Finally got a maid….well a part-time one at least

So it seems EVERYONE out here has maids.  Often they are live-in maids and sometimes people have more than one.  Seriously.  I’m not sure why two maids are needed and I’ve asked a few people exactly WHAT a maid does ALL day, every day (minus 1 or 2 days off a week) and it’s a variety of answers.  There duties can include:  cleaning, child-watching, cooking, laundry, ironing and probably more. 

I was just looking for someone to clean for a few hours a week and I found someone.

She was supposed to arrive at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and she contacted me to let me know that she would be there at 2:00 p.m.  I wasn’t pleased.  I texted her back to let her know I was “disappointed she would not be there at the scheduled time, but I would see her at 2:00 p.m.”  I really didn’t want to lose my Saturday by hanging out for the maid, but it is what it is.

Then, at 2:15 I get a text telling me that she is still cleaning at someone else’s house and would have to come on another day.  Seriously?  I wasn’t pleased.  I also wasn’t sure why she was STILL cleaning at someone else’s house when she was supposed to be at mine that morning.  Argh!

Not a good start. 

But, I liked her when I met her.  Her price was right and I was willing to give it a chance and hope that her cleaning skills made up for her lack of timeliness. 

I researched how to handle maids out here and found that several people recommend making a detailed list on what you want them to do and to explain how you like things cleaned and what products to use.

I can handle lists.

Here’s what I had waiting for her:

Everything was labeled with what it should be used for too. 

Then there was my list:

I figured it was doable in 4 hours.  Apparently I am overly-ambitious.

She arrived 40 minutes later than I was expecting due to traffic (or whatever). 

She was near-giddy with my list and my organization of items laid out.  I suppose it helps for everyone to be on the same page about expectations, right?

She commented that the villa was very big and she would see how things went.  She spent 4 hours just doing the downstairs and our master bathroom upstairs.  She was VERY thorough.  She cleaned better than I would’ve.  I was thrilled!  She vacuumed nooks & crannies.  She wiped down windows, dusted everything.  Ahhhhh – the place looked fantastic. 

She came back today and spent another 4 hours doing 4 more bathrooms and bedrooms and mopping and mopping and sweeping and dusting the two floors.  I decided to send out my ironing and to just fold laundry myself so she didn’t have to worry about that.  The house looks sooooo great!

She’s going to be coming back once a week for four hours to do the whole house.  I figure the first time always takes longer to get it started.  I didn’t feel like I was living in squalor or anything, but you don’t realize how NOT clean your house is until after a maid leaves and it looks and smells so nice! 

This is one perk I’m going to enjoy while living here.  The cost:  25 dirhams per hour.  So…..for 8 hours of cleaning – my cost was 200 dirhams or $54.  Ohhhhh Yeahhhhhhhh.