Jan Wong is on-line right now to discuss Maid for a Month, her five-part series in which she chronicles her experience taking a job as a maid to find out what it's like to live as a low-income Canadian.
Jan and her sons Ben Shulman, 15 and Sam, 12, lived in a basement apartment in Scarborough while she worked as a cleaner making about $1,300 a month — an annual salary of less than $15,000 a year.
In the final instalment, Goodbye to all that, Jan quits her job after developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Most of the maids she works with have similar problems. Jan also finds out that some of the household cleaning products they use every day are considered carcinogens that can cause reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity and acute toxicity.
The entire series can be read here on our Maid for a Month special report page, which also features a transcript of Jan's earlier discussion on the series and a photo gallery of her life and work for that month.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Michael Snider, globeandmail.com: Hi Jan, welcome back. Thanks for joining us again. Your series, Maid for a Month, generated some pretty heavy traffic over the past five weeks -- most of it complimentary. Congratulations. Tell me, what tips can you offer people who employ a maid service? What are your top five recommendations?
Related Articles
Internet Links
Jan Wong: Thanks for having me back. My top five recommendations for people who employ a maid service:
- 1. Get rid of clutter before they come, especially on floors and counters. That way, they can really put their time into the cleaning.
- 2. Have your own toilet-bowl brush available. Otherwise, they'll use the one they use on everyone else's.
- 3. Have your own rags for the same reason. Also, mops and brushes.
- 4. Stay home the first few times, so you can tell them more specifically what you want done. After that, don't stay home. You just get in the way.
- 5. Don't expect them to everything in a couple of hours. Be realistic. And make a list in order of your priorities.
Shari Lapea from Toronto writes: I've thoroughly enjoyed your maid series. However, I do want you to know that there are alternatives to all those poisonous, environmentally hazardous cleaning materials. Baking soda and water works terrifically as a cleanser on just about anything and vinegar and water cleans glass just fine. Please let the maids know!!! There is no need to use these dangerous products. Also, they'll have less to haul around. And if it's the clients that demand the use of these products, they need to be educated as well.
Jan Wong: Hi Shari, In researching the contents of some of the cleansers we used, I found alternatives. But I'm not sure how well they work. For instance, I had to clean an oven. I sprayed it with Easy Off. The owner opened the windows to the kitchen. She made me spray the racks outside in the snow. (It was February.) Then I wrapped the racks in a plastic bag and let it sit for two hours. The spray worked, more or less. I can't see baking soda and water doing as effective a job. But I will try your suggestion.
There are a list of green products out there. But because Canadian law doesn't require listing of ingredients, I would think it's hard to verify any claims A very few of our clients specified what products they wanted us to use (or not use.) And none of them used any "green" products.
