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How much do I pay my Cleaning Lady?


kosika

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Actually raising the maids was common in Europe before the war.. The richer families would inherit kids, orphans, kids from poor family and those kids would help in the larger households and eventually become full time live in servants. Back then there was little cash given out to servants many of them worked for room and board and  a little spending money so you can see how the word criada came about. The good old days are over and cleaning ladies, caretakers and maids are now protected by laws  and are emloyees so the word criada has taken on a bad connotation and the word is not used any longer. In Chiapas it is not unusual to see the word serviente used  on adds on doors but I  have never heard anyone referred to her serviente either.. chacha is the word tha is the most common here  or ayudante..

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  • 2 years later...

By upsetting the economy. There is another side not mentioned. If "rich" American pays more for everything.. you drive up the prices for everyone else.. including the locals who find everything else more expensive because the prices for everything went up. Now they can no longer afford to live in places they grew up (classic gentrification) except you are not staying long.. but the damage you caused will. Im staying in Puerto Vallarta where the area is full of empty condos because no one can afford to live here.. 3 months a year "high season" americans come to inflate prices again.. its ok to be nice even generous but be sure to seperate gifts from salaries

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I don't know why this 3 year old thread is still going.

I pay my "trabajadora," which is a term that is well liked by Mexicans.

It means a person who rolls up sleeves and does a good job and is proud of it. Listen for it. I use it in the marketplace for cooks, for juice makers. Que trabajadora! What a worker. They always smile. It is a compliment.

Anther term: domestica, meaning one who works around the house.

This other stuff about criada is for the birds. Just stick to what they would like to be called, their name a good choice, but in third party reference, ask the maid what word does she uses for her work title. She will tell you. Keep this stuff simple.

I pay my maid 80 pesos an hour. She is worth every centavo. Sometimes on a hard day I will tip her 50 pesos, sometimes a hundred pesos if she did something extraordinary I could not do, or I know her husband got laid off. She is less expensive than calling male trabajadores to come make a service call, and she knows stuff. We treat each other fairly, I hope.

I am on the side that overpaying maids is almost impossible. I am on the opposite side with male workers. The male workers will be quick to take advantage 7 out of 10 times. Thus, I cull the male workers until I find one who is fair.

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On 7/8/2020 at 3:15 AM, Tim Davis said:

By upsetting the economy. There is another side not mentioned. If "rich" American pays more for everything.. you drive up the prices for everyone else.. including the locals who find everything else more expensive because the prices for everything went up. Now they can no longer afford to live in places they grew up (classic gentrification) except you are not staying long.. but the damage you caused will. Im staying in Puerto Vallarta where the area is full of empty condos because no one can afford to live here.. 3 months a year "high season" americans come to inflate prices again.. its ok to be nice even generous but be sure to seperate gifts from salaries

I am not sure why you have started to make comments on a 2018 thread and sound like "The Big White Hunter" looking to exploit the local natives and re colonize PV/MX...other people have be here and done that...MEXICAN LIVES MATTER

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To finish my portion, I asked my "maid" yesterday what is the title of your job, the work you do to clean my house, to fix little things out of place, to make it more a home..

Empleada Domestica.

Domestic Employee.

Now, somebody else's house cleaner may prefer to go by a different designation.

My maid is not particular what I call her occupation because I call her by her first name, but Empleada Domestica

is what she thinks is her official capacity.

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