House cleaners

There are 34 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 10,434 times. The latest Post (October 1, 2026 at 1:32 PM) was by aficionado.

1st Official Post

    Is “mucama” a slightly pejorative term, unlike “maid” or “housekeeper” or “criada?”


    Or is it simply the local word, not loaded?

    I think its OK here in Bs As , but I will check with the Boss when she gets back from the gym and lunch with her freinds.

    I prefer "la chica que nos ayuda en casa" ...very neutral

    Just found out that our chica plays professional football( soccer) for one of the local teams.

    Quote from Rice

    Our chica is middle aged. Not like calling a woman “Girl?”Chica and

    Chica and chico can be used at any age here....I remember being amused when I first arrived when the waiters in informal bars would say , " OK , chicos que desean tomar?"

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    I think its OK here in Bs As , but I will check with the Boss when she gets back from the gym and lunch with her freinds.

    I prefer "la chica que nos ayuda en casa" ...very neutral

    Just found out that our chica plays professional football( soccer) for one of the local teams.

    Mucama can be seen as pejorative by a lot of people , according to the boss.

    The PC crowd , go for "personal doméstico" apparently.

    Quote from Rice

    UK Man , THAT sounds like a Saturday night answer!

    The tight jeans she wears is to blame. :P

    She's been the mother in laws carer/housekeeper/domestic for around 15 years and has never missed a day...she even works Saturdays and public holidays. She has a husband and seven kids to look after as well. She should be called superwoman!!

    • Official Post

    We know a bloke who fell in love with his cleaner and left his wife for her.

    In fact we went to his house for some reason that I can't remember and she was serving us wine and picadas. Tall, attractive brunette, wearing very tight jeans and a revealing top, just like she was still the mucama of the house.

    There was quite an age gap - he must have been late 50s and she can't have been more than about 28 or so and oddly enough, I didn't realise the situation at the time, so was wondering why the girl was being so familiar with us all.

    His wife at the time was a known alcoholic, so this could have had some bearing on the situation. Gives a whole new meaning to bedding the maid!

    Well, I can’t top THAT one, Splinter ! But I do have a question.

    Do people who clean the house normally complete the job by mopping, then cleaning out the mop and cleaning cloths in the kitchen sink, which then is not disinfected or even surface cleaned?


    Although we have a laundry/utility sink just steps away from the kitchen sinks, it is always the kitchen sinks they use for the dirtiest job - and then leave it as is.


    After seeing a leaner do that years ago, I’ve routinely disinfected the sink after cleaners leave, and I’ve made a point of looking when new cleaners finish mopping. It is always the same.


    I’m grateful to have people better at cleaning than we, tackle the windows, bathrooms and floors. But I’m now distrusting of the actual cleanliness of that sparkling kitchen, and am compelled to follow up when they leave.

    • Official Post

    I don't actively follow our cleaner's actions, but she does leave everything sparkling clean afterwards, especially since she's a big fan of lavandina bleach.

    We've had numerous cleaners here and the reason I like this one is because she gets stuck in, has a pleasant personality and doesn't yak her mouth off all day. She works very hard in fact.

    I would never fault house cleaners we’ve had, about being hard working. They leave this place sparkling, too.


    But leaving after rinsing out the floor mop in the sink where food preparation is done is not a good practice.

    I've been messing with a blocked main waste drain this week. Cleared it sufficiently to stop the back-up which wasn't pleasant but it's still not totally cleared. Not sure if the problem is our drain or with the main sewer drain. Seems to happen sometimes whenever we get heavy rain after a prolonged dry spell.

    UK Man .....

    Story of my life......

    I have had issues long time too.......I hammered all bathroom floor up, or say 3 tiles which covers drainage.......still haven't solved issue.......my problem is that my house is build on a plateau, to make it safe for high rivers........so the pipe goes like 120 cm down, then take a bend......so very difficult to open up n see what's going on!!

    By me it's the same as by u: a part is caused by the back log.......the cloak on the street level get floated and ur drainage cannot drain well. Sometimes I've got huge concrete parts returned into my pipes, coming from street level main cloak! And of course, u don't have the tapas in the street to enter cloak and solve it from there!!!!! Without whiskey we would be fucked!!!!

    Our house is about 100 years old which doesn't help. Might have lovely character but is a right pain in the arse to maintain. Our next house will hopefully be a modern/new build and not in Argentina!! ^^