I was talking to friends a few months back and one of the topics on our conversation was employing a maid. One of my friends said that he is not comfortable employing a maid that is over 30 years of age because that kind of person is too old to work.
I told him ouch, because me being in my early forties can still do the same ephysical labor that a young woman does, how much more the one younger than me. He started laughing and said he just wants to employ younger so that they can really work the task properly.
Most friends agreed with me. To be honest if a person is really willing to work and wants a job, no matter what age they are they will work extra hard. Most of the young ones nowadays will work at your house, they even ask if the employer has cable TV, computer (they can use freely to chat), radio and so on. For me, I don’t have a problem with that as long as they will work and finish up their job ahead of time.
I guess we really are different. In my household we like to employ as much as possible an older lady like in her early thirties to mid forties. They are the ones that are more responsible and more mature, in my opinion. We already employed too many younger ones just in the early twenties and some were good and some were not so good. Others just want to be here and just rely on the older ones for the job they had to get done. Some just want to sleep and play computer and watch TV most of the time.
If we teach them the work, they will do good if we are around. Behind our back they don’t want to work properly. Then if you complain and ask them why they didn’t do the job they feel that we are not good employers and they just quit. I have so many older workers that have really been happy in our house. The sad part was that they had to go home because they had to take care of personal stuff.
Just like when we first moved here, we had a lady in her early forties and she became the nanny of our youngest son, Jared. She really was good to Jared and I really liked her a lot too. She also liked to be with us. She told me that she used to work in Manila before but was not happy there because she was mistreated there. Well, she stayed with us for almost a year. She had to go home to take care of her kids. The husband just left home and left the kids in the care of the grandparents. Later it was too much for the grandparents, so Jared’s nanny had to go home to take care of her kids. She was really not happy because she was making enough money to send home and make the kids life a little more comfortable. Because she was really good with Jared, when she went home we gave her a bonus and lots of stuff for her and her kids. She was really crying and telling me that if she could come back she would.
We also employed a few ladies over forties after the first one and they turned out good. Just that they had to go home because they had so many problem with the family. Nobody would take care of their young kids. I also had one employee, she’s a single mom and she’s really a good employee, but the siblings think she’s making so much money just like an executive. The demand of sending money back home was just too much for her. She quit and just stayed there in their Province and helped her mom in the farm.
A former neighbor of mine from when I was growing up employed an older lady in her early seventies. Sorry guys I just could not ask somebody like that to do the job in my house. I will always think of my mom when asking her to do some work. I just can’t do it period. I would rather do the job than asking that older lady to do the job for me. But my former neighbor seems to have no problem at all. The kids would even ask the lady to do some stuff for them. They even yelled at her if she was slow on the job. Gee, why do you think she’s slow? My goodness.
Really at the end its up to each and everyone of us. If your household is more comfortable with the older one go for it. If you are comfortable with the younger one go for it. Good luck to all of the employers and the maids.
Hi Feyma;
Trying to pigeon whole someone on age is a waste of time, it really can’t be done. Our yard boy is 62, he starts every morning at 7 am, sweeping and he straightens up around the house. Yesterday he washed and waxed my car. Once a week he cuts the grass with the electric string cutter I have. The only trouble my wife has with him, is beer drinking in the afternoon when through working. But since I’m talking about me, that’s right, I do the yard work, as I really don’t have a lot else to do, at that time of day. (after logging on to Lip)
My wife’s helper is her twin sister, and they’re both fifty, well Claira is five minutes older. But the two ladies go through the house every morning at rocket speed, eat their lunch and then watch Wow Wow Wee, the rest of the afternoon.
Human beings can be productive from youth to old age; never sell a person short because of age. I also knew these facts when I was young, my Dad could out produce any one of his 5 sons, any day of the week.
Paul
I hear that, my Old Man in 77 years old, bad hips bad shoulders collecting social security and still working 4 hours a day at a machine shop.
He was in the Navy also and you had better put on the boots when hits the Black Label hard and his stories start flowing
My Dad was Coast Guard Reserve during the 30’s; in 1941 he went regular Navy, he’s passed now, but oh do I remember the stories! I wish now that I wrote them down, Tell your Dad, I said Hi Shipmate!
Hi Paul – I’m glad you found a good yard guy. It shows that age doesn’t matter, even at that age he can do his job well. Good for you guys. Hey, if he is working well a beer after work doesn’t hurt. 😉
Good bonding with your wife and her twin especially watching wowowee. What they think of the wowowee host on leave right now?
Really age should not be a reason for laziness. Good to see you again Paul.
Take care!
Feyma;
I’m the 62 year old yard boy drinking that beer. We’ve never hired anyone to do it. (lol)
Ha ha ha, you got me there Paul. Good for you… Cheers!
Hey Feyma
My wife said she would only hire a Maid that is Older and dirt ugly.
She said a young Maid is a “Big Temtation”
I know Bob is the BBQ Master in the house but how about a regular cook, do you hire one?
Neal;
Your wife might have the wrong idea on the subject of maids. My friend (His name is withheld to protect the guilty) was caught with his wife’s cousin, she was also their maid.
The girl was so homely, when she cried, the tears rolled to the back of her head. We all asked him that famous Jay Leno question; “What the hell were you thinking?”
Hi Neal in RI- Ha ha ha. I’ve heard a lot of wives said that.
We did hire a cook before. She’s really the cook of a fancy restaurant here in Davao. Unfortunately she can’t do it now because the restaurant she’s working opened long hours now. Good thing that a few of us here at the house can cook including Bob.
Thank Neal for stopping by. Take care!
Hey ,
my Philippine wife [ 46 years ] has 2 jobs , and that,s 42 hours a week ,
and allso keeps our house clean .
And then for me [ 67 years ] retired , still works for 16 hours a week ,
and do the shopping and make the food in the house .
And all the 3 of our ” bosses ” are very satisfied with us .
And there,s our 2 daughters , 18 and 22 years , go to school ,
and do nothing in the house ,
and i am not satisfied with them .
Here in the Netherlands , most people are still working till they 50+
Hi Anton – I hear you. Hey, at least your daughter cleaned their own room, right? 🙂
Thank you so much for your comment. Good to see you again.
Take care!
Hi Feyma – I have to fully agree with you, again. (This is getting to be habit!)
Our experiences with maids show that those between 16 and 20 are not very well focused on their job and are usually subjected to pleas by their families to seduce the Don.
Those between 20 and 30 seem to be a little more focused but, in being focused, tend to open their eyes to all the nice, pretty stuff they are keeping clean. Trouble is, sometimes they tend to open their fingers to that nice, pretty stuff, too!
Those above 30 know what life is all about, and fully understand that they will benefit most by doing their best and looking out after their employers. There may be “down days” – illness, school-aged child needs Mother for Teacher meeting, etc. We’re more than happy to let our hard working and most deserving helper with those issues.
We only had to go through seven different maids since our original one left us for the man she loves and married, but our present helper is the cream of the crop. (She’s the only one out of all we’ve employed, that I’d really, really hate to see leave us!)
😉
Hi Paul – Yes, I hope the one you have will stay for a long time. Good luck to you. Its really a never ending search.
Take care!
Hi Feyma- I agree with you an older maid will do the work more thoroughly and more efficiently than a younger one who has a brush in one hand and her cell phone in another.
Need I say any more.
Regards.
Jim.
Hi Jim – Ha ha ha, you make me laugh, but you are correct on what you said.
Good to see you. Hi to Marilou.
Take care!
I think older ones might do better that young ones who get distracted. But young ones are more energetic than really older ones, despite the laziness bringing out the irony. I guess it really depends though on the person’s maturity and physical condition no matter the age.
Thinking of maid service, when I mentioned it to my mom, she was surprised. Me and my mom (and I guess many back home) have the idea that maids are for the rich. I understand how it works though, here in the Philippines, in contrast to the States.
My dorm has maid service, but I don’t use it. You use it by leaving a tag thing on the doorknob. I just rather make sure my things are safe. My big reason also is that I just want to have my own responsibility to train me for self-discipline.
Hi Jawz – Yeah it really comes down to the maturity of the person. Also the drive to work hard and succeed though.
Well, its your choice not to used the maid service. Good for you. Its there anyway if you want to use it. Their might be a time you get lazy and want to just sit around at least you had the option to use them.
Good to see you here.
Hi Feyma,
If it were me, I believe in equal employment opportunity, with knowledge of English, with reference, some experience I also prefer live out rather than live in. But definitely I will not hire someone who is of retirement age except if the person came with the woodwork. That reminds me of an 80 year old gardener at the little hotel in Colombia. The owner’s daughter said they offered him retirement. The man had nothing else to do in his retirement, he asked if he could do odd jobs in the yard even for free.There he was 2-3 x per week doing his weeding, gardening etc. as paid part time employee because that was his life, his routine for decades.
Alex
Hi AlexB – I don’t really have problems employing maids. For them to earned money and support their family and for them to have proper nutrition. I do have problems though when maids mistreated by employers. Bob and I told our kids to treat our maids like our family. We have some live out maid too. She has family to take care of.
Thank you for sharing the story of the gardener. Nice one.
Thank you again for stopping by! Take care!
Hi Feyma,
When I moved to Austria, my wife had a cleaning lady in her late 60’s. I couldn’t get used to it – not only the age, but the idea of having a cleaning lady! She’s still alive and kicking, works her own garden now, walks every day and rides bicycle. No more cleaning though. I guess it is a good life when you need work – later you come to enjoy it.
Hi John – Its hard to get used to it. I remember when we first moved back here. Its hard to have other people here in the house. But I really do need the helped though, I just gave birth at that time. It was really nice to had help.
Nowadays, Bob and I already used to other people stayed at our house.
Take care!
I don’t really mind age, its all about the persons attitude in there job. If they are sloppy and drag ass when told to do something they gota go. I am only 32 and I use to have a problem telling older people what to do, but as my job progressed I actually started to enjoy it 🙂
Age has nothing to do with Ability period. I have seen Jack Lalanne in action so….
Hi Jack – Exactly.
Nice to see you here. Take care!
Hi Feyma,
Age is just a number anyways. As long as they’re willing and able to do the work, whats the problem? Im old enough to join AARP, and me and my new asawa are expecting a baby….I’m excited. I wonder if AARP gives discounts for the baby?
Hi hudson – Yeah you are right. Congratulations and good luck.
Take care!
My wife & I actually had to tackle this issue last Feb when we were moving to a new apartment.
We didn’t feel comfortable with an older helper because (not to generalize) they are usually stuck in their ways & may be less likely to be trained in a new method. My wife has her own methods in cleaning etc, and wanted to “train” a helper the way she wanted things done. But at least they are normally calmer & less predictable.
Besides, being in my 30’s, I really was not comfortable giving orders to an older woman a good decade older than me.
There are also issues about younger helpers mainly because, well, they are young and more likely to try new options or have may not be mentally matured as you’d like. Stories about them bailing out on a family are common. But they can be trained since they are pretty much a blank slate.
In the end, we were happy with our choice. A focused & independent minded 19-20 year old with big ambitions and taking up sunday college to get her degree to work abroad. She’s like a 3rd member of our “barkada” at home and I’m happy to help her with achieving her ambitions. I’m really not comfy with sharing a home with a stranger, so I am glad this worked out.
My parents also just hired a helper well into her 40’s and she’s great too. Quite gentle & knows how to take care of a home. She’s also a mother so she great when we visit & wants to help with our baby.
I’m quite familiar with nightmare stories about bad helpers. I hear them a lot, but our family’s been luck in that regard.
Just last March, our family helper of 39 years retired and returned to her home in Cebu. She was with us since 1971 and is like my second mother (and safe to say, she sees me & my siblings as her adopted children) . She was the best in all regards and a helper like that is a rare gem.
Sometimes, whatever the age range, it’s all about lucking out.
The problem lies not with age but with ability and qualifications and work ethic. Do you really think any of these hired help have had any formal training , your kidding me right???
The fact is in your own countries you would NEVER hire these people period! The reason they are hired because they are cheap labor. You pay peanuts you get monkeys, no escaping that fact.
For foreigners who don’t understand why we have hired help, let me explain, for instance, in our family, there are 11 people living in the house, ages ranging from 2 to 55, Firstly you may ask why on earth do we need a housekeeper, a nanny and a maid and a cook?
Well the answer lies in the fact that the house has been updated from a Fred Flintstones style house ( wood frame and rusty tin roof) to a modern house. It now has ceilings, glass windows, fly screens, floor tiles, light fittings, modern kitchen with LPG, garbage bins, modern BBQ, air cons, concreted pathways, a real clothes line, water pumps, electricity, light bulbs everywhere, beds and mattresses lol, pillows, sheets, washing machine, gardens, chickens, security gates, doors, drainage and septic tank, water storage tank and so on.
So what does this mean? Means that the house now needs to be maintained to keep it looking pristine! As none of theses things existed before, everyone just sat on their collective butts and did nothing all day (hmm not such a bad idea really), they are simply not used to keeping house.
So we hire people to do the job to give us freedom to do even less, ain’t life grand!
For the record our hired help are part time and full time, two are ugly as sin ( my wife deliberately chooses this type ) and range in age between 16 & 56. Constant supervision is still required but they do a decent job for the price.
Boss,
My helper is an educated young lady trying make ends meet while studying for a college degree & at the same time helping to send her younger siblings to school.
My parents’ helper is a middle age mother who, despite health issues including diabetes, is contributing to her family with an honest job and a sunny outlook in life.
The helper I grew up with taught me much wisdom about life & got the respect of many much more affluent & powerful people with here hard work & humility. She now is retired & much admired in her town.
I suggest you improve your hiring skills or start changing your impression of your employees.
Anyone with half a brain should know that calling the locals on your adopted country “monkeys” and judging them superficially is treading on thin ice.
You may be surprised to know there are many “monkeys” like me who can actually go online and read this.
I’m sorry, Boss… but frankly, your monkey remark is highly offensive.
Boss – I am really offended by that comment of yours. Get a life.
I have a fair number of people working for me, some have formal training , some have learned on the job, and some we have trained. – just the same as many people in -as the person who calls himself BOSS calls it- my own country !! And many of them I would hire no matter where I lived. They are honest and do an honest days work for an honest days pay. And they are not “cheap labor”, they are, rather, people working for the going rate. And I’m sorry BOSS, but I do not, like you, consider my workers to be monkeys !! Nor do we hire them according to their looks as you say you do your workers .
I am happy to hear that you now have a house complete with sheets and windows and floor tiles and ceilings and doors- and even light bulbs !
Lol I’m glad your happy Ian.
Boss
Whats with the Piss Poor Attitude.
Its pretty low to refer to a Human Being as a “Monkey”
Bob- just a thought [ dangerous thing of course ! lol] You said that Richard posted using many names- is one of them by chance BOSS ?? His posts have a familiar feeling to them.
Hi Feyma,
Great article. Our sister in law is 34 and helped around our Baybay home. She had to be one of the hardest workers that I ever seen.
I attached a link to a picture of Elegio Atlas. He has been taking care of the MacArthur Shrine grounds since 1976. I had a remarkable time talking to him on my 2nd visit. The grounds were spotless. I hope I am as productive at his age.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26277828@N03/3243864065/
hi i’m a new zealander ,here we retire at 65years or age and many work on after retirement ,the government pays us a small pension at age 65 ,i think if you are a good worker it in your genes ,my family have allways been hard workers and we enjoy doing the best job possible we can .whatever the work is ,i have a fillipino partner ,she a good worker ,but loves to sleep as do the 2 kids ,perhaps is comming from a very warm climate ,here in nz is winter now and temp ‘is between 5 degrees to max 15 ,summer is nice about 16 degrees to 30 ,so i have 3 very reluctant girls here when it time to get out bed ha ha ha ,they do not like winter
I am bothered everytime I look at the classified ads – WANTED office worker followed by gender, height, weight and age then they will throw in must have basic computer skills. I have oftened wonder what happens to the people that work in the Malls when they get above 26 years old because I see very few over that age working in the malls. If a person is able to do the job, wants the job and needs to work then age should not be a factor. I would suspect that when someone requires some YOUNG woman to work in their home they are as interested in getting someone that is easy on their eyes as someone that can do the job. Sorry, I have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind.
I apologise if I offended anyone by the expression. It is an age old expression that basically means the higher the qualifications the higher the pay. It applies to all people around the world. Maybe you don’t have that analogy in america.
Hi Feyma: When it came to household management, my mother was the queen of that territory. She hired only maids who were 22 years of age or older with recommendations. She only hired three maids in the 20 years after their retirement to the Philippines. These maids were not homely looking ones. The helpers ate at the same table, ate the same food, and travelled in the same places with the family. The helpers also watched the same cable tv show with my parents, right after dinner! My mother however, was akin to an army sargent. She trained her helpers well and had strict rules. There were only two individuals in the household (my father and herself) to be taken care of. She was very protective of my father’s peace in his environment. Visitors were always welcome, but not to stay permanently in the household. That applied to us (her adult children) as well. Therefore, no sloughing around. My mother retired from the U.S. at the age of 65 from the May Co. as an import/export comptroller. Prior to that, she was a physics and statistics professor at Misamis University in the Philippines for fifteen years.
Two of her earliest maids married and kept in touch with my parents in their lifetime. The last maid was sent to a nursing school (with family funds) as my father wished before he died. My parents owned and managed their rental properties in Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City well into their 80s. When I turned 50 two years ago, my parents still called me a “youngster”.