Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Hourly wage for "domestic diva"


Sandrita

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 97
  • Created
  • Last Reply
2 hours ago, RVGRINGO said:

There is no 'right' or 'wrong' tip.  Sometimes, a generous tip might be appropriate for excellent service and attention to your needs.  Sometimes, you might tip very little, or nothing at all, if the service was poor, or the wait staff was not attentive.  If you have to interrupt their conversations to get service, or your bill, let them know the reason their service was unsatisfactory and tip, or not, accordingly.  Speak to management also. A poor waiter can really hurt an otherwise good restaurant, or any other business that serves the public.  

T.I.P. = To Insure Promptness

Then it would have to be TEP. But from what I understand, there were no acronyms for anything before WWII, and tipping goes back to the 17th century, looks like.

And shouldn't we tep at the beginning of the meal "to ensure anything"...?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to the original topic. It looks like I have a diva for a cleaning lady. Several years ago when she started working for me I paid her 200 pesos for 4 hours=50 pesos per hour. After several years it was 250 for 4 hours=60 pesos per hour. Little by little she worked less time- down to 3 hours for 250=83 pesos per hour. Shen said she was working faster. She has just returned to work after a 5 week break (I was away and then she had to visit her mother in Puebla). Now she is demanding 400 pesos for 3 hours=133 pesos per hour as that is what her Canadian employees pay her at one of the other houses she cleans. It seems like it is getting out of hand. I guess it is time to look for a different cleaner but she does a good job and is reliable. I would be willing to pay her 80 per hour but 133 per hour seems ridiculous or is it?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, cedros said:

Back to the original topic. It looks like I have a diva for a cleaning lady. Several years ago when she started working for me I paid her 200 pesos for 4 hours=50 pesos per hour. After several years it was 250 for 4 hours=60 pesos per hour. Little by little she worked less time- down to 3 hours for 250=83 pesos per hour. Shen said she was working faster. She has just returned to work after a 5 week break (I was away and then she had to visit her mother in Puebla). Now she is demanding 400 pesos for 3 hours=133 pesos per hour as that is what her Canadian employees pay her at one of the other houses she cleans. It seems like it is getting out of hand. I guess it is time to look for a different cleaner but she does a good job and is reliable. I would be willing to pay her 80 per hour but 133 per hour seems ridiculous or is it?  

If you finally have had it with your diva, you can always use one of the cleaning services such as Spring Clean, which sets up a schedule for your convenience and takes care of all the employer-employee issues.   After using this for nearly ten years and hearing other people's problems, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Of course, YMMV.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, gringal said:

If you finally have had it with your diva, you can always use one of the cleaning services such as Spring Clean, which sets up a schedule for your convenience and takes care of all the employer-employee issues.   After using this for nearly ten years and hearing other people's problems, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Of course, YMMV.

I wonder how much the cleaners are paid? Let's make a low paying job even lower.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, gringal said:

If you finally have had it with your diva, you can always use one of the cleaning services such as Spring Clean, which sets up a schedule for your convenience and takes care of all the employer-employee issues.   After using this for nearly ten years and hearing other people's problems, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Of course, YMMV.

I used Spring Clean for several years but one of their employees but slowly stealing my cutlery so I wen to an individual cleaner. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, gringal said:

Did you bring up the problem with the Jefa? I haven't had a problem ...so far. 

I didn't bring the problem up with la Jefa because I didn't have a camera to show which worker it was . I was certain it was happening as I counted my cutlery after every time Spring Clean visited. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, cedros said:

Back to the original topic. It looks like I have a diva for a cleaning lady. Several years ago when she started working for me I paid her 200 pesos for 4 hours=50 pesos per hour. After several years it was 250 for 4 hours=60 pesos per hour. Little by little she worked less time- down to 3 hours for 250=83 pesos per hour. Shen said she was working faster. She has just returned to work after a 5 week break (I was away and then she had to visit her mother in Puebla). Now she is demanding 400 pesos for 3 hours=133 pesos per hour as that is what her Canadian employees pay her at one of the other houses she cleans. It seems like it is getting out of hand. I guess it is time to look for a different cleaner but she does a good job and is reliable. I would be willing to pay her 80 per hour but 133 per hour seems ridiculous or is it?  

This ties in with the tipping discussion- her other employers decided unilaterally to pay her quite a bit more than the going rate (probably with that attitude that "it's so little compared to a cleaner in Canada"), thereby leading her to think it's okay to now expect and demand this from her other long time clients. Happened to friend of mine- she had a maid, then a few neighbors wanted to use the maid as well. They all got together to make sure they were all on the same page as far as salary, then one couple decided to pay her 25 pesos more per hour, without talking to the others. The maid went back to the original neighbor, who she'd been working for for a long time, and who, in fact, got her those other jobs, demanding to be paid the higher wage. She was told she'd get her severance and not to come back.

I was interested in having some one-off gardening work done, 2-3 days. My neighbor has a full-time gardener who's good, so I asked if he might like to earn a little extra by working one or two Sat. afternoons or Sundays for me. I made sure to ask my neighbor what he pays the guy, so as not to under or overpay, thereby screwing it up for my neighbor.

Cedros, I don't know if 133/hr. is outrageous in your area for the work she does, but personally I'd not want to continue employing someone with her attitude. It's one thing to sit down with an employer and ask for a raise because of the cost of living increases, etc, but demanding more from a long-time employer simply because you have other employers who ignore the normal local rates would irritate me.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that's the right thing, Cedros. A neighbour's maid pulled the same thing last year, and that's the last we shall see of her. I agree the problem begins when they get used to someone else paying much higher wages, and I can understand that.

Perspective: I haven't raised my prices in about 10 years, even though the U.S. dollar is worth substantially more now than ever, and the vast majority of my clients are from NOB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, bmh said:

Cedros, I would tell the maid that if someone is paying her 133 an hour by all means go and work for that person and would make sure she signs the pape saying she quit and would not give her severance.

I realize I've paid my cleaning lady vacation pay up until the end of December. I didn't think about severance pay. I thought a person got it whether they quit or were fired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And please tell me, Cedros, that you have a book in which any employee signs for their pay, the number of hours worked, vacation pay and Aguinaldo. If not, it will become a "he said/she said" scenario and the employee usually wins if he/she takes you to Labour Court. Amazing how good employees become vindictive when influenced by ne'er do well relatives and friends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If someone is quitting then it should be in writing, dated and signed by both employee and employer. Suddenly not showing up for  work makes that hard but having a written signed record of their employment makes it easier. I use WhatsApp (or equivalent) and have her text me when she can't come to work... which is one day a week for three hours.

The flip side (more than one) is that we had a housekeeper/plant waterer who worked for us 9 to 2 five days a week in SMA for nine years. She did not want to accept her Finiquito when we moved to the coast. Loved her dearly but I also explained that it was the law. end story. In San Pancho, we had another great housekeeper who  became pregnant and gave her notice because her husband didn't want her working while pregnant. She was three months along. We had sold the house by that time and I told her that if she quit, there would be no finiquito but, if she could work for two more months, she would get her finiquito and that would be good for the whole family. Told her to go home and discuss her options with her husband. She stayed.

Fair is fair and it's a two way street. Unfortunately, every female who works for me ends up becoming a strong minded, opinionated feminist. Sorry about that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, jonnyintrouble said:

With all this reading I don't remember someone mentioning cost of living in your area.   I've been to Lakeside once.  So I have no idea with the COL might be.  But to make a case for the relativity of your town and mine ... Here, doctors don't earn 130P an hour.  The average rent is about 2000 a mo.  250 a day is what a housekeeper or gardener, plumero, construction worker gets, period

So then with 2nd grade arithmetic if the average rent for a family who lives in that part of town you never go to is 4000 a month he/she would be worth 500 a day.  

If petro, tortillas, a can of beer, rises 10% should the worker be compensated (COL raises)?  Not here.

I imagine there exists in Lakeside an army of people, of whom have roots in a dozen states, came to Lakeside to get a gig.  They just might have come from places where daily labor is 150P a day, or less.  After they arrive and become acculturated to Lakeside they know well what they're worth and are happy like a clam. 

Skilled and unskilled:  A primary, secondary, high school teacher studies for 4 years and then does an "addendum" for at least a year.  Their gig pays about 5-6000 a month to start and remains at that rate for years.  So your maid, if she earns 250P a day, earns 5000 a month.   There's a worm in that hole, eh?

IMO it's natural to become "spoiled" especially if you're from a society where everybody but you has never heard the word, no.  Spoiling is a feature of life many many folks would love to achieve, or die for.  If your employees hail from a 120P a workday wage, wooden house, barking roof dogs, dirt floor background, he/he deserves kind treatment.  Do they deserve to earn more than a certified teacher?

.

You have just regurgitated the same argument  made here in countless threads by many people as though you are offering something no one has ever thought of before. It is a well worn topic of conversation on the web board and around town. Having visited here only once why do you care what we pay our domestic help? By the way, some of us live in the same part of town as our helpers but you don’t know that — like so much else you don’t know. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Ferret said:

And please tell me, Cedros, that you have a book in which any employee signs for their pay, the number of hours worked, vacation pay and Aguinaldo. If not, it will become a "he said/she said" scenario and the employee usually wins if he/she takes you to Labour Court. Amazing how good employees become vindictive when influenced by ne'er do well relatives and friends.

No like most people I don't do that. But now I will be cautious when dealing with this woman.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My maid, who was supposed to work one day a week, for five hours, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., never, ever showed up on time. She'd come any time between 9:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. but always left before 2:00 p.m. Her reason was the bus. Her pay was never docked. If I left the house, she would leave soon after. About once a month she would not show up at all, without calling or letting me know in advance. She did not get paid for those days. I got tired of her behavior and started making her sign for payments, noting date, arrival time and departure time. I made a note of days that she did not show up. She finally just stopped showing up at all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, jonnyintrouble said:

Let me educate you.  Do you know what a lurker is, in forum terms?  Did you know on most web boards they out-number the members 10:1?  Especially boards like this one.  Lots of folks click on here in hopes of finding useful info.  Looks like you don't want them there cause they'd cause you extra traffic problems.  

My post was a good one.  If I have repeated 100% of what other posts have covered, please provide links. 

I am a retired teacher of 40 years.  It's my nature to be helpful.  At times I post for them, the lurkers.  Does your Lakeside "status" or Ego preoccupation not allow you to ever post for them?  Should I stop posting for them?  Should helpful people like me go away and cut a small chunk out of the sponsor's gains because of your personal preoccupations?

 

I know you love going mo deeper into all topics in the most arrogant, insulting, and condescending ways. I will put you on Ignore and drop out of the game. See how many more threads you can take off topic, dragging the spotlight onto you and your many accomplishments. I just hope the Mods start deleating your off topic posts instead of locking what are otherwise useful threads. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jonnyintrouble said:

Oh, off topic as the response you just posted?

A troll tries to hide him/herself.  Now that's something that never crossed my mind.

All trolls make up stuff about themselves - not hiding themselves but substituting/inventing a fantasy person - to make themselves look exceptional and very experienced when in fact they are completly the opposite.  All are pathological liars - it is a serious psychological personality disorder and obvious to anyone familiar with personality disorders. Most trolls post on almost every thread no matter what the topic is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...