TOPAZ HORIZON

Oh my God. What the hell. Hahahaha! Our former maid was just like that!
I hope you manage alright, Frances. Take care, OK?

sorry if this will come out so unsolicited...i grew up with a mom who stressed out with maids as in every day na lang, bwisit sya.... I promised myself that I will not stress out over them no matter what. They will never be as smart as we want them to be..but you just hope they are trainable to meet your needs..in fact, i prefer to train maids from scratch because they don't have bad habits . Not worth to stress out..it just not worth affecting your state of mind. Take care of yourself, dear.

Homaygash, Frances! The nerve! :( Praying for you and your boys AND your yayas, too! Try not to be too stressed, OK? God bless!

Ikaw pala kasi... you weren't clear enough with your instructions! hahaha!

I guess it's the curse that comes with having kids, we have to deal with yayas of different kinds. Save for some who are heaven sent, challenge talaga makisama sa kanila! =)

Pero no choice, lalo na if you're a working mom...

Haha!!! Oo nga naman, ayaw nyang maging assuming at Baka lalo pa syang mapahamak. Good luck!

Hahaha! Eh ikaw naman pala Frances eh! hahaha!

Ewan ko na lang kung hindi ka mapa-anak niyan talaga sa pagkaloka! But anyways, you're right. Mahirap talaga magtrain. Si Wowa magaling diyan! Ako, I'm quite lenient kaya may tendency na ma-abuso.

Berto and Kwala, The Missus and Fleur, I know it's funny. Actually, natatawa rin ako nung kinukwento ko kay Vince. But I realized that it's laziness and disrespect that made her say that (and other stuff like that over the past 2 weeks) and it's really upset me.

I give them minimum wage (NCR rate). With SSS and health benefits. With unlimited food, drink, and good lodging. With toiletries (and the beauty products I give them are super nice!). With entire weekends off every week! Sana naman may konting pagmamalasakit at gratitude na isukli sila sa akin.

I'm so unhappy.

I know what you mean! :) Kaya ako, I learned to be very specific with instructions. Gone ata are those helpers who have 'kusa' most of the time they wait for specific instructions to be thrown at them before they work.

I have a suggestion - why don't you list down the things that they need to do? Make them read and then after they read - tell them to relay to you what they need to do? I have instructions printed and laminated so the helpers can read them through. This method works most of the time, but not all the time. You can give it a try!! :)

Good luck Frances!!

Oh my! Namilosopo pa siya!

I have the same sentiment as your Tita Noemi with wanting to train them from scratch. Kaya so far, the yayas who have done well are those who are below 20! My son's very first (who had no experience working as a yaya whatsoever) and my current (who has 1 working experience, but less than a year).

You have a really good compensation package for your yayas ha, considering all weekends off. I've been wanting to do that din, pero I sometimes work on Saturdays. So she usually gets parts of the weekend off when we're out with Matty and she just stays at home. Minsan we bring her para she gets to go out too. :)

It's just difficult that the power shifts in their favor when we can't do without them. Not yet, at least.

I can sympathize with what you're going through but naku you're about to give birth pa naman. For me, I give them a trial period before giving them all the benefits and more. Pero in the beginning, never-ending remind remind remind. There was one that took more than a year of forever reminding what to do. But she lasted for about 3 years so it was okay.

The other day I was just telling my mom na one of the benefits of living in the Philippines, as opposed to Western countries, is that we have maids and yayas to help us take care of our kids. And she's like, "Ano ka ba, it's so hard to look for a maid these days! And the ones who are willing to be maids are maarte and lazy." So I guess this proves what she said.

I feel for you, Frances. There are some helpers who may seem/are pilosopo and disrespectful. I have encountered several already. When I first started hiring helpers, I was very nice to them. My hubby thinks that I was actually TOO nice and perhaps, this made them too kampante. I was the one who was always stressed out! And then one day I decided that I couldn't be that way forever so I have learned though to draw a line between me as an employer and them. In this way, they will still have respect for me.

It's not so different from my good hearted (bless her) but kinda slow yaya whom I instructed to soak the beans for our dinner of ginisang munggo. I came home to find the munggo grew to have roots. I was so shocked and asked her: "Nakita mo bang nagiging togue na sila?" "Hindi naman natin first time magluto ng ginisang munggo diba, alam mo na hindi sila dapat maging togue?", to all of which she answered a humble "Opo". "So, bakit mo nga bang di tinanggal ang tubig?" She answered: "Wala po kasi kayong sinabi sakin". I didn't know whether to laugh or bang my head against the wall...

Hi Ms. Frances, ibang helpers talaga parang de-turnilyo, you really need to tell them exactly ano ang gagawin nila. Kasi kung magaling na silang helpers and may common sense eh hindi na sila sa pinas nagwowork kundi baka abroad na :-)take care!

Uh! I feel you, I've trained a few yayas/maids already and each and everyone has a flaw. I realized in order for me to not get stressed is to work along with them coz they won't be as good as I want them to be. In this case, I need to settle with the least irritating one. I'm super used to not having a helper just like you but now that I'm pregnant with my second and my toddler Gabbie is super likot, my husband suggested we get one. Ayun, so far so good. Lahat na ng helpers na-experience ko but the most irritating one that I can't stand eh yun sumasagot at nagdadabog! True enough na no matter how nice you are eh kung talagang ganun ugali nila eh ganun talaga which is such a hassle. Kaya I make sure no more Mrs. Nice Girl for me, balance is the key pay may mali na ginawa punahin para di lumaki ulo at pay maganda nagawa, commend for a job well done. :)

yaya's are too much to handle..nkakastress tlaga sila and the more that they stay with you over familiarity will be your next issue. My husband said you should treat yaya civil only not too strict that they might backfire on your kids, and not too confident and showy that you like them or they might end up being spoiled. I once had this nanny of my son who stayed for almost 3 yrs she's good and i still want her back before. I gave her good compensation, bonus etc etc kaya lang nagsasawa rin sila .she made up a reason that her mom was sick and all i even offered my help for medication but still she wanted to leave. after few months found out that she just look for another employer. Sad by that's life. I need to give up work because I cannot find another nanny that I can trust. So goodluck frances to your new yaya as long as your there to guide them im sure everything will work out fine.

hahaha! Winner sa sagot si Yaya. Patience na lang Ms. Frances. It's not healthy for you...Positive na lang tayo na mas okay sana sila compared dun sa dati. :)

stress!! but manage your expectations frances and what i learned from my mom, make a list of all their responsibilities. my mom made a list of what to do in the morning, afternoon and evening. my mom once also made a meal plan for the cook para di paulit-ulit ang ulam. for the day- offs our help doesn't have fixed days but they can go on a day off when they want to.

sometimes you need to be very specific with certain people pero minsan pag swerte, you get maids who are smart naman who know what they need to do.

i wish you luck with your new yaya and i do hope she shapes up otherwise, kung di na rin naman sya nakakatulong, babay na. think about it if it were any other ordinary job, pag di pasa sa evaluation, byebye na diba? sila rin.

good luck! good luck!!

Hi Frances, I enjoyed reading about your yaya sentiments. All I can say is just pick your battle. My mother takes care of my baby once in a while (we cannot afford nanny here). I'll give her instructions but she does not follow it. When I told her not to watch t.v. too much because it adversely affect the development of baby, she takes it badly. I just let it all go. I just focus on the positive and the necessities.

I was just thinking about the life of a maid. It is probably difficult. Even I get burnt out with my 8 hour a day work. Their work is longer. Most of the maids here in the US are just 8 hour per day. Maybe if maids in the Philippines are just 8 hour a day, it would be better for all? Just a thought. I also think that weekend off is a necessity for everyone.

natawa ako! haha sorry :D

i guess some people need to have everything spelled out for them. good luck in training your yayas and I hope you don't get too stressed out. take care of yourself and wiggle! :)

"Kaya nga siya ang katulong at ikaw ang amo" - my tita always says this when we have maid/yaya stories like yours. It sounds mean, I know, but I thought about it more, and I think she has a point.

My family has been in the middle of some maid woes, too. The 2nd to the last one borrowed money from my mother, left with a promise to pay and, well, no surprise there, still hasn't paid yet. The thing is, she also borrowed money from our other maid. My mom has given up on the money owed to her, but still wants her to pay back the other maid, because kawawa naman.

Then the new one who replaced her went on her day off and never came back. And I feel guilty because my mom didn't want her to go on her day off because she had a history of coming back days late. But I told my mom to let her go anyway, because I thought it was the right thing to do to let her have her day off. Ayan. Hindi na bumalik. Haaaaay.

Hi Frances! Ang hirap talaga maghanap ng yaya. To think, ang daming walang trabaho sa Pinas pero ang dami ding ayaw ng trabaho! My old yaya left mid of April, the one I'm with now is the third na kapalit nya. Imagine that, in less than a month I've had 3 yayas already. Like you this is my first time to train a yaya. The one I've had before galing sa mom ko kaya medyo trained na and she's very smart, I guess. May kusa sa gawain and very good with my daughter. Kaya ang hirap humanap ng kapalit. Our yaya now I'm hoping is THE ONE. So far so good. I wish you luck with your new yaya. Btw, my dad is like your dad he always says na kung matalino yun di magkakatulong kaya kailangan parating sabihan ng mga kailangan nilang gawin. Kaya lang stress drilon talaga!