If you have one, what do you call the person who cleans for you (for people not in the UK)?

[strandednomore]

Just wondering what was acceptable/is used in various countries across the world now. When I was young we used to have "maids" in the Philippines. In the Caribbean we had "helpers" and then in another country "housekeepers". I don't think anyone uses the term servants anymore, at least I hope not! I know people used to use the term "houseboy" but I assume that's not used any more either - do people say "staff" if they have more than one?
In the UK most people just say cleaners; I'm not sure why this isn't used more universally?
And for nanny's - so some people still use ayah's?

Maria and Marites are both very popular Filipina names so there are a lot of M names here too

My helper's name starts with Z though.

Bonsoir Thx for clarifying. I'm just interested in this new trend that seems to have started in the UK- could be I just happen to know the 4 people who suddenly have one, but seems unlikely

I think that some UK nannies are a bit uppity about housework [prepares for flaming] and expect very high wages for exclusively caring for children. While some of those nannies are qualified/experienced/take on huge amounts of responsibility/have lots of initiative and can do things like homework and music practice to a high standard and therefore deserve high pay, not all do.

Why not therefore employ a foreign helper who is prepared to combine both childcare to as high a standard as a native, and also do cooking and cleaning?

They are called Ayi here (China) it means Auntie and they will do childcare, cleaning, cooking, shopping.... Some people just call them ayi, some (name) ayi, some Mrs (name) and others just (name). I felt that it was derogatory to call them ayi - though apparently it's actually a term of affection, some people do misuse it (just shouting out "ayi!" when they need them is not right in my book) I just feel that it's rude not to use their name so we've always called ours her first name.
There are some Phillipinos here (all illegal) and some of them would call themselves Nannies but mostly they would just be called their name.
My mum had a houseboy in Africa growing up. We had a maid (also in Africa though different country - a few years ago now). In Europe we just called them the cleaning lady to anyone who didn't know who they were or their name to anyone else or to their face.

Mine is Polish, and her name is Margaret, so that's what I call her!

Revision going well Natation? Lots of Dutch verbs here this week, given the mock result was unimpressive.

Bonsoir Very true. I think there is more demand for a more flexible "all rounder" who can fill in the gaps/ relieve the pressure where needed

The people I know who have this arrangement tend to be either SAHMs with many young children (3/4/5) or mums with school age children who really just need cover for after school and holidays. I dont know anyone using it to cover full time working hours

Also in China.I think Ayi is ok depending on the tone used. Children in the street will call me Ayi as they do not know my name and this is not meant to be derogatory.
My driver is Mr Surname
my babysitter is Gloria
and my cleaning lady is Ayi.

Singapore. Helen is my housekeeper as she completely runs the house with very little input from me-but she refers to herself as a helper.

I quite like the idea of a Housekeeper who runs my home to my tastes and standards.

I think I'm a bit lazy about recruiting and training someone though. It sounds like such a long slog.

I've had: Maria, Aurelia, Florentina, Elisabetta, Emilia, Oana, Andrea and currently have the House Bitch, who is DH.

Who doesn't actually do much any cleaning, he just works from home.

We use nanny's first name, call her nanny when talking about her and up until very recently the cleaning lady was me

Now we technically have a 'nanny/housekeeper' because I added some cleaning on top of nursery duties. I think this is becoming more common in the UK judging by the number of posts over on childcare. Whilst some nannies are a bit uppity the vast majority are waking up to the fact they will need to do a bit extra and include cooking for parents in their duties or non child related household chores. I don't of any that do all the childcare, cooking and cleaning though as they will still take the view that childcare comes first.

"Whilst some nannies are a bit uppity the vast majority are waking up to the fact they will need to do a bit extra and include cooking for parents in their duties or non child related household chores."

Yes, I agree fraktal. People are looking for more bang for their buck from their domestic employees!

For pretty much everyone now changing jobs means either earning less or doing more... Domestic employees are no different in that respect. What you get for your money is likely to be a deciding factor between candidates.

Although I also don't have much choice in the matter (because the helper culture means that I dont really have any other childcare options) I'm also very comfortable with my son not spending the day completely engrossed in activities designed specially for him, so I'd rather have someone who does a bit of everything.

They go to pre-school pretty early here (usually half days from age 2.5) so until then, I'm happy for him to help make the beds/ do the washing/go to the supermarket, etc.

If I was a SAHM in the UK I'd be doing these things, so it's not that different really.

When I worked in the US I was call Housekeeper. I was running the house inclusive of shopping, cooking, cleaning, ironing and taking the children to and from appointments. however, when I started, making appointments for contractors, signing invoices and taking care of paying people for services in the home then I was called House Manager. In the UK it's still housekeeper for household chores but Nanny for childcare. Incidentally nanny is qualified or non-qualified. In 60% of the instance they will ask for qualifications though, but emphasis is placed on experience, references and largely "caring for my child with lots of love and attention." :-)

Hong Kong ~ eva and anna are our pt helpers . never call them auntie . way too personal for my liking.

i was led to believe that amah meant slave which is why it's no longer used much.

i work with children and was refered to as auntie the other day. i was really shocked and if I'm being honest ~ inwardly furious.

I'd like to think it's a term of endearment but hmmm...

In HK, i call her helper when referring to her, by her first name talking to her and the children call her ( first name) for the eldest and Yaya ( for the youngest)

A "nounou" is no more affectuous or respectful in french than "ayi" in mandarin or "amah" in Bahasa if you do not treat them as grown up women and try to sugarcoat the interaction out of guilt respect for some white tradition?

In HK.

They are known as helpers formally- i.e. they are referred to as "foreign domestic helpers" by Immigration and people would say "do you have a helper?", never "do you have a maid?"

I call her by her first name, as do the children (7&5). They called her Yaya when they were younger and still do if they're trying to get round her!

However, in third person they'd say "auntie", e.g. if someone said to DD "who is picking you up today?", she'd say "My auntie"

I'm in the US. My cleaner who comes once a month is generally known as "the maid", but I just call mine by her name, which is Rosa.

She cleans for several of my friends too, and we're all a bit scared of her

Far East - Ayi (Aunt) or Amah.
Main role house work with a few hours of child care.

In Cyprus it's very common for fillipino ladies to come over and do cleaning / childcare
They are referred to as Domestic Assistants or DA's

Singapore - legally they're Foreign Domestic Workers. Most people I know (including me) say helper, but maid is still in use. It seems to be used more often by local Singaporeans or people from other Asian cultures who have more of a tradition of domestic help that is less common in Western countries.

My MIL referred to our helper as our servant which I found excruciating, and DH set her straight. (TBF English isn't her first language and she frequently comes out with some very un-PC corkers.)

citychick according to the dictionary, amah is from the Portuguese for nurse. I'd never heard the slave reference before, I think the term has just become a bit outdated. In many Asian cultures calling someone auntie/uncle is a term of respect for someone older than you. In Singapore it's also often added on to a job title, like taxi uncles, or cleaning aunties. It's definitely never intended to be derogatory or insulting. Some Westerners take offence because they seem to think it implies they're old.

When discussing the help I have inside the home:
Jenny, our housekeeper; manages all internal domestic duties (full time, exclusive)

Claire, House manager - takes responsibility for external domestic dealings, but as an additional focus of the Mon - Fri care for DD (10) for a few hours each day (full time exclusive)

They both "report" to me, get paid PAYE, and enjoy many other additional benefits e.g. Jenny has a school age son, so works around his hours. She also has 10 weeks holiday a year (2 weeks Easter, 2 weeks Christmas, 6 weeks split over summer and 1/2 terms)
Claire gets to go on paid for educational/self improvement (career) courses, has gym membership and a car.

My DH and I make it clear, we all need to work as a team, and they have a large degree of autonomy. If one area isn't pulling their weight everyone is impacted.
The best factor in our "working" relations, is the total trust (and almost the reliance) we have in each other.

We have all worked together for 5years +

Haha- I just realised this is a zombie thread ( still relevant though) and I've inadvertently sock puppeted myself with my former user name!