Over the past couple of days, Stewart and I have conducted five interviews. Four for all-rounders and one for driver. Oh wow. After the first two, I wondered if we would be stuck settling for the type of help they were offering. Let's recap.....
Interview #1:
She did not speak English very well but was pleasant and highly agreeable to everything. When we asked if she could read English, she said no. Stewart clarified if this included children's books (basic English) and she said she could read those. We then asked her to read a page out of a Dr. Suess book at which point she said that no, in fact, she could not read English. When asked about cooking, she let us know that she could cook. When asked what dishes were her specialty, she explained she really couldn't cook. Also, when asked what she would do if our child cut themself very badly, she replied "well, you leave me number to call". Ok.....
Interview #2:
The write up on her in our newsletter was very nice. She sat down and basically told us how it was going to go. She did the same thing as the previous interviewee when asked about reading children's books though. Not being able to read English also means that we can't leave her a note or shopping list. She told us that when we go on holiday, we have to take her at least one time and when we go on daytrips to the Taj Mahal or somewhere like that, we have to pay her 8,000Rs to go with us. What? I don't think so. She had done all-rounder jobs in the past with ayah duties but, yet, she felt the need to tell us that when the baby comes "you hire someone else for cleaning".
Interview #3:
This was a sweet person. She genuinely seemed to like the dogs. She also had first aid training and was able to tell us that she would stop the bleeding and then call us. Thank you! But she still had some cons to her. Her family is too big for our domestic quarters and she's limited in her cooking/cleaning abilities. Her English was poor as well.
At this point, I was starting to feel a little discouraged. We've spoken with people who have raved about their help and we weren't having the same experience. The other family that moved out here the same time as us loved all the people they interviewed. What was wrong with us?
Interview #4 changed all that!
She speaks, writes, and reads English very well. She doesn't need quarters. She isn't demanding. She gave honest answers instead of polite ones. She's had first aid/CPR training as well as some other classes. When asked if she felt that she could handle all of the duties we were looking for, she said yes. Only downside is that her current employer says that she's not able to cook a wide variety of food ... meaning she only cooks Indian. Ok, that's something we can work around. Everything else was just fantastic. She even put the leashes on Scout and Bella and walked Bella downstairs. We're going to see if she wants the job. We're really hoping she says yes!
Interview #5 was for the driver. He came highly recommended with 27 years of experience and only one accident (he was rear ended but no one was hurt). He even stated that he could do shopping and run errands which makes us feel better since this means our all-rounder won't have to be going out. The interview went very well.
We still need to purchase a vehicle, and Stewart wants to interview #4's husband since he is a driver and it's easier to hire tandem couples. We'll see how it goes. I really liked #5 and would like to hire him.
So we're starting to slowly settle in here. It'll be weird having domestic staff but it'll make things sooo much easier too!
Interview #1:
She did not speak English very well but was pleasant and highly agreeable to everything. When we asked if she could read English, she said no. Stewart clarified if this included children's books (basic English) and she said she could read those. We then asked her to read a page out of a Dr. Suess book at which point she said that no, in fact, she could not read English. When asked about cooking, she let us know that she could cook. When asked what dishes were her specialty, she explained she really couldn't cook. Also, when asked what she would do if our child cut themself very badly, she replied "well, you leave me number to call". Ok.....
Interview #2:
The write up on her in our newsletter was very nice. She sat down and basically told us how it was going to go. She did the same thing as the previous interviewee when asked about reading children's books though. Not being able to read English also means that we can't leave her a note or shopping list. She told us that when we go on holiday, we have to take her at least one time and when we go on daytrips to the Taj Mahal or somewhere like that, we have to pay her 8,000Rs to go with us. What? I don't think so. She had done all-rounder jobs in the past with ayah duties but, yet, she felt the need to tell us that when the baby comes "you hire someone else for cleaning".
Interview #3:
This was a sweet person. She genuinely seemed to like the dogs. She also had first aid training and was able to tell us that she would stop the bleeding and then call us. Thank you! But she still had some cons to her. Her family is too big for our domestic quarters and she's limited in her cooking/cleaning abilities. Her English was poor as well.
At this point, I was starting to feel a little discouraged. We've spoken with people who have raved about their help and we weren't having the same experience. The other family that moved out here the same time as us loved all the people they interviewed. What was wrong with us?
Interview #4 changed all that!
She speaks, writes, and reads English very well. She doesn't need quarters. She isn't demanding. She gave honest answers instead of polite ones. She's had first aid/CPR training as well as some other classes. When asked if she felt that she could handle all of the duties we were looking for, she said yes. Only downside is that her current employer says that she's not able to cook a wide variety of food ... meaning she only cooks Indian. Ok, that's something we can work around. Everything else was just fantastic. She even put the leashes on Scout and Bella and walked Bella downstairs. We're going to see if she wants the job. We're really hoping she says yes!
Interview #5 was for the driver. He came highly recommended with 27 years of experience and only one accident (he was rear ended but no one was hurt). He even stated that he could do shopping and run errands which makes us feel better since this means our all-rounder won't have to be going out. The interview went very well.
We still need to purchase a vehicle, and Stewart wants to interview #4's husband since he is a driver and it's easier to hire tandem couples. We'll see how it goes. I really liked #5 and would like to hire him.
So we're starting to slowly settle in here. It'll be weird having domestic staff but it'll make things sooo much easier too!
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