Housekeeping Drama

Apparently the whole house help thing can be quite filled with drama. I have hired our gardener (Ilhan and his brother-in-law Halil.) He was a recommendation from Kristy. He was also the guy that we rented our car from.

Small world.

Next I hired our housekeeper. Her name is Hatice (pronounced Ha-tee-jah). She speaks very little English but came strongly recommended from another friend, Sarah. She starts on Tuesday. I thought we were going tow ait a month, but a day came available and I snatched her up.

Hatice just happens to be Ilhan's sister-in-law. (Apparently there is a strong family connection between the house help.)

Stay with me here.

But apparently another gal who wanted to work for me started talking badly about Ilhan and his wife because she thought Ilhan got Hatice the job. Which isn't true at all. Hatice got the job through Sarah.

Sigh ...

Either way, I have learned a lot about the gardening and housecleaning system here. Apparently the fierce competition and government issued taxes years ago caused a whole new set of checks and balances to be put in place. It also raised the prices to make sure the workers were paid and the taxes were paid. House help is not supposed to solicit you door-to-door. Then, you have to hire them through a company on Base. You actually pay them company and not them directly. The company takes the taxes out for the workers.

It's very difficult for me. I recognized that this other gal needed the work. The going rate is $40 per day. Which means a full-time housecleaner or nanny makes $200 a week. That's $800 a month. The government takes $300 of that right off the bat. So they are supporting entire families on $500 a month. Not much.

Either way, I really liked Hatice. She's older and seemed like she'd be a great "Na-na" (as she likes the kids to call her) for the boys.

I am hoping that I am officially out of the drama loop.

Here's to hoping.