"Watchy" average pay

[william webster]

He didn't ask me, he asked 'El Patron' - Mr. AE. He never asks me anything. The maid only talks to me, rarely Mr. AE. And the watchman and the maid hate each other with a passion. Speaking of 'little DR mini-drama'.

AE, we had that little drama - the 'inside outside' battle lines.....

The inside lady lost and we hired the esposa of the outside..... you've never seen such 'inside/outside' cooperation
AND we get better work from the new woman.

Everybody was a winner.... the firee got severance and a new job..

Its complicated, but if you sever properly, everybody can be happy

Yes, expensive.... 3.5 yrs of 3 days a week... it was about 30,000 as I recall

 

[AlterEgo]

AE, we had that little drama - the 'inside outside' battle lines.....

The inside lady lost and we hired the esposa of the outside..... you've never seen such 'inside/outside' cooperation
AND we get better work from the new woman.

Everybody was a winner.... the firee got severance and a new job..

Its complicated, but if you sever properly, everybody can be happy

Yes, expensive.... 3.5 yrs of 3 days a week... it was about 30,000 as I recall

Glad it worked out for you, but not an option for us.

Maid is a 50-ish widow, and we like her a lot, and trust her implicitly. She's raising her granddaughter.

Caretaker has a wife with a perpetual sourpuss, I actually tried to hire her before the current maid. She showed up more or less on time, and said as a greeting "I'm here like you told me to be" - totally stonefaced. The washing machine had died that morning, so I told her we had a couple of things to be handwashed because the machine was broken, and her answer was "call the mechanic". We both really like the caretaker, he's honest and hardworking. How he lives with that woman is beyond me.

 

[Conchman]

Labor Laws always trump private contracts, in court. Especially if the gringo is being sued. You will be sued for way more than just the years and years of employment before you got there, it will be for working on Sundays that wasn't paid, overtime not paid, figure about 3 x to 5x the liquidation due, and start the calculation when he first started working many years ago. And dont' forget to add all the relatives that he's going to say also worked, farming for you (as you already admitted - getting eggs).

The other main problem is that the watchyman can legally own this house, if he lives there long enough rent free. There are some squatters rights and other laws that he could use to get title to his little house. Best case scenario, you will have to pay him a lot of money to leave, worst case scenario, you can't get rid of him, his family, his wrong doings, and you will get sued like crazy at the same time.

 

[AlterEgo]

The other main problem is that the watchyman can legally own this house, if he lives there long enough rent free. There are some squatters rights and other laws that he could use to get title to his little house.

EXACTLY the reason that Mr. AE will not let our caretaker build a house on our property.

 

[Mauricio]

Glad it worked out for you, but not an option for us.

Maid is a 50-ish widow, and we like her a lot, and trust her implicitly. She's raising her granddaughter.

Caretaker has a wife with a perpetual sourpuss, I actually tried to hire her before the current maid. She showed up more or less on time, and said as a greeting "I'm here like you told me to be" - totally stonefaced. The washing machine had died that morning, so I told her we had a couple of things to be handwashed because the machine was broken, and her answer was "call the mechanic". We both really like the caretaker, he's honest and hardworking. How he lives with that woman is beyond me.

Our last maid was a 50 something year old woman, who had a very difficult character. Picking her fights with our 7-year old son (who doesn't have the easiest character either). Her last act of character was when my wife had to go in a hurry, in front of the house, on our front garden the dog of the neighbor left a little present, that smelled like what it was and my wife asked her to remove that. She answered: Yo no recogo la mierda de nadie! Hazlo usted misma.

That was also her last day of work. The only bad thing is that she cooked well.

The one we have now gives a good impression, but today, since we did some remodeling, we needed her to clean throughly, she comes in the morning, asks for 1000 pesos to go walking to 'Pinturas' (about 30 minutes walk) to ask for a duplicate sim and new cellphone that was stolen. She left at 9.30 to pick that up. I leave as well and come back at 11.30, she is there, hasnt started cleaning, while it was 'VERY busy' in the claro office, I leave again and come back at 3. She is sleeping, hasnt cleaned a thing, says she is sick. I told me wife, she was so sick that she went walking to Pinturas to pick up her phone, let's fire her.

I wish we could do without those lazy, dumb, selfish, women and we are very close to do so. I am already thinking how I will make my office in 'el cuarto de servicio'.

I'll even iron my own shirts.

 

[Harleysrock]

Our maid is a HORRIBLE cleaner and came with the house as did her husband the gardener/pool guy etc. WE LOVE HIM! Fired her then brought her back on b/c it is so dirty in our house b/c of 8 animals and the beach so close....
Another huge reason I brought her back was b/c she SEE'S EVERYTHING and everyone and lives very close to us.

I thought for security reasons this was a smart idea, I didn't want to **** her off and she does make sure we pay fair prices for things where we go etc... She lied about a few things which annoyed me but I dealt with it.

They took great care of my wife while I was gone for 3 weeks and my wife tore a ligament. Him I trust more than anyone here, her not as much, so we are always home when she is cleaning our house. She does a lot for my wife and they go on trips together etc so I like that but......

..... if I could do it again I would NEVER AGAIN keep old help from previous owners!

I HATE having a maid but i hate sweeping, moping and cleaning bathrooms worse, so we are stuck with her!

 

[malko]

Im not a great fan of housekeeping, but after having several experiences with dominican maids, I comply.......l

Never had to pay severance---didint even know it existed to tell the truth. My wife ( dominican ) would just kind of give the bollocking of a life time and the maid never comes back. End of story.

Had a watchy to spend nights on the premises ( but not in the house). Old guy of 60 years of age, farmer. Have him round a week or so before I leave so the dogs get used to him. I explain to him that we wash dogs from time to time because we also use them as "company dogs". Who wants a smelly greeting when u get home??? Any way, I show him how to put the mussle(??)( thing that stops him biting), cos he is a big, mean dog thats not fond of water........
Leave for Sdq, hop on a plane to madrid, arrive in europe switch on phone:::: watchy tried to wash dog, result dog 1 human 0 and a broken arm.....
He thought I was going to pay for his medical stuff. Mi esposa : Wrong answer, no way and ure fired for not having obeyed instructions. No severance.

 

[dv8]

it is always best to leave dominicans deal with dominicans. so if the OP has a dominican husband she should give him a mission of getting rid of the guachiman.

 

[Mauricio]

it is always best to leave dominicans deal with dominicans. so if the OP has a dominican husband she should give him a mission of getting rid of the guachiman.

Yes, I agree. Like AE is saying somewhere in this thread, us foreigners tend to be too kind and don't want to be too busy, but it seems that's the only language they understand.

On the other hand I decided to make it my mission to make it work dealing with dominican employees. If I have to become as bossy as dominican bosses are, I want to learn that.

I sell paper for a living, sold a container to a client, who then complained he received less sheets than it should be, because they counted a few packages and there were 98 sheets instead of 100 in there. I went there, we counted a full pallet of sheets and it appeared some packages had 98 but others 103 or even 110. At the end there were more sheets than there should be on the pallet. I talked to the client about it and he apologized and called the guy who receives the paper in the warehouse and told him, while he was the one making the claim that there were too less sheets, he should now count all the pallets. That's about 250,000 sheets. Dominican bosses get away with that, I wonder what would happen if I try to make an employee do that.

 

[the gorgon]

Yes, I agree. Like AE is saying somewhere in this thread, us foreigners tend to be too kind and don't want to be too busy, but it seems that's the only language they understand.

On the other hand I decided to make it my mission to make it work dealing with dominican employees. If I have to become as bossy as dominican bosses are, I want to learn that.

I sell paper for a living, sold a container to a client, who then complained he received less sheets than it should be, because they counted a few packages and there were 98 sheets instead of 100 in there. I went there, we counted a full pallet of sheets and it appeared some packages had 98 but others 103 or even 110. At the end there were more sheets than there should be on the pallet. I talked to the client about it and he apologized and called the guy who receives the paper in the warehouse and told him, while he was the one making the claim that there were too less sheets, he should now count all the pallets. That's about 250,000 sheets. Dominican bosses get away with that, I wonder what would happen if I try to make an employee do that.

the words mamaguebo and hijo de puta spring to mind.

 

[Mauricio]

the words mamaguebo and hijo de puta spring to mind.

they call us that anyway

 

[caribmike]

"250,000 sheets"

Wow, poor guy. He will need a lot of batteries...

...for the calculator

 

[flyinroom]

We have recently moved onto a 7-acre property that already has a watchman. He and his family of 4 have a house just built, with plumbing, tenacity, inverter, etc. They use our land to graze their cow, donkeys, and chickens, plus get fruit and veggies from the well planted lot. We also pay their electric and cable. And we pay them a monthly wage. In exchange they keep us safe, walk the property daily, deliver us fruit and veggies, and occasionally a few eggs from their chickens. So aside from the home, electric, and land use, what would an appropriate monthly wage be? I ask because we do not like them, but have been told we are getting a great deal.

I don't think that the OP mentionned who the present owner is.
For all she/he knows the present owner has realized just how impossible it will be to divest himself of the situation (with the watchyman) and has decided to cut his own losses and run.
If there is a way to walk.....
Run.
It is never a good idea to take on somebody else's problems..
We make enough of our own.
I agree 100% with everybody who is talking about a type of "squatters' rights". They can be deadly.

 

[flyinroom]

"250,000 sheets"

Wow, poor guy. He will need a lot of batteries...

...for the calculator

lol...
Just think about the paper cuts.

 

[Conchman]

technically severance is not due for domestic workers, but if they can prove its a commercial enterprise, like even if just the house is in a company name, then they can win severance pay. This happened to a friend of mine in Cofresi, had maid for years, she asked for loan, they refused, she stopped coming to work, she says she was let go, claimed was let go for no reason, she claimed severance pay, Sunday pay, overtime pay, holiday pay,, they ended up paying 3 x the liquidation amount....house was in a company name.

 

[the gorgon]

technically severance is not due for domestic workers, but if they can prove its a commercial enterprise, like even if just the house is in a company name, then they can win severance pay. This happened to a friend of mine in Cofresi, had maid for years, she asked for loan, they refused, she stopped coming to work, she says she was let go, claimed was let go for no reason, she claimed severance pay, Sunday pay, overtime pay, holiday pay,, they ended up paying 3 x the liquidation amount....house was in a company name.

and i bet your friend was a gringo? do i win the bag of Cheese Doodles?