I recently had to defend my view on hiring household help. If you read a prior blog entry, you may know that I do my own housework, not by myself, my family helps too. In a nutshell, my thoughts are, if we dirty it, we clean it! We are the ones who eat off the plates, dirty the laundry and, last I looked, it was our hair in the shower floor! Why is it someone else’s job to come in and clean that? I have heard people say, “Don’t worry about it, the maid will clean it”. Why is it her job to pick up the glass I drank out of? I can take it to the sink and wash it!
But when I was defending myself, I came across a more passionate reason why I feel the way I do about some people who claim they could never live without their housekeeper and then act like the sun rises and sets on her and how much they cherish her. Here in California, there are many people who hire illegal workers for services such as these because they are cheaper. It makes me so mad. They are not doing anything noble by hiring someone who “needs the work”. We all need work! There are legit businesses that NEED the work! These people are only hiring these housekeepers simply because it is so much cheaper than Molly Maids! I hired a housekeeper on the advice of a friend. When I met her, I realized she only spoke Spanish and would only accept cash. I realized that she was illegal. My friend told me how much she needed the money and I realized after meeting her that she did. She was a wonderful lady. I could no longer use her when I found out she was illegal. It didn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t support it. I did give her clothes for her children and some furniture we were going to sell. But I couldn’t continue to employ her.
Here’s one for the books; I was meeting with a producer in Hollywood. He kept checking his phone, which is normal for any one working in Hollywood. He said in a very calm matter, “We hired a new nanny and she left this morning with our son and has not been back for over 5 hours”. I asked, “Can you reach her on her cell phone or is there a service you can contact?” He answered, “No, we just hired her and she doesn’t speak a word of English.”. I was shocked beyond belief! He and his wife handed off their child to a total stranger. I am sure they picked her because of her price and not based on a face to face interview! This guy spent 10 grand on drapes for one living room and will probably be willing to pay 25 grand per year on kindergarten for this child, but in the meantime, why not hire the maid/nanny for the bare minimum she would accept. He had no way to reach her and she was a complete stranger. Why would I let this guy handle my career if he thought so little of his own son. I bet he did more research on his drapes!
So this is why I am so passionate about hiring housekeepers. If you need the help because you have long hours, a busy schedule or young kids, I get it. Hire someone. But be legit about it. Before you dash off your comments, let me get the record straight, I am of Mexican decent and donate time and services to the betterment and education of the Mexican people, not exploit them because I can save a buck.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
As a babysitter, I am amazed at the number of people who are willing to just hand me their child and just leave. There have been a few people that have contacted me, friends of other families that I sit for, that are willing to leave me alone with their children with nothing but the good word of their friends. On top of all the other obvious reasons that is a bad idea, it isn’t good for the kids to be apart from their parents, which is hard enough, with a total stranger! Talk about terrifying!