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People are always complaining that good help can’t be found. Others can’t find work. Sooooo?
below their pay grade
They do, but generally not Boro Parky type people. I have several friends who have done it and they actually enjoyed it.
I personally would be afraid to do it because I would hate if someone thought I stole something because they lost it, which is apparently very common.
In Israel they do.
babysitting most of the times is just them sitting around, cleaning is cleaning
from your op it sounded like you were asking about adults, now you’re talking about teenagers, teenagers don’t like to clean
Why don’t boys work as babysitters and generally only girls do?
yes,
some cleaning ladies do
I think my shvigger likes to clean. I like the satisfaction of seeing a mess transform into order, through my efforts and talent. But I hate to ‘clean’ because it never lasts.
To answer the OP: Some people feel that a job cleaning is somehow beneath them. Some people wouldn’t want Jewish cleaning help because they would feel guilty asking a Jewish lady to do some of the things that they ask their non-Jewish cleaning help to do.
I agree. I don’t think it’s right. But some people do it anyway.
BTW, I’m my own cleaning lady. Sometimes I wish I could fire myself.
If you read the classic “How the other half lives” – it appears that 100 years ago there were a group of non-Jewish (primarily Irish) women who sole parnassah was working as domestics on Saturday to fill in for the Jewish domestics who didn’t work Shabbos, but worked the other six days. But that was over a century ago.
But wages and opportunities went up, and most Jews (and Irish) in America went into lines of work that pay much better. At the same time the minimum wage priced most domestics out of a job, and people switched to using tech rather than hiring domestics.
When my daughter was in college, she found the only work she could do was clean houses – she didn’t mind and made great money.
In Jerusalem, most buildings are cleaned by men (on Friday) who are kollel yungerleit.
There is a wonderful cleaning “man” in Israel, who makes a terrific living cleaning all day. He goes from house to house, a different street a day. (He is frum)
There are frum cleaning women in Israel – they make great money. Often supplementing a job with benefits.
I cleaned houses when I was a teenager – it paid more than babysitting.
teenagers don’t like to clean
All three of my girls cleaned houses on Fridays during their HS years. They financed their post-HS trip back to the U.S. that way.
Why don’t boys work as babysitters and generally only girls do?
I babysat back in my HS years, in addition to cutting lawns and shoveling snow. As a babysitter, I earned a grand total of $1 an hour, which was the going rate back then. I knew several boys who babysat.
I earned a grand total of $1 an hour, which was the going rate back then.
As a member of the “greatest generation” I salute you for your service to this nation during the Second World War.
As a member of the “greatest generation” I salute you for your service to this nation during the Second World War.
Thanks, you made me laugh. It wasn’t quite that long ago.
RebYidd – I could not agree more strongly that all people have the right to be respected as such. Jewish or not, all people are created in Hashem’s image. I have written many times in the CR to protect and defend this very Jewish perspective.
I do want to point out, however, that for many people it is natural to identify more closely with another Jew than with others. Our common identity as Jews creates a unique bond that traverses all other borders. Additionally, nearly all Jews are actually direct relatives within, say, ten generations or so. In a community that is so conscious of its heritage, this is not considered a distant connection.
Of course, regardless of identity, I would never treat another person in a demeaning way, let alone tell her to do something beneath human dignity. Nevertheless, I would feel uncomfortable having a relative work as my cleaning help, and it is understandable to have a similar sentiment towards all Jews, who are, after all, family.
Catch Yourself: thank you for your wise way of treating this delicate subject.
We feel that it is beneath our collective dignity as the “sons and daughters of the King” (Hashem).
But how is it beneath one’s dignity to do honest work? And if, after all, SOMEONE has to do it, then what’s wrong with doing it yourself?
Keep in mind the babysitting aspect of cleaning. If a mother has a child (or more) at home, then in order to work they need to pay a babysitter. In that case, it would not be worth it to take a cleaning job as the rate is pretty much the same as babysitting.
The people who don’t have young kids tend to be older in which case they might not want the physical labor of cleaning all day.
Maybe Jews lack cleaning skills. Or maybe the premise of your question is wrong.
With cleaning ladies so common in frum homes, people may never learn how to do a good cleaning job. I respect the work they do when they do a thorough job.
bec. its easier and more economically worthwhile to get Section 8, medicaid, food stamps, WIC, free cell phones, free cash (welfare), head start, vouchers, disabiliy SSI and EITC by not working than by working in this SOCIALIST/MARXIST paradise called America.
i have no problem cleaning for others for pay. I am an honest hard working mother. I feel sorry for the women who would talk about me, or look down on me. I personally think someone who would do that, they are missing a piece to their puzzle pictures.,
karl,
you need to earn money to get eitc hence the ei in eitc
I work hard enough in MY house, thank you very much!
rebyidd,
i need to get THOSE numbers, someone that a cleaning lady trusts to clean their house while they’re away must be good and honest
At age 24 i spent about 6 months cleaning houses after having been discharged from the IDF with an injury. May not have been ideal but working 10-12 hours a day paid the bills…mostly.
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