[wonkeydonkey]

Originally Posted by Temper Temper

I hope Deana doesn't treat her servants like this...

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.as...b112a&sectid=2

Awww. I'm sure she is considerate.

[SG-1]

I think most countries have adopted the servants tag at some point in history.
I still get angry that theres still butlers in this country,how damn lazy are some of these rich people...get off your arse and answer the door yourself you lazy sods.

I have no idea on the situation in India,I find their whole way of life just so confusing but I do take offense to the term servant as it conotes the employer as master.

[chrishart]

Sometimes having 'help' at your residence is often more about a status symbol than any real need for assistance...

[WhatJoeThinks]

Originally Posted by SG-1

I think most countries have adopted the servants tag at some point in history.
I still get angry that theres still butlers in this country,how damn lazy are some of these rich people...get off your arse and answer the door yourself you lazy sods.

I have no idea on the situation in India,I find their whole way of life just so confusing but I do take offense to the term servant as it conotes the employer as master.

Butlers in the UK are paid quite handsomely. Servants in India are give just enough to get by.

[KesGreen]

Originally Posted by flowers786

anyone can have a servant there.

Except, presumably, the poor servants.

[NaughtyNan]

Its probably like having babysitters and helpers in England. You pay for a service, what's wrong with it? As long as the workers are not mistreated there is nothing wrong with having servants.

[Reece_B]

My parents aren't even middle class and they still manage to afford a cleaner. No biggie, as stated.

[ligloo]

I've been lucky enough to live all over the world with my hubby's job. The allowance has included a maid. I've been fortunate enough to become good friends with most of them (mine really were preferable to most ex pats company) but have had my share of being robbed and duped by others. They got well paid for what I asked them to help me with (I used to freak out about tidying for the maid coming lol) but I had very young kids at the time and they were a godsend.

10 years later, one of them still writes to me and is desperate for me to bring her to the UK, I just can't, money or visa wise but I wish I could. She now works for an Indian family and feels very mistreated and did with her previous family in the UAE. I don't know whether its because I felt so privileged to have a maid and it's the norm in these countries or just the way they see them as help and not people.

For those saying people with maids are lazy, we're not all like that. It really is the case that if we hadn't employed them, then what would they do? I treated my 'maid' who became a friend, well and I know of many others who did too.

Just my tuppence worth on the subject!

[chrishart]

Originally Posted by Reece_B

My parents aren't even middle class and they still manage to afford a cleaner. No biggie, as stated.

Sounds more like laziness on your parent's part...

[ligloo]

Originally Posted by chrishart

Sounds more like laziness on your parent's part...

That's unfair! If 2 people work full time and have the means to pay someone to clean then that's up to them! Perhaps they'd rather spend time with their family than cleaning, ironing etc, I know I would.

[WhatJoeThinks]

Originally Posted by ligloo

That's unfair! If 2 people work full time and have the means to pay someone to clean then that's up to them! Perhaps they'd rather spend time with their family than cleaning, ironing etc, I know I would.

Without wishing to cast judgement on your parents, do you think the cleaner might prefer a more rewarding career, too? The problem with working in a highly-paid job while somebody else does ones menial chores is that it's self-reinforcing. If your parents, for example, did their own cleaning they wouldn't have the time to spend at work, and somebody else would have the opportunity to fill in that gap and be paid highly. Of course there are plenty of people who are simply not qualified to do the more lucrative jobs but in India it's more about not being given the opportunity. If your mother was a maid/servant you would be expected to be a servant. It's a vicious cycle.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by flowers786

deana said in her vt she had servants and i was wondering if people thought that she was really rich coz of that.

but in countries like india, servants are really cheap, they are probably the poorest workers.

anyone can have a servant there.

Ahh, I see.
That makes it all right then.

My concern was that Deana was rich.
So it comes as a great relief to me to find that she uses servants on a cheaper rate of pay.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by lightblues

The middle class have cleaners here.so no big deal at all really as long as no one is exploited

Well, it depends on what you define exploitation as.
There's levels of exploitation.
If you work for a company that you don't own then you're probably exploited at some level or other.

[stud u like]

Originally Posted by Veri

Far fewer people in this country can afford servants than used to be the case, because they aren't paid enough to afford what a servant would have to be paid. If servants are common in India, income differences must be much greater.

There is a very large gap betweeen rich and poor in India.

I could afford a huge house over there.

[Alrightmate]

Originally Posted by s15859

Yeah so true!! They are full of gossip, knowing everyone's business lol

I agree with the OP having servants in India is no biggie. It's pretty common

If something is common it doesn't by virtue make it right.

[stud u like]

Originally Posted by chrishart

Sounds more like laziness on your parent's part...

People who lead busy lives often don't have the time to clean so need to employ staff.

[mindyann]

Originally Posted by WhatJoeThinks

Without wishing to cast judgement on your parents, do you think the cleaner might prefer a more rewarding career, too? The problem with working in a highly-paid job while somebody else does ones menial chores is that it's self-reinforcing. If your parents, for example, did their own cleaning they wouldn't have the time to spend at work, and somebody else would have the opportunity to fill in that gap and be paid highly. Of course there are plenty of people who are simply not qualified to do the more lucrative jobs but in India it's more about not being given the opportunity. If your mother was a maid/servant you would be expected to be a servant. It's a vicious cycle.

Or perhaps it just fis in with their life for the moment. My mum used to be 'a lady wot does'. It fitted in with my school hours so she was at home when I was, it helped with the bills and mum actually enjoyed it (she has the cleaning gene which seems to have skipped a generation ).

When I got older, she went back to college, but she has never knocked being a cleaner, and I couldn't have cared less - all I knew was iit got me my Sindy bedroom furniture.

[Enidan]

I have quite a posh friend who also cleans or 'chars' as she puts it to pay the bills. She's mildly eccentric like most posh people and doesn't see it as beneath her at all.
There is a much sort after cleaner in my area who actually interviews her employers. She will come and look at your house and then let you know if she's willing to clean it, plus she's not cheap.
Cleaning is a thankless task and if you can afford to pay someone to do it, helping the economy at the same time, it's a win win situation for all concerned.

[lightblues]

Originally Posted by Alrightmate

Well, it depends on what you define exploitation as.
There's levels of exploitation.
If you work for a company that you don't own then you're probably exploited at some level or other.

That Maybe so, ....in the case of maids ,for example in Brazil they have proper employment rights.

[lightblues]

Originally Posted by chrishart

Sounds more like laziness on your parent's part...

I hate cleaning ,if I could afford to pay someone to do it ,I would.every middle class family I know has cleaner whether they need one or not,I don't see it as a problem.

[Teddybear99]

Originally Posted by achro

To me, the word "servant" sounds a lot more slave-like and dramatic than "maid" - even if she means the same thing.

I agree, it suggests inequality rather than someone doing a fair days work for a fair days pay.

[TourEiffel]

My father emigrated to South Africa and when he first said he had a maid (he wouldn't allow her to be called that, she was known as the domestic) we all had very mixed opinions, him being White/British and she being Black/African . He remained there for 25 years before he died and Maria became a part of the family, she also helped to nurse my father before he died in fact after the death of my stepmother 12% of the sale of the house and business went to Maria, she was also left items from inside the house for her dedicated service. She's a lovely and remarkable woman and deserved much more IMHO............I got left a pool cue and a necklace LOL

All those years ago when we were shocked that my father fell into the apartheid way of life we would never have imagined such a friendship forming and both families are richer for it

[Cornchips]

Originally Posted by IrishGranny

I agree entirely with your opinion on the Caste system and servants, but to be fair to Deana I think it was Big Brother who made it known on Launch Night rather than Deana herself. Anyone of any class in any country who is too lazy to make their own beds, clean their own toilets, scrub their own floors is a disgrace and needs a good slap!

well that would be me then given I have a cleaner, someone to do my ironing and a gardner!!! I see it as contributing to the local economy, and given my cleaner earns more than most of the Admin staff who work in my office then I don't think she is doing too badly for scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets!

I think maybe its the term "servants" that gets people's back up - domestic help would maybe be a more pc term.

[lightblues]

Originally Posted by Cornchips

well that would be me then given I have a cleaner, someone to do my ironing and a gardner!!! I see it as contributing to the local economy, and given my cleaner earns more than most of the Admin staff who work in my office then I don't think she is doing too badly for scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets!

I think maybe its the term "servants" that gets people's back up - domestic help would maybe be a more pc term.

Yes ,I agree this term is awful , i'm glad it's not so readily used that much here,but abroad the word is still quite common.

[ladydedlock77]

Originally Posted by WhatJoeThinks

Without wishing to cast judgement on your parents, do you think the cleaner might prefer a more rewarding career, too? The problem with working in a highly-paid job while somebody else does ones menial chores is that it's self-reinforcing. If your parents, for example, did their own cleaning they wouldn't have the time to spend at work, and somebody else would have the opportunity to fill in that gap and be paid highly. Of course there are plenty of people who are simply not qualified to do the more lucrative jobs but in India it's more about not being given the opportunity. If your mother was a maid/servant you would be expected to be a servant. It's a vicious cycle.

Your point about the cleaner preferring a more rewarding career well in this country what is stopping her? She is not being forced by her employer to be a cleaner she has taken that job either because she is not qualified or experienced to do anything else. There is nothing to stop her studying towards an alternative career during her free time. Also in India the "servants" (I hate that term too) are often regarded as part of the family.