Last week I interviewed 25 domestic helps working in highly educated, financially affluent class of the society. When asked what they fear the most, they said “a firing from the Madam (owner of the house) for wasting oil or soap”.
All of them were given one soap for their personal use to be used for 3 to 4 weeks. If by mistake, they lost the soap before then to avoid a snub from the lady of the house, they preferred not to tell her and continue working in the house without using the soap even after their morning evacuation, which may lead to a serious health hazard. For servants, it does not matter as prior to their job, they never realized the importance of soap as they have been cleaning their hands with mud or the ash in their respective villages.
It is our duty to see that our servants are taken care of and their personal hygiene is important. They should be given adequate supply of soaps, oil for their personal use, clean undergarments and outer clothes and hygienic food.
Another situation is when we book for a catering of a large function like a marriage. We often hire Maharajs to cook food, but we forget to give them a place to sleep, toilet to use, clean water to drink and adequate water to wash their hands and feet after the morning evacuation.
They defecate in the nearby open area and bathe and wash hands with the same water used for cooking food.
If they are not provided with soaps, they will wash their hands with fire ash collected from cooking place.
The same people are not given gloves to wear when they are serving golgappas.
Next time when you do that make sure you treat your servants hygienically in the same way as you treat yourself or your kids.
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