Maid Returned from Day Off Drunk

[Solicitor General]

Soliciting advice, opinions and experience...

The Facts:
* Our Maid (Filipina) came home tonight drunk and promptly threw up in the toilet before essentially passing out in her room.

* She has been with us for 4+ months. She is good to very good with our little one, but not terribly impressive with cleaning, food, etc. We get frustrated from time to time with her inability to keep the house reasonably clean (spent most of Sunday cleaning ourselves before she got home). We are hardly demanding on this point, but it seems clear we should have been.

* In general, we like her and felt before tonight that she was teachable wrt the house and the safety of our child.

* Our little one--12-18 mos--is fond of her. We appreciate much of the care she has given towards the little one.

* She gets a day off every other week, although we had considered moving that to every week to help her get more rest.

* Our place is small and easy to clean. However, it can get cluttered rather quickly on account of our other kids.

* The little one can be demanding late into the night before sleep finally takes hold. We have often felt that her time management skills were rather weak and she has not made any effort to improve her situation so that she can carve out more down time. finally sleeps.

Thanks for your feedback,
SG

[Shiitake]

So? Its her day off... as long as it doesnt impact what she does in your house, why do you care?

I get drunk at night and on weekends too, but they dont fire me for that...

[eh?]

Solicitor General.....

What's your point? If she was drunk at work, I could see why you might be concerned. But she wasn't.

[dutchess]

SG. No offence, but it sounds to me like you would like to replace her anyway and you're merely using this drunken episode as an excuse. Be honest about it. If you're not happy with her, get another girl. Seems to me you're not a really good match? That's not a big drama. Happens all the time.

[denial]

hey, get off your bum and do some house work yourself. you seem to know better about house-cleaning etc that the 'expert' you hired - shows you have more experience .stop whinging. and why not set up a cleaning service of your own.

[Lousy Boss]

"The little one can be demanding late into the night before sleep finally takes hold."

So what time does the maid start in the morning to be working late into the night.

If I had such a crappy boss, I'd be getting drunk too.

You criticize her work behind her back and clean on Sundays before she gets home.  Sounds like you have absolutely no teaching or supervisory skills.

Oh, and what she does on her day off is none of your business.

[General Solicitor]

And the moral of the story is

Don't bother posting here, we're all so bleedin self rightous to even consider employing staff.

[Lousy Boss]

"And the moral of the story is - Don't bother posting here"

Yes, that's right. Especially if you can't handle the answers.

Here is the response you want -

"Yes.  You are right.  The maid is a slutty, alcoholic devil.  You have made the right decision.  Fire her immediately before she kills your kids.  There are much better maids out there."

You don't need anyone's permission to get rid of your maid.

[kd]

I think your next move somewhat depends on what she does this morning.  If she acts as if this behaviour is normal then you can be assured that it will happen again, so you will have to decide whether or not that is acceptable to you.  Then again, she may be incredibly apologetic and there may be some reason for her behaviour, in which case you may want to put it behind you.  Our maid came home drunk once after we received a call from the police as she'd been found asleep on a bench in Orchard Road.  Apparently she had broken up with her girlfriend (it had been a serious relationship for 3 years.) She was very apologetic but she still had to work the next day!  We all know what it's like working with a hangover; it didn't ever happen again.

[Expect More]

Expect more of the same. Do you need some alco nutcase looking after your house and your kids?  Transfer her to some other poor sap. Hopefully one of these losers who posted above will get her!

[Aliya]

First you need to decide what you want to do with her.

BUT more importantly, why is she involved in getting your child to sleep at night?   I think you need to prioritise what you want her for.  Looking after a child while you are at work - fine.  But at night when you are home?

[pu dniw]

Hey, isn't today Monday, not Friday?

[oh lord]

I second kd and Aliya.

You can tell her that you werent too impressed with the drunken episode and will not tolerate too many of them. You need to let her know how you feel about her behaviour and standard of work. If she cant abide by your rules then you will both need to think of what you would like to do next.  After all, she is working for you in your house. If she is making you unhappy then time to rethink your next step.

I have young kids at home and my husband and I dont come home absolutely pissed sp personally, I will not be too happy to have my maid staggering home, pissed drunk and chucking. This are one of the things that I tell them when I did the interviews. So they know what is acceptable and what is not IN MY HOUSE. Thats just me... and if they arent happy about it, they dont have to work for me.

[Attorney General]

Getting drunk is not a crime here.  Just make sure she's not driving your car when she's drinking.

[drinker]

Agree with some others above. It was her day off.

I have a drink at nights and weekends. Goodness, I even passed out in a taxi once.  Did I get sacked...no

The cleaning thing is a separate issue.  Maybe she doesnt realise and your standards are higher than hers.

Surely the way she looks afte your kid is more important that the cleanliness of your house?