Pay for cleaners

[donquixote]

cbphoto Your generosity is only exceeded by your bull s**t. . Sure pay your maid double the going rate. Let the taxi driver take you for a ride, he could use the extra cash. Don't complain when the laundry wants to charge you 30 pesos when Portenos are charged 20 pesos or the vegetable vendor charging double because you have a foreign accent. . I'v read your post bad mouthing the US. I don't know where you are from or what you do for a living but I think you are full of S**t. My maid stole me blind when I was in BsAS. I'll be damned if I will be generous to people who will rob me at the drop of a hat. I didn't realize how well off I was by living in the US. until I returned from Argentina.
DQ

 

[cbphoto]

cbphoto Your generosity is only exceeded by your bull s**t. . Sure pay your maid double the going rate. Let the taxi driver take you for a ride, he could use the extra cash. Don't complain when the laundry wants to charge you 30 pesos when Portenos are charged 20 pesos or the vegetable vendor charging double because you have a foreign accent. . I'v read your post bad mouthing the US. I don't know where you are from or what you do for a living but I think you are full of S**t. My maid stole me blind when I was in BsAS. I'll be damned if I will be generous to people who will rob me at the drop of a hat. I didn't realize how well off I was by living in the US. until I returned from Argentina.
DQ

I have been here for going on 6 months.... To this date, no taxi has "taken me for a ride"... my laundry went up from 8 pesos to 9 pesos (inflation I guess)... I pay the same for my veggies/fruits wherever I go (average 5 pesos a kilo)... my maid is always on time... I used to hide my money when she came...now I leave it out (counted b4)...same amount there when I get back... I have not been robbed, attacked physically or verbally... if I don't like something in my meal (restaurant) they take it back...offer me something else...don't charge me...maybe even a free flute of Chandon...I too would be very angry, like you, if I was such a social ass, and everyone felt like they could take advantage of me...
That being said... it is incredible how many people have verbally attacked me for being "generous".. if 4.25$ instead of 2.25$ an hour for an honest, hard working maid can be called "generous"....The irony, that you call yourself Don Quixote is.... LOL

 

[Elpanada]

Man this beautiful Argentinian girl cleans my place for me a couple of times per week and I get her to Hoover under the blankets for me and the work she does under there, it's just simply amazing.

 

[ramon]

I no longer live in Buenos Aires as I found it too expensive for the money I earnt there . It is a great city and I miss it but life in Spain is much better as you earn Euros.
Reading this posts brought back memories of all the small minded foreigners who call Buenos Aires home. How can any one justify the slave wages that they are paying their workers is beyond me . Mike, Celia and others you are a joke . If you want to justify your consciences publishing the same crap here just remember that most of us here think you are losers.
Tell me how can anyone live on 80 dollars a week for 40 hours work in Buenos Aires?

 

[Stanexpat]

I think the answer to this question is simple, treat the people that work for you fairly and with consideration. You shouldn't feel guilty for the low pay scale here, you didn't create it. If it were raised to what you think is fair by U.S. or European standards most of these people would simply be unemployed. If you want to help these people you can find out what's going on with them. Most have families and are just trying to live and survive. You can help them out by giving them your old clothes, sometimes leftovers you don't plan on eating, etc., it doesn't have to be cash.
I have lived in more than one country in South America and have know people who have worked for the same family for 30 years and are considered part of the family. On the dark side exploitation and abuse of domestic workers here is not uncommon either. I live in a house North of B.A. and have someone come in three days a week. We pay somewhat higher than most here $40 pesos for an 8 hour day. This is a lot less than you are discussing but this lady doesn't have transportation costs or unpaid time between customers. Before that we had a live-in working 6 days a week for $750 pesos a month, not much but included room and board. One lady I know that works in B.A. as a live-in makes $900 a month for a six day work week. This is for a family that has kids which creates a lot more work. On this meager salary she supports her parents and child back home in Peru.

 

[hannstew]

I agree with Stanexpat. We also have live in help who is paid $1000 pesos per mo. and bonus for cleaning our rental apt. once a week. She goes home on weekends and Wed. night as she is married. She helps support her family in Paraguay with this and old clothes or things that we pass down. To us she is more than just a helper/ nanny, she is part of the family.

 

[Celia]

I think this is getting a bit personal, Ramon, there's no need to insult people! Why not use your brain rather than your tongue...
I pay my cleaner $10 an hour which is above the going rate.
Looking at how many hours she needs to work to pay her $500 a month rent (for a house in the provinces, not a flat), she has it far, far easier than I ever did in London. As well as renting here, she also owns a house in Paraguay, so perhaps she is even better off than me...

 

[Mike1]

I no longer live in Buenos Aires as I found it too expensive for the money I earnt there . It is a great city and I miss it but life in Spain is much better as you earn Euros.
Reading this posts brought back memories of all the small minded foreigners who call Buenos Aires home. How can any one justify the slave wages that they are paying their workers is beyond me . Mike, Celia and others you are a joke . If you want to justify your consciences publishing the same crap here just remember that most of us here think you are losers.
Tell me how can anyone live on 80 dollars a week for 40 hours work in Buenos Aires?

It's simple the buying power here is less, goods costs less here, and it is in parellel with the GDP, so making "less" here does not mean that you're gonna die from starvation. Losers, no I don't think so. We're property owners and we have our families to worry about. We have to fix things when it breaks, there is no such thing as a landlord to cry to for a fix. There are income, property, and business taxes that I would have to worry about at the end of the year. Ramon, with all of the loser s**t talking, let me ask you a question, do you pay your taxes here, how long were you living here, and what kind of work were you doing that you have to run off to Spain because you're not earning enough? Do you have other responsibilities to worry about like saving to pay for your kid's future in case he wants to go back to the US to study, say like at USC? You wouldn't be thinking like that either. Prep schools here aren't exactly cheap either, especially for schools like Abraham Lincoln, where the curriculum is more like the schools taught in the US.

You're talking about Europe, making the Euros will earn more money. Let's get some REAL numbers... a liter of gas is 1.51-1.53 Euros vs $2.29 pesos here for the same grade. An apartment in Munich in a comparable neighborhood to Palermo Hollywood or Belgrano area costs 2700 Euros a month. To rent a 150 m2 apartment would set you back for ONLY an all-time low of 1,450 Euros PLUS 60 Euros per month for parking. If you want to buy a home, you're looking at $400,000 Euros or more. Monthly bills would be in the ball park of 1000 Euros gas, electric, cable tv, telephone, & cell phone) for the SAME lifestyle here. In Norway diesel are sold for around 11NOK litre, petrol are for 10.50 NOk per litre. A typical rent for an apartment of 45m2 are around 7000 NOK a month. The average income tax is 33%.VAT is set to 25% on most goods and services. VAT on food is 13%. With those numbers, I highly doubt if you're not complaining about inflation there.
With that said, who is the loser now? These are REAL numbers taken from REAL time from friends that I know in Europe.With those numbers and the facts, my conclusion is STILL the same, where you live offsets what you make. So who is the REAL loser now?

 

[marie]

I no longer live in Buenos Aires as I found it too expensive for the money I earnt there . It is a great city and I miss it but life in Spain is much better as you earn Euros.

Reading this posts brought back memories of all the small minded foreigners who call Buenos Aires home. How can any one justify the slave wages that they are paying their workers is beyond me . Mike, Celia and others you are a joke . If you want to justify your consciences publishing the same crap here just remember that most of us here think you are losers.

Tell me how can anyone live on 80 dollars a week for 40 hours work in Buenos Aires?

Wow! incredible! tell me ... before coming to Argentina, didn't you find out what life was like here???? Why did you spend money on a plane ticket to come here?

My advice: before deciding to move on to another country, just investigate EVERYTHING, if you do not agree with something, just stay in your country.

I was born in Argentina, from high middle class to middle class now. I can afford my own appartment, my car, my American BF living with me now and I can travel everywhere. BTW , I also have a woman to help me clean. She earns as much as I earn per hour of teaching at school, 7 pesos and you know what? she never complained because she earns approximately the same as the ordinary factory worker here and has whatever she wants. I also live comfortably here that is the reason why I never wanted to move to the States, for example. ( I would have earn dollars there) but I considered the fact that lifestyle here (regardless economy) is better.

BTW, can you answer one question? My friends have been living in Spain for some years, they are earning more ( very good jobs) than if they were here, why is it that they want to come back? Thanks

One last thing, I think Argentina has been too much for you, you could not deal with it. Thank you for having come and having spent money here

 

[ramon]

I was born in Argentina, from high middle class to middle class now. I can afford my own appartment, my car, my American BF living with me now and I can travel everywhere. BTW , I also have a woman to help me clean. She earns as much as I earn per hour of teaching at school, 7 pesos and you know what? she never complained because she earns approximately the same as the ordinary factory worker here and has whatever she wants. I also live comfortably here that is the reason why I never wanted to move to the States, for example. ( I would have earn dollars there) but I considered the fact that lifestyle here (regardless economy) is better.
Marie who cares if you were born in Argentina to a high to middle class family . That seems so common in Buenos Aires this pushing of class and family name. All I know is this Argentina offers slave rates for many of its workers condoned by the greedy upper class ..
By the way Marie I have a Argentine mother so do not tell me that I should not have opinion!!!!!!!