Our friends Shobha and Prashanth's driver quit today. Just as I was wondering what to blog about, they dropped by this evening and we chatted about their driver woes. They had been asking him to wash their car in the mornings as the cars get very dirty and need a wash every day. Vijay, our washes our car without us asking so we thought it was just part of the job. Apparently not. No matter how many times Prashanth asked him to clean the car, his driver just wouldn't do it. When their driver was out sick for a few days, they had their neighbor's driver wash their car and he did an exceptional job. Prashanth mentionned this to his driver and he took serious offense and claimed that he had been driving for 30 years and can get at least 3 references for his excellent car cleaning abilities. He quit claiming he couldn't meet their expectations. He then promptly had a fight with their neighbor's driver saying he caused him to lose his job and that he should have minded his own business and not cleaned their car. Oh what a drama!! Now they are on the lookout for a new driver and their first driver who also quit a few months ago is interested in coming back. That driver quit because he was expecting a month's salary as a bonus for Diwali last year after only working for them for a few months because a certain someone in our layout gave his driver who has been with them for 5+ years a huge Diwali bonus. The saga continues, let's see what happens.
After their not so good experience with their first driver, Prashanth came up with a theory on hiring his next driver. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. We were all sitting tonight and brainstorming how to hire a good driver and what qualities we should look for. We really couldn't come up with a good formula, seems like you either have good luck or you don't.
Drivers, maids, cooks are a huge conversation topic at parties, get togethers and even casual lunch discussions at work. Seriously, we can kill a few hours just discussing this topic and we never get tired of it, I wonder if we come up in their conversations. They probably curse us.
6 comments:
No wonder my life is so dull - I have no driver, no maid and no cook. And no lively conversations about the problems with each of them!
Raji, of course you do - you're IT! :-D
I'm amazed that the driver said washing the car wasn't part of his duties - it's been a part of every driver's duties that I've known of!
I read a few expat blogs and it seems like expats in general have more employee issues than others - is it because the expectations are skewed? Higher than "normal" wages (or not)?
Raji, feel fortunate, the one person you hired, your babysitter seems like she's a gem.
Maith, I think everyone has problems with employees expat or not. My cousin's driver disappeared for 1 month and then showed up saying his grandmother passed away and he had to tend their farmland for a few weeks. Every relative we visit has a maid or cook story. One of my relatives moved to a new part of the town, couldn't find a good cook so she moved back to where she was living so she could get her cook back. I think you may hear about it more from expats/NRIs because they usually have a maid/driver/cook so there are more people to talk about hence more can go wrong and it is more of a novelty, all the stories seem so interesting for now.
Oh maid and cook problems are legion - it just seems like expats have unique issues :-)
I found an expat blog, where the woman said her drivers children came into her bedroom and wanted to wear her clothes - mind-boggling as that was, she actually wrote that she allowed it!
The one thing that I find myself having to get used to, (In Bangalore) is that incompetence, either in the way work is done, or in attendance, is the norm...it takes me a couple of weeks to adjust my expectations, and unfortunately, start talking to folks in a manner that they will accept as no-nonsense...my MIL has an easier time as they live in a small town and her retainers have been with her for years.
Friends complain that their employees at work are the same way...do you see that?
Maith,
Unique issues probably. There are some stories I have heard that are quite funny.
In terms of employees at work, I find people take quite a bit of sick leave or unplanned leave. Otherwise, though, people are pretty dedicated to their jobs in general.
Expats for whatever reason seem to have more issues with drivers and maids. This is funny considering that we have probably never had any in the US or elsewhere. Instead of treating this as a bonus, I fail to understand this excessive cribbing.
Guys, we need to go with the flow. We are dealing with humans who have not been as fortunate as we have and have a myriad issues to take care of.
It all comes down to Management 101 and setting expectations. If we don't set the expectations at the outset then he or she is not going to toe the line. Extrapolate this to your career. How many times did you not have issues when your manager did not set expectations right?
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