Time to give the house an intensive cleaning. A guy I know said his sister could clean the house for me. Ok. Today she showed up with an eight year old in tow. "When is the baby due?" "I have five children." You know, I just realized she is just really fat; I am glad her English isn't very good.
Within five minutes they had moved two convertible couches, a dining table, six chairs and two end tables onto the deck. A big bucket, one of those stringy mops I hate in the absence of a wringer bucket the woman mopped like her life depended on, passed it to the kid who would take it outside and wring it out so that the dirty water wouldn't mix with the soapy clear water. There, that didn't take long. The kid brushed off and washed all the chairs and the table while mother washed dishes in a cooler (I have no running water). Scrub down the kitchen counters. Attack the bathroom. "You need a woman to take care of you at all times." "I know." "I have no husband." Oops, you are not my type and you have five kids.
Mop the entire deck all the way around the house. Sort out groceries, make smoothies. She kept flirting with me the whole time.
It was a whirlwind of activity for four hours. I was so pleased I offered her a twenty, at prevailing Panamanian wages this was worth about six dollars for the half day for the woman but the kid had been busting his ass so make twelve. Whatever, here, have a tip.
Then things got strange. She told me her usual rate was $160 but she would only charge me $100. What the fuck? Then she went down to $80 and told me she would give me a discount on the next job. Is this a joke? Ok, fifty but that's the lowest I can go. Then we argued for half an hour, Tito her brother was telling me that it's the time its the size of the house and this is a really big house. My house is 800 square feet. I have a friend with 3,500 square foot house that pays $12 to get it cleaned and the woman works for eight hours. "Ok, I'll take the $20 today, you can pay me the rest tomorrow when I come to clean out the refrigerator." Look crazy, you are not coming back.
As they departed she was yelling and screaming at Tito all the way down to the boat. I could hear her
Within five minutes they had moved two convertible couches, a dining table, six chairs and two end tables onto the deck. A big bucket, one of those stringy mops I hate in the absence of a wringer bucket the woman mopped like her life depended on, passed it to the kid who would take it outside and wring it out so that the dirty water wouldn't mix with the soapy clear water. There, that didn't take long. The kid brushed off and washed all the chairs and the table while mother washed dishes in a cooler (I have no running water). Scrub down the kitchen counters. Attack the bathroom. "You need a woman to take care of you at all times." "I know." "I have no husband." Oops, you are not my type and you have five kids.
Mop the entire deck all the way around the house. Sort out groceries, make smoothies. She kept flirting with me the whole time.
It was a whirlwind of activity for four hours. I was so pleased I offered her a twenty, at prevailing Panamanian wages this was worth about six dollars for the half day for the woman but the kid had been busting his ass so make twelve. Whatever, here, have a tip.
Then things got strange. She told me her usual rate was $160 but she would only charge me $100. What the fuck? Then she went down to $80 and told me she would give me a discount on the next job. Is this a joke? Ok, fifty but that's the lowest I can go. Then we argued for half an hour, Tito her brother was telling me that it's the time its the size of the house and this is a really big house. My house is 800 square feet. I have a friend with 3,500 square foot house that pays $12 to get it cleaned and the woman works for eight hours. "Ok, I'll take the $20 today, you can pay me the rest tomorrow when I come to clean out the refrigerator." Look crazy, you are not coming back.
As they departed she was yelling and screaming at Tito all the way down to the boat. I could hear her
Did you find that passport though?
ReplyDelete~Wendy Lowman