Servant Maid problems at Metros

Few days back I get a frantic call from my wife saying that the house maid working in our house has refused to work henceforth and wanted to know if I had the number of the agency we had dealt with earlier for getting a new servant maid since it is next to impossible to get a maid within the locality in a day or two. Advent of IT companies nearby has taken a toll on the house owners with respect to getting a reliable and a good maid with a reasonable salary. Thereby most house owners have to bow down to the unreasonable demands of these servant maids in the event they work at your place. This incident took place at my home in Chennai few months back and I was surprised with the kind of demands and conditions being put forth by the maid who had come for the job. Some of the demands were never heard off in earlier days such as, the moment she comes home she should be provided with a glass of milk and during the lunch time she would have the same food being eaten by us …not the leftover of the earlier meal and so forth. In the present times of raising cost each family tries to curtail additional expenses but just imagine the amount being spent on the servant in addition to her salary which is not cheap. On an average for a two bedroom house a servant these days charge over Rs 3000 for doing all the work such as dusting for name sake, sweeping, mopping, cleaning utensil and washing clothes and adding to the milk and food it easily drains Rs 4000 per month. This does not end here for they require a bonus during the festival such as Diwali or Pongal and when you question them why then they immediately tell you that I get a bonus from the company I work for and similarly they need to also get paid.

Well my wife was desperate for a maid as she was feeling the strain of doing the entire house work and especially with ground floor and first floor to be cleaned each day hence she agreed to most of the terms put forth by the maid and also a salary of Rs 5500 because of a larger house. All seemed well for few days and then starts the bickering for more salary as the work load is high and so forth and to force the issue take few days off from work till the housewife is at end of her wits and agree for a raise of minimum Rs 250. Few days later similar story occurs just prior to the day of the salary but when my wife refused then servant maid stated that she is not willing to work from the next day and she wants her settlement.

The process of looking out for a reliable servant again starts and after considerable time she get one servant who now demands Rs 6000 as starting salary….and she get its as my wife is unable to manage on her own. The demand for a reliable servant is immense but then you are hardly able to find one since most of these servants have taken up jobs in housekeeping companies because of easy work, good salary and other perks there and are usual assigned to work in the IT industry that has bloomed in last few years in the vicinity.

This phenomenon is quite common in most Metros these days and it is very difficult to get a good and an honest servant maid. I remember of the times when servant maids used to come home twice a day, never demand for any additional drinks or food and would be happy to take the leftover food to their home and also work in the same house hold for ages but then such maid are few in these times and their number is dwindling fast. 

Do you all face similar issues??