Regular LiP Blog participant, Pete e-mailed me this morning and asked me if I could write a little about how to find a good maid. Well, I am happy to oblige, Pete. I am not sure how much I can write about this, but I’ll do my best. You see, finding a good maid is extremely difficult. Keeping her makes the job of finding her feel like it was easy!
I have lived in the Philippines for more than 7 years now (just a little more!), and Feyma and I have been through many maids in that time. It always seems like when you find one, they last for a few months and then leave. Actually, the maid we have now has probably been here as long as any maid we’ve ever had. I guess she has been here more than a year now, although only Feyma could really say for sure. I don’t really keep track of such things.
We have used a number of methods of finding a maid. Firstly, it seems like most girls who want the job of being a maid come from out in the Province, not really from in the City. Girls in the City generally would be looking for a better job than being a maid, in most cases. A lot of girls out in the Province are less educated, and being a maid is something that they feel would be a good job for them. The best method of finding a maid is by word of mouth, I’d say. You ask friends if they know somebody, and go by the referral system. They might know somebody from back home in the province where they came from. Ask a lot of people, and you will soon start getting texts or calls from people who know somebody looking for a job as a maid.
Let me tell a little story about one time when I got tagged with the job of finding a maid. Normally finding a maid is a job that Feyma handles. Once she finds somebody, I generally get to talk to her and give the word if I will want to give her a try or not. But, the job of the search goes to Feyma. However, about 3 years or so ago, I got into a situation where I had to search for somebody. You see, we had these two sisters who worked for us as maids. They were young – teenagers. After a while I got so fed up with their poor work that I kind of had it out with them. I confronted them about the fact that they were doing a poor job – the house was always dirty, and when I went downstairs they would be watching TV! I just had too much of that, and I let loose. They just looked at me silently. Finally, in a moment where I didn’t know what else to do, I asked if they would rather clean up the house or leave. They said they would prefer to leave, so I said – Goodbye, then! They were gone in 15 minutes or so. Feyma looked at me and said “what are we going to do now? You fired our maids!” I told her she needed to find somebody new, and she informed me that since I fired the maids without even telling her that I would, it was going to be up to me to replace them! Oops!
Well, I had a friend who was a teacher at a local University. She was quite a nice lady and had helped me in the past in learning to speak some Bisaya. Her name is Au. Au was from a small town in Compostela Valley Province. I called Au and asked if there was anybody from her hometown that might be interested. She called home to her Sister and they started searching. Within just a day or two, they had a couple of people who were interested. We took a drive out to their place, about 2 hours away, and met the two girls. They seemed good, and we hired both of them, and they rode back to town with us, as I recall. Maybe they came on a bus the next day, I have forgotten. But, as it worked out, they were pretty good maids, for as long as they stayed.
So, basically, as I say, word of mouth seems to be the best way to find a maid. You can’t really put an ad in the paper or online, because the kind of people who are interested in doing this kind of job don’t normally read newspapers or go online. So, the methods of searching for a person are limited. Use your personal contacts in the community, you will find that somebody will come through for you!
In my next article, I’ll write about how to keep a maid once you’ve found one. That is not an easy task!
Very Interesting Bob, I also heard its pretty hard to get a good house help these days, as you have said, word of mounth seems to be the best way of obtataining one. I think the Filipino wife should be responsible for getting a good maid.
Its their country, and they can leave messages around their contacts, there is always someone who needs a job, , I put the matter to Gina this morning, she said "If they are educated they wll not want to be a maid" so really then its a certain type of Filipina who takes a job as a maid.
Your probably looking for a younger person, with little education, who cannot get a job in the Filipino jobs market, who needs somewhere to live in, and Gina said, you would feed the maid as well as part of the job.
Well luckily we have a nice lady who is the house help, although we do not term her the house help, I call her hte personal assistant, she cooks, washes, cleans and everything else, but BOB, this is something you have got to understand willl tickle me immensly when I arrive and it goes like this
"GOOD MORNING SIR – TEA OR COFFEE ? AND HERE IS THE MANILA BULLETIN" !
Now that is something I have yet to experience, and the waiting will be worth it…only 9 weeks to go.
Hi Pete – I thought you were going to say that you were waiting for the proverbial – "Sir, coffee, tea, or me?" Ha ha… Gina might not let you move to the Philippines if that happens!
Bob I have to say this subject has actually come up when Scott and I were out to dinner with the ladies ! we are discussing the the fact that we were in awe and wonder about having for the first time, what amounts to the old fashioned – servants ! now termed house helps or maids.
The conversation came around to the subject of the maids, we both enquired as to how it is with the maid, does the maid become over familiar at times, the ladies expressed their disgust at the thought and made it very clear that the "Sir" of the house does not consort with the maid(s).
It would appear that most Mistresses of the house look down on a husband who consorts (politically correct phrase) with a maid and made it clear, if he valued his life, he would not, but even if he did, please to ensure that it was with a sosyal woman of good breeding and fortune, like a celebrity type, and in no way could it ever be a maid, the ladies made it very clear, that this would be insulting to them as Mistress of the house.
We were told that Filipino men never have a relationship with the maid, as it is insulting to the wife, I think on this one Bob, we had better stick to Tea or Cofee, mang juice, scrambled egg and sausage, what do you say ?
Hi Pete – Actually, sorry to disagree with Gina, but there are those who consort with the maid. It is certainly not an accepted practice, but I know people who do it. I would recommend highly against it. I am actually already planning to do a blog entry about that very topic next week, so stand by for more!
Hi Bob,
Boy, oh, boy, you're exactly right. Right now I know someone from Cebu (southern part) who consorted with "the maid". They're not my friends but my sister's. He's European. Guess, what's happening right now? The legal wife is suing him. Too, it happens many times that "Sirs' are consorting with maids, even Filipino men and are becoming common scenarios. There are temptations and temptations but then if there's no respect and trust in the marriage, it doesn't take a lot of temptations to break a marriage. Even before I came here in the US, I've seen a few of those happenings. The "foreigner Sirs" take advantage of the maids, specially the ones that came fresh from the province who had been promised a good life if they(maids) will agree what their "sirs" asked them to do. I have a friend that's one of them, she got lucky she married someone(american) nice and is working on adopting her two children. She's in the US right now.
Good job, Bob.
Liklik Paul
Everyone has a price and you get what you pay for. I never hold back on my maid's pay. I started her off on 2,000 pesos a month a year ago, with quarterly raise. She nows makes twice that amount, with free board, lodging, and a paid vacation. She's as a loyal to me and my family today as when she first started. She's a true confidant of our household, especially when my wife and I have to step out for a few hours. I figure she'll remain loyal and with us for a long time to come. Till next time….
Hi Liklik Paul – Yep, what you say is very true, unfortunately! I will be posting more about that next week.
Hi Julius – Wow… I am pretty surprised about that salary for your maid. We have never paid a maid that kind of money, and from what I know, we pay above the average. Of course, salaries are lower here in Mindanao, compared to the Manila area. Given what you have said, I now wonder if we could attract better maids, and more loyal by offering a better salary as you are doing. Thanks for the tip, it gives me something to think about!
It's true, Bob. We pay her that much. She has financial need like all of us do. I pay the salary that would keep her in our employ. She's a good maid and it's hard to find a good one. Have you replied on my comment yet on the buying an island? Also, have you checked out my blog yet? Till next time….
Hi Julius – Yes, I did have a chance to check out your blog yesterday! You are off to a good start, with some nice activity there. It's rare to have such a young blog and still be able to attract some comments and such! Congratulations on that!!
Thanks, Bob, for all of your advice and suggestions on how to promote myself. I'm mainly writing articles to help entice readerships worldwide and, at the same time, promote my adventure tour business. Till next time….
I'm sure you'll experience some success, Julius! Keep up the good work!
is anyone looking for a maid. I'm now moving to the Middle East and I'd like to find a girl a job with a kind Western family. She's 26 and a hard worker. Email me at city_of_lights at hotmail dot com if u are interested.
beware of maids came from sultan kudarat. they are good at first. there modos is to borrow or advance there salary. they will create storyies tell that his husband dies, mother sick after borrowing months later they just leave without permission. in short lalayas.
hi everybody my name is thibaut ledain i live in pagadian city mindanao for 6 years now i am desperatly looking for a jaja (maid/nanny) can any of you help me also what should i pay her? plss guys u can always mail me or add me on yahoo i would love the help