I need a part time helper

jimara

Hi everyone,

finally arrived in Chennai!
I've been here 5 days, and already 6 maids have knocked on my door asking for a job. First I thought: that's easy. I want a part time helper, 3 half days a week.
Now, 3 helpers already did some work for me,just to get to know them. But none of them are suitable: no good english, don't know how to iron, or are smelly and sweating... No one can give me a reference. Only one had a typed letter which said she worked for a family before and they were happy with her. But anyone can type a letter like that, so I don't consider this as a good reference.

My question is: where can I find a good reliable helper? I don't know anyone yet here,so I have no recommendations from other expats.

One young girl came,she asked 5500 rupees per month, for 3 times half day a week. Isn't that a bit high?
I thought about paying 2500 rupees monthly and extra for babysitting. They just clean and iron, no cooking and shopping to be done.

thanks.

Tapestry

Yes, Rs.5500 per month seems very high. Others can also give their opinions, but for me up here in Delhi I have someone who comes one hour a day, 6 days a week and I pay her Rs.1600/mo. This is her third year with me, so she started at Rs.1200/mo. I would think that Rs.5500/mo is your "applicant" trying to see what you'll agree to, especially since she won't even be cooking.

Good luck.

barodian

Nick possibly can help you out.

Calling out Nick...

eater

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimara Hi everyone,finally arrived in Chennai! My question is: where can I find a good reliable helper? I don't know anyone yet here,so I have no recommendations from other expats. thanks.

This thread might be helpful:

What to Pay the Cook, the Maid.......the candle stick maker...

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Nick-H

I don't do housework!

But the ironing....



Jimara, welcome to Chennai, if I haven't already said that.

This is a perennial problem to all Chennai-ites, even Tamil speaking native-born citizens such as my wife.

I am pretty sure that Mrs N would never employ someone who just knocked on the door. Not inside the house, at any rate.

There is the option of going to agencies, who are supposed to check references, but even that can be risky.

The only really acceptable choice is recommendation: you have to get to know your neighbours.

I never remember about money, and we have never employed anyone for as much as half a day. Our washing lady used to get a couple of hundred a month for doing the washing two or three times a week. I think our dusting/cleaning lady used to get maybe 400 for coming five days a week. I think we're paying about 600 at the moment for someone to keep the garden watered and tidy, but we don't have anyone working inside the house.

Ironing we send out. Count up your ironing: the rate is Rs2 per piece (no starching), Rs.5 for a sari. That'll give you an idea.

Mrs N is in bed, but I'd say see Tapestry's post; what you are needing should be more like hundreds, not thousands. Those girls would be lucky to be getting 3,000 working long hours in a shop.

But if you want an English-speaking maid, that will cost you a premium, of course.

People will accept working 7 days a week: I like to have my weekend when people are not coming to the house, forcing me to dress properly and dusting under my desk, whatever... We always have some difficulty in getting people to realise that when we say 'don't come on Sundays; don't worry we'll pay the same' that we actually mean every Sunday

We've just moved. We found an ironing lady. She introduced the lady that tidies the garden. As we find our feet in this area we'll see who we can get to know and if we need someone to work in the house.

Having talked such a lot about caution, let me say that we have never (in my two years of living here) been stolen from. And I refuse to be the sort of person who rushes to put everything away because the maid is coming: I'd rather not have a maid.

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Please look at this thread, even if you are not in India.: Have you seen Jonathan Spollen?

He could be anywhere now: You might have met him, be able to help, or give information.

ISN

If you are living in an apartment you can easily get a reference though security guards, neighbors etc. If you are in a house you have to do a little more work you have to make some connection at the local grocery stores (not the big chain) and ask them if they know anyone. Security is a concern, here is what my friend did; whenever he is employing anyone at his house he would ask them to fill out an application (verify all the details, like address, husband name, children etc) and then he would get a photograph of the person and keep it in a safe place, this will deter them form committing any petty crimes.

Domestic Help

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mairangi_vice

Hi Jimara, We have a maid who comes every day for an hour, we pay her Rs.600 per month, but we dont make her do any laundry or ironing.

We didnt find any maids who spoke even partial english, so dont hold out on that one.

Nick-H

Our last maid in the old house was very frustrated that she had been married off rather than being allowed to study, and thus had been condemned to domestic slavery in her husband's family house and domestic work in others. Not an uncommon story, I'm afraid.

She had been good at school, and only lacked confidence in her few words of English, which was a lot more than my few words of Tamil .

mairangi_vice

Our maid doesnt even speak Tamil properly! shes an Andhra import, which is actually why we hired her, because Mrs Vice speaks Telugu.

Amyth

I couldn't speak Telugu for nuts until recently, thanks to the series of maids hired and fired till now that I can speak Telugu eloquently (not my fault if my MIL thinks so ) today !!

thirdmainroad

Hmm

I do think people who can afford it should pay the minimum wages prescribed by the govt.. thats roughly 65 rs a day.

So if the maids cant parlez Anglais, why not learn how to speak tamil from them? I mean it is the oldest living language in the world, Tamil, and you should be proud to learn it et al!

shashank.aggarwal

WOW !! I always thought that was Sanskrit

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Amyth

...and I always thought Sanskrit is no longer a LIVING language

shashank.aggarwal

oh..I do not know the difference between living and dead language..

Now I assume it means that Language that is still widely spoken..? Or not..

Nick-H

What minimum wage? I never heard of such a thing before. Would like to know.

Most of us are talking about a few hours a day or a few days per week; not a full time job. Many of those who do employ full-time staff seem to be paying way over the odds.

I rely on my wife to get a good deal but not to be mean, and we have helped out staff in many ways other than basic income, even though they are not full-time.

The best people are always in demand. It can be quite tough to get a couple of hours of their day. They will not under-price themselves, but nor should they try to be extortionate. When one member of the family is local, they can't do this anyway.

Meanness is a great way to encourage bad work and dishonesty: If your staff meet you with a genuine smile and do a half-decent job, one can't be doing too badly.

As I said at the time, it takes more than the few rupees a day we paid to have a simple kolam put every morning to get someone doing something like this for New Year's day



Naaahhhh.... It was easier just to marry a Tamil speaker!