The clash of cultures has been brought home to me in a more chilling manner.
Do you know how all the spectators in the stadium are managers and players, and that they can do the man’s job twice as good on the grass, even with the beer belly in one hand, the nachos in the other, bad back and all?
This time I would not be an employee in my house, now I would have people working for me. I have had managing and supervisory experience before. And yet, the hardest is managing house staff, hands down. When my wife and I returned with baby back from the States a month ago, we thought that yeah, we were glad to be going back to Kathmandu, but the staff is going to be a pain. That was true, and it was always from the same source.
That would be the didi, the person mainly responsible for our kids. We have got a terrific driver, a person who cleans, but it’s the one with the biggest responsibility who has failed us the most. It’s more safe to say we failed each other. My dad was a union organizer, and I have become something like a Walmart Manager here.
...
Let’s see…didi number five quit this morning. Too bad I didn’t write this last night, I actually still had hopes of keeping her. These didis are doing nothing wrong. They have children and babies like we do, and it’s in their best interest that they do well with them. They are experienced with children and give children a status that we no longer remember in the west. They adore their children and yours, too.
Their only mistake is that they can’t please us, the parents. Not true, Liebi will say. The last didi let a diaper rash grow on the oldest, one the size of a glove. Out. Thanks for the memories. That was the only one she fired, I did in the first four. One before that stole from us. Boot. The first two formed a union together the first day on the job. They would drive up their salary demands and do this together, united against me. That union lasted about two weeks before it was smashed by yours truly. You only have so much say in things if your work is only half-assed. It’s a funny thing with children: they will like you or they won’t. And our son didn’t like either. He could tell they didn’t care about him. He contributed heavily to the firings. I didn’t need much convincing. Bye, bye Union. Never gave them a chance. Go get ’em, Walmart. Go Yankees.
I have also learned that you must not ever overpay people. That's when people start quitting on you. It took me a while to figure that out. That said, I am not cheap and pay them better than most. If they need vacation or leave, take it. Sick? Stay home, how much is the medicine or the doctor's visit? No problem. I am sure most of them don't like working for me, although they at some time will appreciate it. I am not cruel to people, but I will be firm if that is what is needed. Liebi was so mad at a didi that she cried after seeing the aforementioned diaper rash on Axl's rear. That dismissal goes to her. I definitely got the other four.
I remember my younger brother, and I used to have this game we used to play starring…ostriches. I have no damn clue how I came up with that. My brother was the tyrant and fought to suppress all ostriches. Any suspicion he had, whack, hack, let there be blood. The ostriches couldn’t do a darn thing, because even with all their courage and fighting spirit, that and a pea-sized brain will only get you so far against machine guns, tanks, and bombs. My brother reinvented the word terror in his gallant struggle against the ostriches. In a way, I have become that tyrant and stuck it to the ostriches.
What my staff also knows, though, is that I want better for them. At the rate they were going, they were going to remain hundred dollar a month nannies and house cleaners in the far future. They are worth more than that now, because they have learned many things, about doing things the right way in our house.
Laundry.
Hygiene.
Cooking.
Organizing.
Managing.
That's the word.
Do you know how all the spectators in the stadium are managers and players, and that they can do the man’s job twice as good on the grass, even with the beer belly in one hand, the nachos in the other, bad back and all?
This time I would not be an employee in my house, now I would have people working for me. I have had managing and supervisory experience before. And yet, the hardest is managing house staff, hands down. When my wife and I returned with baby back from the States a month ago, we thought that yeah, we were glad to be going back to Kathmandu, but the staff is going to be a pain. That was true, and it was always from the same source.
That would be the didi, the person mainly responsible for our kids. We have got a terrific driver, a person who cleans, but it’s the one with the biggest responsibility who has failed us the most. It’s more safe to say we failed each other. My dad was a union organizer, and I have become something like a Walmart Manager here.
...
Let’s see…didi number five quit this morning. Too bad I didn’t write this last night, I actually still had hopes of keeping her. These didis are doing nothing wrong. They have children and babies like we do, and it’s in their best interest that they do well with them. They are experienced with children and give children a status that we no longer remember in the west. They adore their children and yours, too.
Their only mistake is that they can’t please us, the parents. Not true, Liebi will say. The last didi let a diaper rash grow on the oldest, one the size of a glove. Out. Thanks for the memories. That was the only one she fired, I did in the first four. One before that stole from us. Boot. The first two formed a union together the first day on the job. They would drive up their salary demands and do this together, united against me. That union lasted about two weeks before it was smashed by yours truly. You only have so much say in things if your work is only half-assed. It’s a funny thing with children: they will like you or they won’t. And our son didn’t like either. He could tell they didn’t care about him. He contributed heavily to the firings. I didn’t need much convincing. Bye, bye Union. Never gave them a chance. Go get ’em, Walmart. Go Yankees.
I have also learned that you must not ever overpay people. That's when people start quitting on you. It took me a while to figure that out. That said, I am not cheap and pay them better than most. If they need vacation or leave, take it. Sick? Stay home, how much is the medicine or the doctor's visit? No problem. I am sure most of them don't like working for me, although they at some time will appreciate it. I am not cruel to people, but I will be firm if that is what is needed. Liebi was so mad at a didi that she cried after seeing the aforementioned diaper rash on Axl's rear. That dismissal goes to her. I definitely got the other four.
I remember my younger brother, and I used to have this game we used to play starring…ostriches. I have no damn clue how I came up with that. My brother was the tyrant and fought to suppress all ostriches. Any suspicion he had, whack, hack, let there be blood. The ostriches couldn’t do a darn thing, because even with all their courage and fighting spirit, that and a pea-sized brain will only get you so far against machine guns, tanks, and bombs. My brother reinvented the word terror in his gallant struggle against the ostriches. In a way, I have become that tyrant and stuck it to the ostriches.
What my staff also knows, though, is that I want better for them. At the rate they were going, they were going to remain hundred dollar a month nannies and house cleaners in the far future. They are worth more than that now, because they have learned many things, about doing things the right way in our house.
Laundry.
Hygiene.
Cooking.
Organizing.
Managing.
That's the word.
0 comments