Sunday, September 2, 2007

Living Loving Maid

I am starting the search for a housekeeper. The environment here calls for at least one and probably two more staff people to properly cover the service standards. This will be a challenge for me. While I have participated in the hiring process at a company level, this will be my first foray into hiring for a home.

This is one of the training gaps in the Starkey curriculum. We were given plenty of training in formal dining preparation and service, the "Ballet of Service", (see me in my penguin costume); however, the training and roll playing for the hiring of new staff was woefully small in comparison.

I am learning that job and work expectations are very different for domestic workers and their employees. This is particularly true when dealing with immigrant workers. My middle-class expectations for what a work day or work week looks like do not necessarily apply to this niche. I do not mean to suggest my principals, or I by extension, will be unfair. I will just have to be careful to find the balance that offers the workers dignity and balance to their job with the need to get the job done to the service levels of my principals. Sounds easy…right?

By the way, you have to love pulling out Led Zeppelin once in a while. Now I'll have that song going through my head all day. "Livin', lovin', she's just a woman…"

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