Cleaning Ladies, Patience and President Faust

One of the consequences of my car accident in 2001 was my introduction to the world of cleaning ladies. My first cleaning lady was a sister from one of the Spanish branches in town. She was young, energetic and thorough. She spoke English and drove a car. Wow! I was hooked! Then, after a few months, she and her husband moved to Utah to start a Mexican restaurant. I thought, "No problemo...the Spanish branches have a more than adequate supply of ladies who need work and are probably just like Maria." WRONG! My next cleaning lady was to Maria like night is to day. Her specialty was breaking things, then hiding the pieces around the house. This happened SEVERAL times. Also, she had an unfortunate habit of disappearing for weeks at a time, then turning up when least expected. I had never in my life fired anyone, and wasn't eager to start. I knew that she needed the job, and I needed someone, but it wasn't a match made in heaven. Then a solution arrived in the form of Emily who, with husband Eric and baby Abby moved back to Bakersfield. I explained to Rosa that my daughter was new in town and wanted to help me and I would have to let her go. Rosa understood--family comes first. With Emily, I hit the cleaning lady jackpot! Possibly the only other person in the world who is as obsessive-compulsive as am I. Things were perfect until January of last year, when she moved to San Antonio. Luckily for me, there was a junior Emily waiting in the wings--Clare. Every bit as good a cleaner as Emily, but very, very busy. She was doing her student teaching and working at Tahoe Joe's, so when she wasn't always available I discovered that I was perfectly capable of doing my own cleaning. Then last fall Bill got a call from a La Rosa branch member, Lupe, who really needed money and asked if she could clean for us. Guess what? I was back in the cleaning lady business. Fast forward to today...

Lupe and her partner/daughter Carmen come every other Friday. They are supposed to come at 10:00. They have only actually come once at that time. They like to surprise me just getting out of the shower at 9:00, or 9:17, etc. They are very good on floors, but they always skip the kitchen, believing it to be already clean. Today I asked them specifically to clean the kitchen and "talked" them through it. Lupe speaks about five words of English (at about the same level that I speak Spanish) and Carmen, although a graduate of Wasco High School, understands about as much English as does Newton. Apparently the discussion didn't go as well as I hoped, because when I went to check on things, Carmen was using Pledge to clean the kitchen surfaces. Each time they leave it takes me about an hour to put the house back together. I don't know if they have design aspirations or just short-term memory problems, but every knick knack in the house is in a different spot when they leave. And every set of window blinds looks like a three year old has been playing with them.

I can't fire them because they "have much loves" for Presidente Reed. Bill suggests that I take a page from President Faust's book. Apparently, President Faust went to the same barber for many, many years. As the barber grew old, his skills started to slip until he was giving President Faust (and presumably everyone else) really bad haircuts. President Faust felt such loyalty towards him that he couldn't bring himself to quit using him. Instead, each time he left the barbershop he headed directly to another barber a short distance away and had him secretly fix the first haircut.

I am thankful that we are in a position to help these ladies with employment. And if they try to develop their skills, and if I develop patience, I guess we will all be winners.