Ten reasons your househelp left, and none are her fault

Ten reasons your househelp left, and none are her fault (Photo: iStock)

Ever wondered why your next-door neighbour has hired and fired so many househelps within a year? The problem might not lie with the house girls at all. The employer may be impossible to live with. From paranoid spies to miserly tyrants, here are 10 types of Kenyan bosses that house managers, quietly and with great resentment, truly despise.

1. The spy

This boss has installed CCTV cameras in every corner of the home, turning the house into a high-surveillance prison. The house girl is always under microscopic scrutiny—every move watched, every breath judged. She can’t relax, dance, or even yawn freely in the employer's absence. The air is thick with mistrust.

2. The jealous wife

In this household, the house girl is considered a threat by default. Every outfit is vetted to ensure it’s “appropriate”—code for unflattering. The wife draws a thick boundary around her husband, terrified that the domestic worker might somehow “snatch” him. The tension is palpable.

3. The quarrelsome one

This boss weaponises her voice. She shouts, scolds, and criticises at the slightest provocation. Her tone is always high-pitched and aggressive, as if kindness were a finite resource. Constructive feedback? Never. It’s always “you never do anything right.” It’s emotional warfare, daily.

4. The stingy madam

She may live in a well-furnished apartment and dress her children in designer labels, but the house girl is starved. Meat? Strictly for the family, make do with sukuma wiki. She’s told not to “taste the food” while cooking, as if a sip of stew might cause a financial collapse.

5. The financially irresponsible one

She’ll expect you to clean, cook, and care for her children, putting a lot of pressure, but come payday, she ignores it.  Months go by with no pay, until relatives and local authorities get involved. Her sense of duty is selective.

6. The paranoid psycho

Her suspicions know no logic. She will accuse the house girl of having an affair with her husband, without any evidence. One morning, the house girl is fired—not for poor performance or theft—but because the boss dreamt she caught her with her husband. A dream. Just like that, she’s on the street. Innocence doesn’t stand a chance against paranoia.

7. The careless one

She leaves her most intimate belongings carelessly scattered across the bedroom, then instructs the house girl to tidy up. The maid is left to wash bedsheets still heavy with the scent of the previous night’s intimacy. There’s no sense of privacy, no boundaries, and certainly no consideration. At times, she even disappears for two weeks on a coastal getaway, leaving her husband alone at home, with a maid she secretly believes is more attractive than she is.

8. The generous boss (Yes, they exist)

Let’s not be all doom and gloom. Some employers treat their house managers with decency. This boss sends the house girl shopping and lets her keep the change. She buys her gifts, sends shopping home to her family, and treats them like human beings. In this case, loyalty isn’t demanded—it’s earned.

 9. The enslaver

She disguises exploitation as “hard work.” The maid is expected to care for the baby, cook, clean, do laundry, run errands, and help out at the boss’s business—all for a paltry sum. Days off? Non-existent. Her job description keeps expanding without discussion or a pay rise. It’s a modern-day servitude.

10. The boundary breaker

This boss assumes ownership over the house girl’s entire life. She monitors her phone calls, dictates her schedule even during off days, and expects her to be available 24/7. Personal space is a foreign concept. The house is not a workplace—it’s a cage.