Yaya Diaries...
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I somehow ended up with 4 maids. Two yayas and two house maids. Yaya 1 took a month off to get married, so we had a replacement maid (just in case she couldn't come back or decided to get pregnant- she came back and is not yet pregnant). Yaya 2 is the SIL of yaya 1. Maid 3 is a cook we got from an agency because neither Yaya 1 or 2 or replacement maid (who is now Maid 4) know how to cook. So in June after vacations and all that, we ended up with 4 maids. In a regular sized house. Plus a driver.
Can you imagine the menu in our house every meal? 5 adult staff. And only 2 of us with 2 kids.
I knew I couldn't keep all 4 maids. So I had to find a way to let Maid 4 go. Offer a transfer to my cousin, who found her for me in the first place. Well, as it turns out Maid 4 was 2 months PREGNANT when she applied for a job with us. She only told me last month. I was noticing that her tummy was getting big, but there was so much going on in our house that it slipped my mind to ask her. After all, we already had a PREGNANT COOK last March. What were the possibilities of this happening again within a year? Oh I forgot to mention that Maid 4 has three tattoos. I took her in because I thought she deserved a second chance (so what if she probably worked at a bar in Pasay).
Well, I couldn't dismiss a pregnant girl and send her off to the streets. Everyone advised me not to keep her. Anyway to make a long story short, we are sending her home tomorrow. I'm paying her salary for the next 3 months. Imagine she's only been with us for 5 months. Her concern is if I could take her back after she gives birth. She is leaving her baby in the province. This is her second child with the same guy. Long sad love story... I told her I would help her find work after she gives birth. I can't have 4 maids again. I actually really only need 2. But we are still in the process of phasing out Sophia's yaya.
It's payday today. It takes me a long time to do payroll. Yeah, payroll for running a house which I am so hands on doing anyway. I grew up with no maids in Canada. How did I end up with four? I only need help with laundry, cooking and cleaning. I feed my kids when we eat together and I even give them their baths (not everyday now that I have 2 kids, but when I had just one I did). I know how to drive and only decided to get a driver last year because my husband noticed I was developing too much unnecessary stress. Maids...I can't live with them but I can't live without them.
We tried to professionalize our system. We contribute to their SSS and give 13th month pay. But why do they still treat us like we are their padrinos? I'm tired of cash advances, sad stories of cousins falling off trees and motorbikes being pawned off. My monthly food budget is out of control.
I used to have just one maid who did everything! She was with us for more than five years. But it turned out that her husband/bf was a fugitive wanted for murder in their province. And I learned that she let her guy stay in our house while we were away.
.
I somehow ended up with 4 maids. Two yayas and two house maids. Yaya 1 took a month off to get married, so we had a replacement maid (just in case she couldn't come back or decided to get pregnant- she came back and is not yet pregnant). Yaya 2 is the SIL of yaya 1. Maid 3 is a cook we got from an agency because neither Yaya 1 or 2 or replacement maid (who is now Maid 4) know how to cook. So in June after vacations and all that, we ended up with 4 maids. In a regular sized house. Plus a driver.
Can you imagine the menu in our house every meal? 5 adult staff. And only 2 of us with 2 kids.
I knew I couldn't keep all 4 maids. So I had to find a way to let Maid 4 go. Offer a transfer to my cousin, who found her for me in the first place. Well, as it turns out Maid 4 was 2 months PREGNANT when she applied for a job with us. She only told me last month. I was noticing that her tummy was getting big, but there was so much going on in our house that it slipped my mind to ask her. After all, we already had a PREGNANT COOK last March. What were the possibilities of this happening again within a year? Oh I forgot to mention that Maid 4 has three tattoos. I took her in because I thought she deserved a second chance (so what if she probably worked at a bar in Pasay).
Well, I couldn't dismiss a pregnant girl and send her off to the streets. Everyone advised me not to keep her. Anyway to make a long story short, we are sending her home tomorrow. I'm paying her salary for the next 3 months. Imagine she's only been with us for 5 months. Her concern is if I could take her back after she gives birth. She is leaving her baby in the province. This is her second child with the same guy. Long sad love story... I told her I would help her find work after she gives birth. I can't have 4 maids again. I actually really only need 2. But we are still in the process of phasing out Sophia's yaya.
It's payday today. It takes me a long time to do payroll. Yeah, payroll for running a house which I am so hands on doing anyway. I grew up with no maids in Canada. How did I end up with four? I only need help with laundry, cooking and cleaning. I feed my kids when we eat together and I even give them their baths (not everyday now that I have 2 kids, but when I had just one I did). I know how to drive and only decided to get a driver last year because my husband noticed I was developing too much unnecessary stress. Maids...I can't live with them but I can't live without them.
We tried to professionalize our system. We contribute to their SSS and give 13th month pay. But why do they still treat us like we are their padrinos? I'm tired of cash advances, sad stories of cousins falling off trees and motorbikes being pawned off. My monthly food budget is out of control.
I used to have just one maid who did everything! She was with us for more than five years. But it turned out that her husband/bf was a fugitive wanted for murder in their province. And I learned that she let her guy stay in our house while we were away.
.