The days of finding a
helping had at hand
is sadly over. It is not only a difficult task to get hold of a domestic worker but an equally gigantic task of retaining the same.
There are several types of maids, found to be working in the domestic houses in the city, such as, in-house maids, outside maids who works from house to house, caregivers and others.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, a housewife Jyoti Agarwala from Kench’s Trace said that those maids who comes from outside for few hours to work as domestic worker in houses are rarely heard of these days. The number is increasingly dwindling. “I lost my earlier maid around six months back but till date I haven’t found a suitable maid,” she said.
Her counterpart from Risa Colony said that these maids are employed in the domestic houses for cleaning utensils, washing clothes, sweeping floors, baby sitting besides other works. “They charge good rates for doing such scores on a daily basis and yet they are not regular,” said this housewife adding that there is a tendency among the maids to skip the fourth day if they work consecutively for three days together.
Consistency is a word that doesn’t exist in this profession.
Many such homemakers are of the opinion that such maids habitually fall ill every week and manage to get a week or ten days off from their workplace every month.
“The ironical part is that one cannot complain for their absence or else you run the risk of losing your maid,” said Phileta Swer of Laitumkhrah.
A working woman said that these maids are also conscious about their work and one cannot load them with a long list of duties. “My maid recently threatened me that she would quit if she has to wash clothes on a daily basis. They want things in line and you cannot expect them to wash utensils and clothes beyond limit on any given day,” she said.
A retired school teacher S Lahiri said that her maid remains in her house throughout the day and leaves in the evening. “The problem with my maid is that, although she is trustworthy, she has a tendency of not returning on the day in which she has promised to resume her work after taking leave. There were several occasions when she went on leave but did not return on time forcing us to think of other options,” she said adding that recently she has removed her from work.
She is echoed by an elderly lady from Jail Road and said that if one deducts the salary of the maid, they tend to seek for other opportunities. These residents who mainly dealt with these maids said that they know that they are wanted mostly in every house and have huge demands because of which housewives have to give in to their demands due to the scarcity factor.
Apart from these there are those in-house maids who stay with the family and earn salary every month. It is learnt that the rates of such maids starts from Rs 4000 onwards. One such homemaker from Lachaumiere said that these maids are class conscious and they expect everyone to provide them with good rooms, clothes and other facilities.
“They have to go for an outing every week with their peers and expects the house owner to increase their salary on a yearly basis,” said the homemaker adding that the work of these maids have become highly professional over the years and ironically they also have an association dedicated to their welfare. However, householders have expressed their satisfaction on those domestic workers who are registered under associations.
(By Rajib Roy)