl]

. Her ability to sue depends on how many hours a week she worked and how long has she been working for you. Read the law. Her sudden demands on money might be to precisely set you up to ask you for compensation...

Actually, her ability to sue is guaranteed. And she an say whatever she wants when it comes to claiming how many hours she worked or how long she worked for you. We had a maid here, in white, who worked for a few hours a day for a little over a year. She was let go for a host of reasons. She sued, claiming she worked for us for 3 years, 8+ hours a day, etc. How do you prove someone didn't work for you? Or didn't work 8 hours? It's practically impossible.

The judge awarded her a year of salary even though everything she said was a lie. Still makes me froth at the mouth when I think about it.

 

[Iznogud]

I hired a maid today for the first time - seems fine, but she basically told me she would come twice a week for 6 hours each time. I was thinking once or twice a week for 3 hours. What's up with that?

Since when hiring a maid is about HER wants instead of your needs?
Depending on the size of your place and the tasks you request, 3 hours twice a week should be plenty.

Just ask yourself if you want somebody camping at your place and waving her arms (work emulator ver 1.0) on the clock twice a week?

Make clear what your needs are to be covered with one or two 3 hours visits a week and that you can't get stuck at home twice a week waiting for her to do her hours/complete her tasks. You are not bound to find her things to do for your time/money either. If she won't, tell her you find another person who will.

Just to be on the obvious side of the argument, let her complete one 6 hour visit and then tell her that you can dispense of the next one or will need to split into 2 x 3 hs sessions, otherwise there won't be enough work to do.

Remember, the Golden Rule. It's YOUR TIME and money
Good luck

 

[Parvati]

Actually, her ability to sue is guaranteed. And she an say whatever she wants when it comes to claiming how many hours she worked or how long she worked for you. We had a maid here, in white, who worked for a few hours a day for a little over a year. She was let go for a host of reasons. She sued, claiming she worked for us for 3 years, 8+ hours a day, etc. How do you prove someone didn't work for you? Or didn't work 8 hours? It's practically impossible.

The judge awarded her a year of salary even though everything she said was a lie. Still makes me froth at the mouth when I think about it.

I am sorry Citygirl. I can't blame you for still being angry. I managed to dodge the bullet since she started another job in the building and if she started litigation against me I could to deny her access to the buildings while my lawyer reviewed the security tapes to confirm the hours she was in the buildings and the dates. That left her out of a job she needed. Still I am happy she took the month we offered her and left us happily.
My land lady has cameras active all the time in her apartment, but I am not sure even if that is helpful. When they have to screw you over, they can and they will.
What my lawyer told us is that expats are very easy targets. We don't know the law well. There is the perception we are all loaded and rolling in cash. We are too nice and naive.As some poster said, we want to help and we get too close... So it is something to keep in mind to protect ourselves. However, if you happen to find a good person and there is a good working relationship, it is worth a top notch salary and it does make your life easier here. There is good people out there, it just takes time to find one and to train them.

 

[Irelander]

I think part of the problem is that you haven't offered her regular hours. Paying someone over the odds may indeed generate loyalty, but it may be outweighted by the fact that she can't take on any other work, or plan any activities of her own, even at weekends, because she's expected to be at your beck and call. You say that you employ her part time, but under this arrangement, she's effectively condemned to underemployment, with a precarious social and private life. Therein may lie her frustration.

I quite agree that by paying over the odds you run the risk of being taken for a patsy - better to start at the going rate and increase above inflation if the relationship develops well. It's also important, in muy view, not to treat people like performing monkeys who will jump through some more hoops for a few more peanuts.

 

[mmoon]

Yes, fire her ASAP and cross your fingers you never hear from her again. Up front generosity is a big mistake with maids, as every one I've heard of has tried to take advantage of the rich expat and has often succeeded.
Here's another idea to prevent these ongoing maid problems...don't have a regular maid! I know many of the members on this site are from the US, Australia and Europe, and I wonder how many of you are able to afford a maid in your home country and so you probably lived just fine without one before you moved to Argentina where it seems everyone has a full-time maid. We had a 90 square meter apartment and I realized I really needed a maid to come once every two weeks for 3-4 hours for bathroom/kitchen/deep cleaning and the rest we could keep clean, even with a family, a dog and a job. We just used one of the maids that our friends had and hired her on an ad hoc basis when she had free time. Yes, a few items of clothing went missing from one, so we never hired her again. I'm just not convinced that most people need so much maid service when the apartments here are generally pretty small. It was worth it to us to avoid the maid nightmare and sweep our own floors/wash our own dishes most of the time.

 

[Farenheit]

If you can pay over 50 pesos an hour, rather put an add in the classifieds here. Many expats are looking for work and that is as much as an expat earns with TEFL.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

I went to Mexico once on vacation. Started haggling for a leather belt in one of the craft fairs. Went like this.

Me: How much is that belt?
Him: Twenty Dollars.
Me: Really? Wow, that's expensive. I'll give you Fifteen.
Him: I'll take Eighteen.
Me: Hmmm... How about Thirteen?
Him. Uh... Ok, listen, I'll take Seventeen.
Me. It's Twelve.
Him: Ok, Twelve!

 

[mulderfox]

I went to Mexico once on vacation. Started haggling for a leather belt in one of the craft fairs. Went like this.

Me: How much is that belt?
Him: Twenty Dollars.
Me: Really? Wow, that's expensive. I'll give you Fifteen.
Him: I'll take Eighteen.
Me: Hmmm... How about Thirteen?
Him. Uh... Ok, listen, I'll take Seventeen.
Me. It's Twelve.
Him: Ok, Twelve!

similar situation in brazil
-how much for the bag?
-25
-how about 15
-no, 24
-16?
-no 22
that´s too much, 18?
i can give you 22 is the best price around here. (the place was full of other sellers)
we walked away and asked other sellers, it was true that guy had the best price of all of them.
we went back to buy the stupid bag and he gave us the evil eye and didn´t wanna sell.
we were too cheap apparently

 

[citygirl]

My land lady has cameras active all the time in her apartment, but I am not sure even if that is helpful. When they have to screw you over, they can and they will.

Cameras aren't admissible sadly And actually, looking back, it wasn't a year of salary we had to pay out. It was closer to 2 years now that I look at the records. Gah...

Have one now that I need to terminate and I'm dreading it.