Maid flooded house and damaged the laminated floors

Whilst I do sympathies with everyone's maid issues. I don't think a some of you realize that a lot of these maids probably grew up in a wooden hut with dirt floors or very basic living accommodation. If you go to Thailand,Philippines, etc for a holiday go to the villages and see how they live you might understand why some seem to not have common sense .. That's why I don't have a maid I want to save my sanity ... Exactly. But you do know it is possible to have domestic help and for it only to enhance your life - honestly :)

Whilst I do sympathies with everyone's maid issues. I don't think a some of you realize that a lot of these maids probably grew up in a wooden hut with dirt floors or very basic living accommodation. If you go to Thailand,Philippines, etc for a holiday go to the villages and see how they live you might understand why some seem to not have common sense .. That's why I don't have a maid I want to save my sanity ...

Is her name Veronica by any chance? If she is book her a flight home now!

yep, you cannot charge her for it. But you can replace her if you think she will do more things like this. It has crossed my mind since yesterday. She has done some strange things before but this one is the limit I guess. She does not seem to possess any common sense so I will have to look at this as a very costly mistake! On that note... does anyone know if we can sponsor a maid from SA or Zimbabwe? They are normally such sweet ladies and really do their work so much better. common sense as in common sense as we generally know it, or common sense as in being new to working and living in a different environement and culture - and not yet having a handle on what kind of common sense you need within it?

Haven't yet made a final decision. Some interesting comments though. Yes I should have had insurance but we just installed the floors about a month ago and did not even think about it. Its quite heartless to make her pay for it though but how else does one make her understand that it is a costly mistake? I have spoken to her but it seems like she just doesn't care or maybe does not understand? I wouldnt expect her to pay for it for the simple reasons accidents happen. And yes I do have maids, excellent ones who even though they're as good as they are - all of us make mistakes sometimes. Just chalk it down to experience and move on because for all you know you may just have a wee diamond working for you and you've just yet to see it.

It does makes you wonder how people are thinking or if they are thinking at all. We once had a cleaning boy who diligently watered all and every plant in the office. Then when we we moved offices to another building the big plants were really heavy, incredibly heavy even, seeing as they were plastic. Of course the pots were full of water up to the brim. No harm done of course, the plastic plants survived, but pretty funny.

I've got a good one for you...yesterday a labourer at work was riding his bike balancing a very large can of white paint on the back. Predictably, he dropped it and all the paint spilled out. Another co-worker told him to remain in place and wait for help getting it cleaned up. Instead, he retrieved the can, took it off somewhere and hid it then went back to his place of work having pretended to have delivered it to its intended department. Shortly thereafter, I come driving through in my brand new shiny black car, drive straight though the paint which splashes up all over the side of my car. I do not notice but someone else does and comes to tell me. By some miracle, they manage to get it to the workshop on time to wash it off before the paint dries which would have been a disaster! When security and HR track down the culprit, they want to a) charge him for the cost of cleaning/polishing or b) terminate his employment. I just couldn't do it to him and begged them to let him keep his job despite the fact that he had run away and concealed his mistake. Thank goodness it didn't happen to some of the less charitable ladies on this thread!

I've got a good one for you...yesterday a labourer at work was riding his bike balancing a very large can of white paint on the back. Predictably, he dropped it and all the paint spilled out. Another co-worker told him to remain in place and wait for help getting it cleaned up. Instead, he retrieved the can, took it off somewhere and hid it then went back to his place of work having pretended to have delivered it to its intended department. Shortly thereafter, I come driving through in my brand new shiny black car, drive straight though the paint which splashes up all over the side of my car. I do not notice but someone else does and comes to tell me. By some miracle, they manage to get it to the workshop on time to wash it off before the paint dries which would have been a disaster! When security and HR track down the culprit, they want to a) charge him for the cost of cleaning/polishing or b) terminate his employment. I just couldn't do it to him and begged them to let him keep his job despite the fact that he had run away and concealed his mistake.

When I worked in Zambia I asked the house boy to clean the inside of my car.... he hosed it down like you would the outside of a car... LOL... well I laugh now, I didn't then!!

haven't read the whole thread but has anyone said BBB yet?

I will tell her I'm going to deduct the money ,3000 Dhs (monthly) from her salary ,as well any other damage she may do in the future,they will come off her salary( it will teach her to pay attention )...The money i will deduct from her i will put it separate ,and give it back to her when she will travel (vacation or end contract ).... Maids here are coming from different "worlds'' ,are more trouble then good ... Do you really need a maid ? If yes you need to have the time and patience to educate her and expect to lose more financially ....

momof 3 - i wonder if she would have broken so many irons if you had made her pay for them? Why would she care if it breaks as Madam always replaces... if it was a case of her replacing it am sure she would be a lot more careful.... how many of her clothes has she ruined while washing?

Nobody tells you when you hire a maid that your costs are not limited to agency fee, medical, visa, salary, food, toiletries, but also includes some percentage of depreciation on all of your household goods. Quite frankly, their common sense is nothing close to what we are used to, and they really will never care for your things like you will. They didn't pay for them, so no appreciation of their value. No matter how good they may be in general, these things will still happen. Most families I know just refuse to buy nice things because they are likely to be destroyed or lost. Our maid is a kind person, good with the kids, and overall we trust and like her. However, there are many times I have to remember that she was raised in a completely different world, with different values and doesn't have the same life experiences in which her common sense was developed, so will not be the same. Can give you a partial list of things that have happened: Chipped, banged and scratched almost every pieces of new furniture in the house Used the pillow cases from my new sheets to lay the iron on when she wants to put iron down, and burned them to a crisp. Can't be bothered to sit the iron up cause she always bangs her arm into it and burns herself. Table too close to oven, so instead of scooting it just a bit, opens and closes oven door several times on the table tearing up the wooden leg. Have replaced iron at least 4 times cause she keeps dropping it. Tons of broken and missing dishes. Laundry with bleach spots and mysterious stains Asked her to wipe down baby bed that was stored in alcove next to my guest room, with a damp rag. Instead she took a water hose to it, ruining the bed and flooding the guest room. Stained carpet (red) all in back of my car cause she brings her soda in car and leaves it instead of throwing out her trash, and it eventually spills over and now permanent stain. There are many more, but enough to show the pattern. After all of this, we still keep her, and have never asked her to pay for any mistake. She is a good person, and always has a good attitude, and as far as we know has been honest. She does help us a lot, and know if we start over, the next one could be worse. We just look at all the damaged stuff as the added cost of a maid. Some things like laundry and dishes could have happened with me as well, so don't hold them over her head. Not sure what it would take for us to get rid of her, and hope we don't get to that point. Anyway, my point, even if you get rid of the maid and start over, expect that the next will also not be perfect and expect that things will get damaged and destroyed. They are not raised like we were, and will never value your things in the same way you do.

OMG> MY first maid here in Dubai so lacked commonsense that I had to sack her after just over a month from hiring. and off I sent her packing back to the Phils. very costly but commonsense is very important amongst all.

OMG> MY first maid here in Dubai so lacked commonsense that I had to sack her after just over a month from hiring. and off I sent her packing back to the Phils. very costly but commonsense is very important amongst all.

OMG> MY first maid here in Dubai so lacked commonsense that I had to sack her after just over a month from hiring. and off I sent her packing back to the Phils. very costly but commonsense is very important amongst all.

yep, you cannot charge her for it. But you can replace her if you think she will do more things like this.

Although I too would be seeing red right now. I like Cyclone T's response.

Have you ever made a stupid mistake at work? I have. Have you ever tried to gloss over, fix or hide a mistake? I have (especially when I was young and scared of the reaction of my boss). Have you thought about how much 3,000aed is to your helper? Potentially it is 2 months salary. How would you feel if you or your husband made a mistake, albeit stupid, and lost the equivalent of 2 months salary? I would be devastated and it would affect my ability to meet my commitments at home. [i'>Good points in other posts to consider: It could have been someone else and she found it You should have insurance She may genuinely not have realised the likely damage[/i'> Please let your anger at the situation subside before making a final decision. Hear, hear

Have you ever made a stupid mistake at work? I have. Have you ever tried to gloss over, fix or hide a mistake? I have (especially when I was young and scared of the reaction of my boss). Have you thought about how much 3,000aed is to your helper? Potentially it is 2 months salary. How would you feel if you or your husband made a mistake, albeit stupid, and lost the equivalent of 2 months salary? I would be devastated and it would affect my ability to meet my commitments at home. [i'>Good points in other posts to consider: It could have been someone else and she found it You should have insurance She may genuinely not have realised the likely damage[/i'> Please let your anger at the situation subside before making a final decision.

yes they learn very fast when they pay themselves!

... I have explained to her from the first day that she must not use a wet mop on the floors. Must dry the mop completely when mopping up. Told her lots of times to not wet the floor. Even if there are drops of water on the floor I have explained to her that she must not leave it to stand on the floors as it will damage them. I just did her visa in December so its not easy to just send her back. Crikey!! 8-o What on earth are your floors made of? They wouldn't last a day with my kids! Is the same material used in a lot of villas or is yours outside the ordinary. Serious question here. I have no idea how to handle the maid issue. Just thinking about it makes me stressed. All these comments sound like they're like having another 5 year old around... I wonder if they cause more problems than they resolve??? My sympathies to you...

No I don't have insurance and yes I have explained to her from the first day that she must not use a wet mop on the floors. Must dry the mop completely when mopping up. Told her lots of times to not wet the floor. Even if there are drops of water on the floor I have explained to her that she must not leave it to stand on the floors as it will damage them. I just did her visa in December so its not easy to just send her back. Are you for real?? You would seriously have contemplated terminating your maid's employment for a simple mistake? I am glad I don't work for you. As SueB said, sh!t happens. AED3,000 is an awful lot to a maid but I imagine a lot less significant to you. Don't forget you have also made a mistake here by not getting insurance (glib at best but when you employ a stranger in your home it might be considered downright foolish). So, 2 mistakes and in my view you should take it on the chin.

It was an accident. I don't think you should make her pay but at least give her a stern warning. Accidents do happen.

SueB there was a subliminal message in my comment. Nothing is above or beneath me. I do not exist. I am a blip on your screen.

She is dumb. You cannnot make her pay when she has minimal brain activity. You can fire her though. Bring a new maid and tell her beforehand about these things. SQ, that comment was beneath you.

:)